Greetings!

[shaft6977]

Hey everyone. Just finished setting up my tank and I'm currently dialing in the UTH. Tomorrow morning I'm headed to the breeder to pick out my very first corn snake! What exactly should I be looking for?

 

[jagodzinski]

Congrats! If you mean in terms of what snake to pick you, you want to look for an alert snake - he should be moving about, flicking his tongue once in a while, showing interest in exploring his surroundings. Look for smooth scales, no damaged or torn scales. Also, make sure you ask the breeder some questions such as, how the snake eats, how many meals he has had, whether or not they have shed before.

Do you know what morph you are looking for? Please add pics once you get the snake! And once you do, reduce the temptation to handle right away because the snakes need several days to acclimate.

Welcome to the forum!

 

[shaft6977]

Thanks! I really like the Miami, although I don't think the guy breeds that particular morph. My second favorite, believe it or not, is just the standard wild-type. Does that make me weird?

 

[DollysMom]

No you are not weird. Many of us are fans of the classic or normal. That was the one I wanted the most. It's a good thing too because breeders often get normals in those eggy surprise packages. Normals are beautiful. I think those of us who love them should form a normal fan club.

Let us know what you get. Welcome to the forum!

 

[hypnoctopus]

Welcome to the forum! Normals are very interesting because they are extremely variable. So it's neat to watch the snake grow and change.

 

[shaft6977]

Just got back from the breeder's place. Drove an hour and a half to get there and he stood me up. I'm just a little PO'd right now. So I ordered one from snakesatsunset.com. Should be here tomorrow. Anyone ever order from them before?

 

[jagodzinski]

Oomph. I'm sorry about that. What happened?

I don't know anything about snakesatsunset.com, but if you wanted to learn more about people's experience with them - there is something called "Boards of Inquiry" that I believe is on a site called FaunaClassified which has reviews of breeders. I have no experience with it but there is a sticky describing it under the NewMembers forum.

Good luck with your snake! We would love to see pics when he arrives.

 

[shaft6977]

I'm not sure what happened. We agreed to meet at his place at 8 am this morning and when I got there, no one was there. I messaged him 4 times and hung around town for an hour and final left after never getting any response. Finally got a message 3 hours later and all he said was "Sorry I missed you." No explanation or anything. Lesson learned, I guess.

 

[kdickens]

Your Snake

So ... did you get it?

 

[shaft6977]

Left there and ordered one online. Here he is!

 

[Dragonling]

Yay, little cutie normal! Out of curiosity, where did you order from?

 

[shaft6977]

snakesatsunset.com.

I was pretty pleased with them, other than the fact that they didn't tell me they were sending a hatchling that hadn't even eaten for the first time. Luckily, he took right to the frozen pinkie.

 

[DollysMom]

Congrats. Glad he's got a good appetite. Cute little guy for sure. Welcome to the normal club!

IMO no one should sell a hatchling who hasn't eaten without disclosure and the buyer's agreement to it in advance. Glad that "all's well that ends well" in this case.

 

[shaft6977]

I totally agree. I'd never ordered anything but fish online before, so I didn't even think to ask if he'd been fed. Imagine my relief when he swallowed it down!

 

[kdickens]

Looks great! I'm glad he's eating well. All breeders should feed two or three times before selling. But most of the time, there's not a problem.