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Greetings From Virginia

Shaggy

New member
I stumbled onto this forum.
Who would think to actually search "cornsnakesdotcom"? Oh well. I'm here and I am glad I found the site. I'm preparing to own my first snake. I imagine I'll find most of my answers by lurking around and searching, but nonetheless, I figured I'd join up and get involved.
Just as a quick introduction:
I have many years experience in keeping tropical fish (0 now), dogs (one German Shepherd presently), cats (0), lizards (kept and bred crested geckos for about three years - only gave them up because I moved coast to coast last year), and I'm also trying my hand at raising mostly good, honest, kids ;)

I work and travel a bit and figure snakes would be the perfect pet for my ability, time, and meanwhile educational and fun for the kids, two of which are snake crazy at the time.
I live in Virginia now, and think there's little I need to do to create a good environment for cornsnakes - since they were locals here long before we were. The seasons, daily temps, and humidity are already in range.

I am still a few months or so away from being ready to get a snake, but so far I've got a 30 gal breeder tank(?) (36x12x18), wire mesh cover, heat lamp, thermometers, humidistats, various decorations and climbing sticks, overhead flor. light.
I still need to decide on heat lamp or under tank head pad (or both - maybe it's the lizard-keeper background, but I think of reptiles as basking), substrate (planning on aspen shaving), thermostat options (planning on UTH with rheostat), and good options for water and hides.
I plan on having the tank ready and tuned up before getting a new snake, but some advice seems to say to start a baby in a smaller enclosure. It would be more work to start small and resize, seems to me.
Well, that's the start of my snake adventure.
Cheers to everyone!
 
Shaggy,

How's it going buddy? I'm actually in Northern Virginia around the Dumfries area. On my first corn as well, purchased from Off the Ark Reptiles in Chester, Va. Great place to purchase with very knowledgeable staff. If you're looking for a good resource for purchasing, you can't go wrong with him. Answered a ton of my questions prior to purchase, opened his store up to me on an off day (they were closed) to have me come down and gave my wife, kid and I a brief little tour of the place and let us look around.

Anyway, now that the plug is over. What you say about temps is dead on accurate. We are in a great place as far as temps for these guys are concerned. Humidity is perfect and needs no adjustments, and temps get just the right range for them as well. All a matter of what you keep your AC/Heat settings at in the house (ours is roughly 72, but we keep him upstairs where it's generally 5 - 7 degrees warmer).

Lots of Reptile shows with tons of stuff to look at every couple of months in both Prince William County at the fairgrounds, and in Richmond. Also some good ones in Maryland. Havre De Grace being the large one everyone knows. Also good places to get set-up meet breeders, whole salers, sellers, other enthusiasts, etc.

I'd love to have more people in our area come on out and let us know so we might be able to form a little Va meet group and stuff where we could trade, swap, exchange info, build cages/racks together, etc.

Anyway, I'm always around. Feel free to hit me up if you have questions about reptile stuff in the area. Starting to put together a pretty decent network of folks around here. Take care man!
 
My setup for Cruella

Also I have a 10 gallon for mine and it should last her a while as I got her at about 12 weeks old. She's going on 14 now (been with us a little over two weeks). I don't use any uth or lamps with her. She's eating fine, active, loves her hides and loves to be held. Not seeing any stress with her with my current setup. However, some may recommend heating options on here. I am no expert and certainly don't knock anyone else's stance on heating and corns.

Setup attached.
 

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Welcome! I have a white German shepherd that I love dearly.

I also became an avid snake fan when my job took me to distant areas and my fiance didn't want to feed or take care of my lizards. So, I found snakes to be an amazing pet when you aren't home a lot!

As far as OT (over tank) and UT (under tank) heating, I would recommend an under tank heater. But, it also depends on your yearly temps. Here in Texas, especially in the Summer, I hardly use the pad because it's rather hot outside (around 105 degrees). So the temperature inside my house is perfect for my snake.
 
Thanks

Thanks for the welcome.
@Sindrik8x: One thing I had decided was to not get a snake from a chain pet shop, so I am looking for a local breeder, or show in my area. I'm in Culpeper County, so I could find my way to the place you recommend. We moved last year, so I still haven't found good niche places yet. I had a few favorite pet and reptile stores in my old area - funny the things you miss after a move ;)
Nice set-up by the way, and cool snake, she looks quite content.

@Agonistes: I have been thinking and tinkering around with the tank set-up, and I agree, I think under-tank will be the way to go. I'll probably run it with a rheostat and just keep an eye on temps. I don't expect to have to add very much heat at all for most of the year. Which is part of another decision, where to put the snake housing. ...
 
Hello and welcome!

I know it seems to be logical for reptiles to need to bask and lord knows the pet stores will try and load you up with every kind of light bulb known to man, but it's been considered unnecessary or possibly harmful to have strong basking lights on nearly all snakes in the pet trade for years among lots of keepers.
There was recently a bit more evidence to support it being potentially harmful as a member here tried an experiment with UV lights and basking spots in his snake cages awhile back. Figured they had hides and stuff and could get away from the light if needed. But one of his adult snow corns developed really bad macular degeneration. And another member accidentally used too strong of a light once, meant for Beardies that they did not realize was that powerful and it gave their blizzard a horrendous sunburn.

Anyway, I'd just suggest anyone considering whether to use lights be very cautious with the type of light, would not recommend one for heating purposes at all, and to be especially careful lighting an enclosure for a morph of snake lacking in pigment.
 
I agree with the above. I only use a low wattage heat lamp in the very coldest days of winter for my snake. The rest of the year the UTH is perfect for him.
 
That's where I'm heading. I think the Ultratherm UTH is a good choice. I'll tie it in with a rheostat and keep things in range from there. I still need a little time to collect the required gear, oh, and the snake of course.
I also have to find a good source for mice. I think the only place that sells frozen mice in this county is Petsmart, and I am not impressed with the quality from what I hear. Of course, out in the country, who would _pay_ for mice?
 
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