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Cold corn snake

Shelliebear

Shelliebear

Team Snug
We have a UTH under Cheesecake's rock on one side of her 10 gallon.
On the other side is a large waterbowl.
She's never under her rock--she instead pushes the substrate away from under the water bowl and curls up under it. (I have no idea how she can breathe under there, it's a heavy water bowl!)
When I go to pick her up, she's always freezing cold. :(
I would move the UTH to under the water bowl, but she pushes the substrate off the bottom of the tank, and I didn't think it would be good for her to be right on the warmed up glass. :/
What should I do? :(
 
A couple questions to start:

Is the rock hollow? Is there room for her underneath it? Is the UTH controlled? What is the temperature on the glass above the UTH (using a probe thermometer or a temp gun)? How old/large is Cheesecake? Is she eating okay?

Let's start with that and then we will try to help you as best we can. Likely, Cheescake's behavior is not a cause for concern. :)
 
Cheesecake is about 5 months old. She eats 2 pinkies once a week, hasn't turned them down once, not even when she's blue.
The rock is hollow--it's one of the Zilla brand (I think zilla anyway) rocks, size medium.
My probe thermometer broke, so I can't say for sure, but it feels pretty warm. Not hot, just warm, and on top of that are Aspen shavings, about an inch thick, as substrate. She loves to burrow holes through the Aspen--that's her favorite thing to do. It's so cute, she has little tunnel systems leading to her rock and out to different walls of the tank. :D :D
 
Also, she has been shedding perfectly fine, in one whole piece. Don't know if that's important but just thought I'd add it.
 
Well, if she is eating and digesting okay, I wouldn't worry about it at all, except to say that you really should get the temperatures on the UTH measured and regulated. If it feels warm to you, to them it is very hot, as our internal body temperature is much much higher than their ideal internal temp. Usually "warm" to the touch puts the temperature in the low 90's, which is much too high for a corn. So, get on that thermometer/rheostat so you can make sure Cheesecake stays happy and healthy. You also might want to consider giving her another hide on the cool side like a toilet paper roll half buried in the substrate, just so she doesn't have to squeeze herself under the water bowl if she doesn't want to.
 
I did have another hide on the other side of the tank--what's funny is she seems to just love going under the water bowl. :shrugs:
I can't figure it out, but I think she likes that as a hide better than anything else.
I guess I'll put the other hide back in there though and see if she likes that now.
When I say warm though, it's pretty cold here, so my hands are always freezing. :( I know it's probably still a tad too warm directly on the glass though.
I had a very nice probe that lasted about 2 days and then it accidentally dropped into a water bowl. It wasn't submersible in water...so now it always says the humidity is 100% and the temperature is 70% (and i know for a fact it's not, lol).
Is the tunneling normal, too? She seems to love that also. Every time we replace her Aspen shavings, she makes the same tunnels, leading to the same places. It's adorable...she's OCD just like me. :D :D
 
I would switch out the water bowl for a solid bottom one (if you haven't already) and place the water dish on the bare glass of the bottom of the viv.
Place substrate around the bowl, make sure none gets under it.
Also add another hide away from the UTH.
Usually a big open hide isn't good enough, if you stuff it with paper or similar materiel they will feel more secure.
 
I have had many snakes do that. I do agree that you should be monitoring the temps in his tank cause what seems warm to us is burning to them. However, there maybe nothing that you can do about burrowing under the water dish until they get to big to do that. I have flat bottom bowls and that does not help, they still lift up the bowl and go underneath even. Sometimes even if it is on the glass. So what I would recommend is check you temps and check your hides. They like to be in tight confind areas, so it could just be his hides are to big for him right now. Him feeling cold is the same as the heat in the tank. Just because he feels freezing he could really just be 75 degrees. Which is his normal low and maybe he likes being on the lowside of normal.
 
Most of my snakes seem to prefer hiding under their water bowls. I think they probably feel safe there, and most likely like the cooler temperature. I'm not sure why another responder feels the need to stop the snake from doing this by placing the water bowl directly on the glass. My water bowl is plastic, made for reptiles, so it's not too heavy.

Before you're able to get a thermostat for your UTH, you may want to add more substrate. I usually have more than an 1" in my cages. An inch of substrate over the UTH may not be enough to reduce the surface temperature, especially if you're using Aspen. I use Cypress Mulch.
 
You probably need to check the instructions that came with the UTH. Mine say that you shouln't use more than an inch of substrate over the top as this could cause it to overheat.

If the mat feels warm, then it's probably too hot. It should feel lukewarm to you - well below core human body temp.

I think the first thing is to replace the thermometer and find out whether the warm end is the right temp. If that checks out OK, then just pop a few more hides and ground cover in with her. I think forcing her out from under the water dish risks stressing her. Maybe she just needs more hides to choose from.
 
Our one girl likes hiding under her water bowl. We bought a pet bowl like this this that she can safely crawl under. She always feels cold when I pick her up, but cool side temps on her tank are 75-ish (for what it's worth, we bought those bowls because all of our snakes like hiding behind their water bowls at times.
 
Oh, the rabbit bowl seems like a neat idea.
I put a toilet paper roll in her tank, halfway under the shavings. She seems to like it, I think--she went into it and I didn't see her for a while, but I'm not sure if she went under her bowl again or not. :p
 
Similar issue

I have a similar issue with my baby corn snake. She used to use her warm and cold hides pretty regularly until she discovered the wonders of the water dish. Now she makes a beeline for the dish no matter where I put her in the cage. I just fed her last night and am afraid that she won't leave her water dish to digest properly. Should I try moving the dish to the warm side to encourage her to digest or just trust her? I have only had her about a week and last night was the first time I've fed her, so I'm unsure of all her normal habits yet. Thank you for your help :)
 
Like many others, i would get a temp gauge. Secondly, I think a thermostat is really important as well. If these are an issue, you might be okay for a while, but eventually it can lead to serious issues. The fact that your snake always stays on the cold side may mean nothing, but it could be an indication of trouble.
 
I bought the large water bowl hide from petsmart cause mine always went under the water bowl too and he loves the hide :)

Make sure your temps are fine and if they are then you should have nothing to worry about
 
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