New Owner in the Asheville, NC Area

Hello everyone, I'm glad to have found this forum! I've already done tons of reading here, great site!

So anyway, today I became the proud owner of an Abbott's Okeetee baby Corn (3 months old). This is the first time I've ever owned a snake. I named him Wylie. So far so good, he seems to have gotten comfortable already in his new home. He's in a 20 gallon terrarium with layers of paper towels as a substrate and plenty of hiding places. I'm using a Zoo Med UTH plus a full spectrum UV light. I'm still evaluating getting the heating right, the first UTH I had was a piece of crap, came in a starter kit and just did not get warm enough. Hubby picked up the Zoo Med UTH and now I have it on there but the temp was still dropping too much, got down to 77 degrees on the warm side and 72 on the cool side so I had to turn the UV light back on to supplement. Now I've got the temp back up to 79.5 degrees but I was hoping I wouldn't have to leave the UV light on all the time. Has anyone else had a similar experience or does anyone have any suggestions on this? Wylie is located on top of our computer desk which sits in the living room about 10 feet from a wood stove insert. Normally it's very warm in here but it's been so cold lately, nighttime temps dipping down in the teens and our wood hasn't been the greatest so it hasn't been quite as warm in here lately. Any suggestions or advice greatly appreciated as I'm new to all this.

I handled him this evening for about 15 min, he seemed to do pretty well, although he kept wanting to go back to his tree hide I had sitting on the table. I think it went very well though for the first time handling. When he first arrived in the mail he was very frightened as I tried to gently get him out of his cup and I guess I moved too fast at first and he struck at me a few times. I put him into his new home then and left him alone for the rest of the day, didn't get him out to handle him until a few hours ago.

Anyway, hello, I'm happy to be here and happy to be a new corn snake owner! Oh and just fyi about me, I'm extremely talkative (in case you haven't noticed, lol).

Hi :wavey: welcome to you and Wylie!

A quick question. Where do you have the probe located for the thermometer you are using to get your temps?

Although it is ideal to have the temps in the mid-80's for the warm side, something around 77-79 would not be harmful.

I also use the Zoo Med UTH. I have no problems maintaining a temp around 85. That is taking the temp on the glass just above the center of the UTH.

Feel free to ask all your questions here. Also, we all love to see pics!!

Wow, fast response, cool!

Both probe tips are touching the glass bottom.

I realize the temperatures I was keeping aren't harmful, but I was looking more at the happy factor, hehe. I was wanting to keep the warm side at about 82 and the cool side at about 75 degrees. I'm not sure what I want to do overnight, whether I should leave the UV light on or not, I wasn't wanting to but I don't want to have to worry about my snake being too cool overnight either then I might not be able to sleep! Currently the cool side is 73.8 and the warm side is 78.9 with the UV light on.

My suggestion would be to keep the light on for a night or two sfter you feed Wylie. The warmer temps will aid in digestion. Otherwise it is up to you if you want to keep it on.

Rich in KY said:

My suggestion would be to keep the light on for a night or two sfter you feed Wylie. The warmer temps will aid in digestion. Otherwise it is up to you if you want to keep it on.

Click to expand...

Well, I won't be feeding him until Wed when my pinkies arrive so that's not an issue. Now I guess it's just a matter of whether or not I feel comfortable turning it off, if I'm not comfortable then I won't be able to sleep very well tonight. Anyway, thanks for the help.

If you are not comfortable turning it off, leave it on!

Rich in KY said:

If you are not comfortable turning it off, leave it on!

Click to expand...

I think I'm going to, at least for tonight, so that I have all day tomorrow to see what happens with the temp. It got down to 77 degrees on the warm side before I turned the light on but what concerns me is the fact that the temp was STILL going down so I don't know what it would have bottomed out at. My temp probe is located in the front corner though, not right over the center of the UTH or even right over the UTH period so the temp probably is showing a bit lower than it actually is right over the center of the UTH. I guess I'm just like a new parent worried about her child, ha ha, except that I already have a child, he's 2 1/2 and he's sitting in my lap right now as I type this, lol.

Wylie said:

I think I'm going to, at least for tonight, so that I have all day tomorrow to see what happens with the temp. It got down to 77 degrees on the warm side before I turned the light on but what concerns me is the fact that the temp was STILL going down so I don't know what it would have bottomed out at. My temp probe is located in the front corner though, not right over the center of the UTH or even right over the UTH period so the temp probably is showing a bit lower than it actually is right over the center of the UTH. I guess I'm just like a new parent worried about her child, ha ha

Click to expand...

We are all worried parents! LOL

It would probably be best to have the temp probe over the UTH. It will get you a more accurate temp.

But you never know. I have one snake that NEVER goes to his warm side. Kids never know what is best for them.

Good luck whatever you do!

First photo of Wylie

What size is your UTH- what percentage of the viv bottom does it cover? It seems strange that it won't even get to 80F- especially unregulated. That UTH normally gets to 120-130F. What's the air temp in your house?

Hi Nanci, check out my other thread, I actually started a new topic about this problem, I think all your questions are answered in there, I'd be glad to have your help.

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61318