Moving a cornsnake a long distance?

What should I do to safely move my snake? I have to go on a 12hour drive with an overnight stop or two at the end of October, and I'm unsure as to how to make this trip not very stressful for my Peaches I assumed I could put her in a bin with air holes and add a water dish and a hide, but anything else? I'm hoping to set up her tank asap when we get there, but with moving it could be hectic.

Considering most of them handle overnight shipping just fine, I think you've got it figured out, even if the trip is more than one night, at least she'd have her own familiar bedding and a water bowl.

I guess I'm just worried about her lack of heat in the meantime... Should I try to time it so shes already digested her food for her usual three days?

Lol, yeah, see I didn't even think of that. Wouldn't that be about brumating time anyway?

Well, she's just a baby, about a few months old, I don't plan on brumating her ever. I should have said that, sorry.

Ohh.... so yeah. Sounds about right then, do it on an empty belly, hopefully after a poop. A couple chilly days shouldn't hurt, generally it takes a while of exposure for a healthy snake to get sick. Will she be in the car the whole time, spending nights in the car or a hotel or what? You could get some hand warmers too, those little air activated pouches. It's the same heat packs used in reptile shipping in cold weather. I'd do that. Just about everywhere carries them during the cold seasons, I see them at walmart and dollar stores.

Oh and just offer water when you're stopped, over night or resting. Wouldn't want it to spill and chill her.

The best way to ship or drive with a snake is to put it in a relatively small deli cup with some bedding from its own cage (smells like home). The smaller sized deli is good because if there are bumps or fast stops or starts, the snake won't be thrown from side to side or up and down. It can brace itself against the sides if the ride gets rough. A larger cage will allow for more sudden movement. On long trips, a long soak / drink once per day will be fine. No constant water is needed, and will just make a mess if you try to provide it.

Put the deli in an insulated cooler. That will take a while to heat up or cool down. If you are worried about excessive temps (hot or cold), put a soda bottle of warm or cool water in the cooler. The thermal mass of water takes longer to heat up or cool down than air does. Be careful the bottle of water can't roll around and crush the deli. A bunch of wadded up newspaper can keep it in place. Be very careful about using a heat pack. Overheating is much more dangerous than chilling. And heat packs consume oxygen, too. Corns can take quite a bit of chill as long as the stomach is empty. Always ship on an empty stomach. Snakes don't need a lot of fresh air. If the cooler is fairly roomy, the snake is probably good for more than a day without more fresh air. But it won't hurt to check it a couple of times per day, at which time fresh air will come into the cooler.

If you make any stops (such as shopping or restaurant) and the car may get too hot or cold, just bring a large handbag or canvas tote bag. You can put the deli cup in it and take it with you and nobody will know you have "snakes in a bag!"

Hope that helps!

Thats some good advice kathylove, but space will be of the essence so I can't put her in a cooler. I don't have access to deli cups either, even though I work in a deli we don't have such a thing here xD Good point about the water! It will be chilly in the car sometimes, but if nessesary I can happily have her on my lap. I will be bringing her into the hotel with us for sure, because it will be getting very cold out.

So, I plan on finding a relativly small bin and putting her in there with her familiar bedding and hide, offering water once a day when we stop so it doesnt splash, and trying to keep her generally warm. Anything else you guys can think of?

A small cottage cheese or cream cheese or similar plastic container will work as well as a deli cup. Or any small Tupperware type container, too. Just put a few small air holes in it.

Coolers come in all sizes, including some that are just small, cheap, styro containers just big enough for a 6 pack of beer or soda. Or you can make your own by using a cardboard or plastic box and lining it with styro, bubble wrap, or even a blanket or towel. Any of those materials will provide insulation, and keep the inside of the box from changing temps as quickly as the car does when opening and closing doors or windows. Of course, the milder the temps outside, the less you have to worry about that.

If you are depending on your body heat to keep a snake warm, it is important to put it under your jacket or other outer clothes, with insulating clothes on top of it, rather than just sitting on your lap.

I have seen some people carrying reptiles in cold weather with a blanket or jacket, thinking that will keep them warm as it does with humans. Of course a blanket will delay chilling, but since herps don't provide their own body heat, the blanket can only hold in the heat from the house or wherever it was before being taken into the cold. I am sure you know this already, but sometimes we are so used to thinking in human terms that we forget how different herp pets are from ourselves and cats and dogs, etc.

when i moved from michigan to colorado i brought my snakes with me. the bigger ones went into bags with a little bedding in them and the hatchlings went in the deli cups they were shipped in. i fed them all five days before the move so they'd have time to digest and i made them all soak for a little while the day before. i keep my snakes in sterlites, so i just stacked the sterlites up and put the snakes and a thermometer in the very top one with the lid off and buckled them in. it seemed to work really well for the most part, but i did lose two hatchlings on the way. they just didn't deal with the stress very well.

I have a 20 hour drive to look forward to sometime in the next couple of months, with anywhere from 12 to 26 snakes (remains to be seen how many hatchlings will be left!) to transport.

What has worked best for me (two 12 hour drives w/snakes in the last 2 years), and what I'll be doing this next time around, is to use small travel containers (my hatchlings are housed in little sandwich tubs, which will work fine for the trip) loaded up with aspen. I don't plan to use any extra heat on the corn snakes, but I will have a thermometer probe tucked in with their tubs so I can keep an eye on temps through the trip.

I prefer to stick with NO hides. A deep layer of aspen will offer plenty of hiding opportunity. With an actual hide, I'm worried about it rolling and crushing the snake during the trip. If you're talking something lightweight like a toilet paper roll, though, that should be fine.

No water in the tubs--it'll just spill and make a mess. Offer water if/when you stop for the night, and when you reach your destination.

An insulated box would be best to keep the tub in, where it's nice and dark, and the temperature is more stable.

If you have a passenger, though, on a lap should be an acceptable solution... Just be sure he's not getting too hot or cold, and that you have a secure place to set him if the passenger wants to take a nap.