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Better starting small? (viv)

S

Shaggy

New member
I'm still getting things ready for my first snake. I do have a lot of reusable gear from years of keeping fish and lizards. I've got a 30 gallon tank cleaned up and ready. I'm working on heat and getting the tank set up. However, I see that most people here start snakes in 10 gallon or smaller set-ups.
Aside from easier clean-up, is there a compelling reason to start small?
I have a few small critter keepers that I could put to use, but I figured if I've got tank that can be used as the viv for life, why not?
I will provide plenty of hides and climbing stuff. I guess I figured that if you could start a snake off with more room, it would be better. Kind of like "if your kids could spend time at a big park or a big library rather than a small one, why not?"
 
Small tanks allow baby corns to feel more secure because they are afraid of large spaces. If you need to start out big, provide many hides, not just a warm one and a cold one.
 
Baby corn snakes get stressed in large areas, and it is unhealthy for a baby corn to be put in the open. Think of it like a good amount of baby animals, they stay in a den or some sort of hide until they feel ready to leave and possibly hunt for themselves. It is like a human baby, they would much rather be in a house or crib then in the open world alone.
 
OK, that makes sense. I don't _need_ to start out big, but I do like the idea of setting it up, and running it permanently. Even in the big tank, I will not be short of hides and cover. I've got choices from a plethora of plastic plants, sticks, caves, rocks, etc. The critter keepers are smaller than I would like for a snake, and aren't heated in themselves.
What's the grow rate over time in which a snake will move up?
I know growth is variable in the individual, but is it typically a few months, a year, or years, before graduating to the full size viv?
 
That is actually something I have wondered myself. The snake can be up to 1.5 times the long side of a rectangular tank is what I heard. I may be saying it wrong or it might not even be right.
 
That's long for temporary quarters! I think I might just build the big tank out with lots of hiding spots. Unless there's some trauma I'd cause.
Of course the savvy snake owner would say to start a baby in a ten, then keep room to get more snakes ;)
 
I might just use the plastic keepers for the first few feedings and get a routine down as far as knowing the snake. Then graduate to the big tank. I imagine that one down side to a big tank is playing hide-and-seek forever when it's time to feed.
 
There is nothing wrong with starting out in a larger tank if that is what you have. A nice warm side hide and a nice cool side hide along with plants, vines and some empty toilet paper tubes scattered throughout the center area should give a baby snake plenty of hiding opportunities.

The biggest concern with using a larger tank is your baby thermo-regulating properly. If the space between the warm and the cool side hides is bare and open they may stay on one side over the other. Hatchlings are hard wired to hide, they are small and would make a tasty snack for many predators. As they grow up they learn that the only thing that is going to swoop down from above is a hand and they start to come out into the open more often.
 
I also found that if I put a few inches of aspen in then I am able to bury some hides and toliet paper and paper towel rolls under, so that they almost have a tunnel system that is secure and useable as hides.
 
I will be using aspen. I considered using cypress mulch because it looks cooler, but aspen seems to be better for burrows. I think I'll have plenty of hides above and below ground.
As for starting off the snake, my plan now is to keep the snake inside a critter keeper which is inside the big tank, halfway over the heater of the big tank. I'll do that until the first few feedings are done, and the snake and I have an understanding. Then I'll release him/her to the big tank.
 
FWIW, I just read on a red-tail board that the established consensus was to put the 12-18" baby RTBs directly into at least a 20Long. The talk was as if the notion of stress-of-space was a non-issue.
 
That would make things easier to coordinate as well as avoiding the stress of moving twice for the snake. I think the trick is to have enough hides.
 
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