corn snake water?

[north-florida-geckos]

my baby corn snake died 3 days ago.i got him from petsmart for 60 bucks and had him a 10 gallon tank with 60 watt day bulb water dish changed evey week and all that reptile bark had him on and was feeding him 1 pinky a week at frist we ate good and was holding them down then he stoted holding the pinky down after 3 weeks he stoped holding them down.why did he die?

now i got a new corn from a breeder i know and is much bigger and i have him in a 10 gallon tank now and water dish hot/cool side branch the climb on and 2 hides humid and hot hide lots of cover plants and now i bought a uth for him my freind told me to get and a temp with probe day high/lows are now 82.8-91.0 are they good for him to digest his food and do i have to change water every day also i have him on repticl carpet but when i get payed on fri day ill switch him over to aspen beding if i have to you tell me and the uth i got is a 5 gallon tank one so i put it over his hide and a 60 watt day bulb is this an ok set up thanks

 

[airenlow]

I would recommend pitching the lamp and only using the UTH. You might need a little bigger one (10-20 gal), but it will be sufficient for your little guy. You also need a thermostat, rheostat or dimmer to regulate the temps in the viv. 91* is a little too warm for corns. The water should be changed at least once a week.

PS. Welcome to the forum! :wavey:

 

[requin]

It's hard to say why your other snake died so I'll let someone else who has more experience answer that. If you kept feeding him after he regurgitated though that could be why - a regurge is something you have to be really careful with.

91 is too hot for him. Did you get a thermostat or rheostat (a dimmer) for your UTH? If not, you should definitely get one - aim for about 85. The warm sides in my snakes' tanks stay between 83-87 which seems fine. Since you have the under tank heater now, you should get rid of the light because it'll probably make it too hot in there - lights also tend to dry out the vivarium too much which can be a problem when your snake is trying to shed.

Where did you put the probe of the thermometer? You want to stick it directly on the glass, in the middle of your UTH so you can get the most accurate reading. If it's on top of the substrate, it won't be accurate.

I personally change the water more often than once a week but you probably don't need to do it daily. I usually change it once every 3 days and wash out/disinfect the water dishes once a week.

Most people don't recommend that you keep the humid hide in there all the time because some corns like them a little too much and then end up getting scale rot. I would also recommend getting a third hide for the middle part of the tank, mine seem to like that.

The repti carpet stuff is okay but I would recommend aspen because snakes appreciate the ability to burrow. You can also use newspaper or paper towels but those aren't as aesthetically pleasing.

Good luck, I hope this helps!

 

[north-florida-geckos]

thank you for your replys.. if any one else has any tips for me please shoot them at me:madeuce:

 

[LBoz]

Aside from the advice given, I'd recommend not getting another snake from that store. Try getting one from a trusted breeder. There are one or two (or 50) people on this forum from Florida that might be able to direct you.

 

[Caryl]

You've gotten good advice so far. Personally I change my snakes' water & wash out their water bowls at least every other day, though that's not absolutely necessary. Do check daily and make sure that the water is visibly clean. Some snakes tend to drag bedding into their water dishes, and others will evacuate their bowels there.

I have a couple of questions. Did you put the new snake into the old viv? If so, was everything thoroughly cleaned and aired out?

 

[wstphal]

91F is a little too warm, and the heat lamp is probably going to make the viv too dry. Water should be changed more than once a week but doesn't usually need to be done daily unless they poo in it. Aspen is nicer for snakes than the carpet stuff & I have read it's hard to wash poo out of the carpet & then you need to let it dry (which takes a day or so) so you end up needing several pieces of it.

Good decision on getting a snake from a breeder this time!

 

[north-florida-geckos]

thanks for your advise every one so far.very help ful and pestmart realy sucks for snake any way on my luck but the new snake is very cool and good i had the frist snake on repti multch and i empteyed that suff out and put in some reptile carpet and the i put the other stuff back in also my new snake already ate the breeder i got him form said to do so i feed him 1 pinky and hes doing good i also wshed the water bowl out and the tank but not the stuff in there is that bad?

 

[Buzzard]

Like everyone else mentioned, get rid of the light. Regulate(dimmer switch, thermostat, whatever works best for you) the warm side in the mid 80's and the cool side, upper to mid 70's if possible. Belly heat is important for digestion. that could of been 1 issue. Though I cant explain why your last snake passed, I can say that there is a lot of great info on this site as well as many of the breeder sites. Many breeders here have links to there site that can run down some basics on getting and keeping your snake healthy. Try that if you start running into problems, and of course you can always ask questions here.

Oh I check water daily, about ever 2-3 days is normal for a change(for me)

 

[Nroc]

Not sure if this advice is too late:

Sanitize the tank completely incase the previous snake had any transferrable health issues. Also, any hides or other furniture that you plan to use again should also be sanitized...

 

[north-florida-geckos]

to late the new one is already in tho is that bad?

 

[wstphal]

It could be bad if the first snake died of something contagious. I would take the snake out & wash the tank & all the stuff & put it all back together after washing. OK, maybe your first snake didn't have anything contagious, but we don't know, and if it did AND your second snake hasn't caught it yet, washing could help. You can use water with a little chlorine bleach in it if you rinse really well & make sure the bleach smell is gone before putting your snake back in.

 

[carnivorouszoo]

no change your setup

Your temps are still too high. They should not get over 85. The heat will kill the new snake if it isn't brought down. I change the water in my vivs everytime I clean up poo or when I feed them.

 

[carnivorouszoo]

sorry for the dp, I realized that sounds way too harsh, forget sounds, it is too harsh. Sorry I did not mean for it to come out that way. I read that over 90 degrees can kill a corn, that is what I really meant.