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1st timer, just adopted adult

S

SnizzySnazzletooth

New member
Hello! I just adopted a 5+ year old albino via CL, 'Free' to a Good Home, including his habitat. He belonged to a teenager who lost interest, who was not around when I picked up the snake, so I was unable to get much info. He came with a (30g? - 3’ long) tank, hide, dish, heat rock (I did not plug it in), and under tank heater, which is improperly mounted on the Inside/bottom of the tank. There is also a noticeable smell, so I suspect the substrate has not been changed in...who knows how long. You can't smell it across the room, it's not overwhelming. The snake is already spending a little time outside the hide, and checking out anyone nearby.

I just dropped some dough in the giant river for a replacement UTH, Thermostat, cleaner, and disinfectant. While everything ships, he will be left as-is, but I’m anxious to thoroughly clean the tank, and get him set up right.

After giving him some time to settle from the adoption, I’ll get some pics taken and posted. This forum has been a fantastic resource, Thank You to all who contribute. Any feedback and suggestions are appreciated.
 
Congrats and thank you for adopting a needy corn! It sounds as though you are almost ready for him, but I would definitely clean his viv in a few days at least by replacing the substrate. All you need to do to clean it is wash the viv thoroughly with soapy water and rinse thoroughly, then do another rinse with a little vinegar or bleach and rinse again until there is no vinegar or bleach smell. You don't need any other special disinfectant.

Also clean everything in the viv (hides and water dish) the same way.

Do you have new substrate? Aspen is always a good choice, do not use cedar or pine shavings, the oils can be toxic to corns.

DO NOT use the heat rock! They have been known to burn snake bellies, they are mainly used for turtles and other basking creatures, corns are not one of them.

I am glad you know that the UTH should be on the outside of the viv.

There are lots of stickies on the tops of each topic on this forum, read through them all and you will be ready to go with your new baby!
 
Can't wait for the pictures. Kudos to you for adopting this critter. You sound like you are doing everything absolutely right so far. :D
 
The morning after

So today I went to try to spot clean, and realized how neglected his habitat has been. Digging through just a section of the existing substrate revealed copious solid waste, old skin pieces, and gooey nastiness underneath.

After seeing this, I have setup a secondary enclosure, burning ventilation holes into a 30 gallon opaque plastic tub, and lining with paper towel. I grabbed a 2nd UTH, and had an extra dog bowl he can use for water. I'm giving the pad a little bit to warm up, and moving him tonight. There is a bottle of 'Zoo Med Wipe Out 1 Disinfectant' that should already be on it's way here, but I appreciate the vinegar/bleach suggestion. I'm also interested to try chlorhexidine.

While I don't mind getting him setup properly, I hope he doesn't have health issues as a result of the way he's previously been kept.
 
Yeah, if his viv is that dirty, definitely get him out of there. Watch for labored breathing or wheezing or if he opens his mouth to breathe. He may have a respiratory infection.

Your secondary setup sounds perfect, and CLEAN!!!
 
Update..Amazon delivery arrives.

Thankfully, "Ryuu" looks to be healthy thus far. He sure seemed hungry. When I opened his habitat, he practically leaped out, presumably smelling the thawed mouse nearby. Up to this point, he has been very nervous, running or hiding each time I came near him. This time I had to grab him to keep him from escaping, and hunting dinner. After returning him to the habitat, I offered the the hopper with feeding tongs (glad I waited to use these), he snapped it up hard and fast, and gobbled it down. After he's had a couple days to digest his food, I hope he will start becoming less fearful of being handled, but I am patient if it takes him longer. To this point, I have only held him to move him, since he's acting fearful.

He is still in the secondary enclosure. So far, he's only left one small yellow spot on the paper towel. With the sanitizing product finally arriving, I hope to sanitize his primary house tomorrow (outdoors). Just using soap and hot water resulted in black water, black rag, and plenty more stink, so I will rest easier after taking this last step. I grabbed a bag of 'Eco Earth' loose coco fiber substrate. My only concern with it is that it's brown, so I hope it doesn't camouflage poops too much.

Thanks to those keeping an eye on us.

PS.. I was planning (researching) on getting a Boa baby this spring (still may). This corn adoption was rather spontaneous.
 
SnizzySnazzletooth said:
I grabbed a bag of 'Eco Earth' loose coco fiber substrate. My only concern with it is that it's brown, so I hope it doesn't camouflage poops too much.
Click to expand...

This is why I like aspen, you see just about everything nasty!

Glad he is a good eater for you, just watch carefully for a regurge since it is hard to see.
 
He did regurge. He also splashed quite a bit a water out of the bowl. It's a big dog bowl shaped in such a way that it's unlikely he dumped it. More probably, he was thrashing about in the water.

The mouse came from the old owner. Next time I'll try one from the pet shop.
 
Aspen VS Coco Looks

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Decorating Incomplete
 
It's looking nice, I like the background. The hide looks pretty huge though, your little guy might like something a little tighter. Are you aware of KathyLoves regurge protocol? It's important to stay on top of the regurge thing so it doesn't become a cycle.

Your snake is really pretty, btw :)
 
Appreciate the link.. I now also have a temperature controller running, so I know he's properly dialed-in. The shoe-box is temporary. His wood hide has so much white crap in the nooks and crannies, I'm just going to get him a new one.
 
SnizzySnazzletooth said:
His wood hide has so much white crap in the nooks and crannies, I'm just going to get him a new one.
Click to expand...

I like the Exo Terra hides like this one. They come in lots of sizes and are really easy to clean anything off of.

http://www.amazon.com/Exo-Terra-Rep...qid=1395824115&sr=8-1&keywords=exo+terra+hide

Also, make sure he has one at each end for each temperature, and use some plastic aquarium plants or silk vines for ground cover. I like the tall aquarium plants, they bend over and give great cover, and some of the prettier colored floral ones.

I agree with Jess, love the background!
 
my corn Vera loves dollar store vines. She uses them like a road to get across the cage without actually coming out of cover. Best part, they're a dollar! We bought two vines and combined all the leaves onto one so it's nice and bushy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Habitat Adds

Some additions..

Dollar store: Plastic Plants and Coco Fiber Hide
Pet Shop: Long Silk Plant, Rock Hide, Small Jungle Vine, Buddah Warrior Decoration

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Nice. You can also add some more ground cover in the form of aquarium plants, some that have small colorful flowers or leaves will fill in the front of the tank nicely. You can't go wrong with more groundcover!
 
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