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Hanging out on lip of cage?

amanda007

amanda007

Read, read, read!
My baby corn is in a little glass aquarium tank right now, with a wire mesh reptile lid. Because the aquarium has a lip on the inside of the tank for the hood/lights to sit on, there is a gap between the mesh and the lip, which is just the right size for my Chauncey to hang out on. We just got him yesterday, so he is still adjusting to the tank, but he seems to want to be up there all the time.

I'm pretty sure the temp is alright, UTH on one side, and I can put my hand on it and leave it there no problem, so it's not too hot (need a thermometer, the one I bought doesn't work now :p) Is there something else that could be wrong? Or does he just like it because he can sort of pack himself in there? He has two hides, one on the cool and one on the warm.

When he isn't on the lip, he's buried in his aspen bedding...

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Haha, one of mine does that too. He's just being a baby snake, exploring. Don't worry about it.

However, you need to remember that you need not only a thermometer, but a thermostat or a lamp dimmer to not only measure the temperature, but control it! It's pretty impossible to measure the temp with a hand, as the ideal hot temp for a corn is 80-85, which doesn't feel very warm to us at all.
 
P.S. Try giving him half of a toilet paper tube to hide under. Maybe the hides you have are too tall for him to feel secure.
 
Well I do have a TP tube in there, with one end mostly buried in the aspen so it's dark. I do have a rheostat hooked up, and it's working really well at maintaining the temp. I just don't have a really reliable thermometer, just a stick-on one left from when the tank was used for fish a few years ago.


I was hoping he was just exploring, within 5 min of being put in the cage yesterday he figured out he could get up there lol.
 
amanda007 said:
Well I do have a TP tube in there, with one end mostly buried in the aspen so it's dark. I do have a rheostat hooked up, and it's working really well at maintaining the temp. I just don't have a really reliable thermometer, just a stick-on one left from when the tank was used for fish a few years ago.


I was hoping he was just exploring, within 5 min of being put in the cage yesterday he figured out he could get up there lol.
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Oh ok, you have a rheostat. :) Digital thermometers with probes are like $10 at PetSmart or Petco. Make sure to run the probe all way down the bottom of the tank.

Try cutting the TP tube in half. I had a whole one half buried just like you, and my hatchling never used it. As soon as I cut it in half, though, she was all about that. ;)
 
Haha, it's all good. He's just sort of freaking me out. I've never had a snake before, and I just find it odd that he's up there. Not moving, just laying there. I have too look really close to see if he's breathing b/c he scares me out a bit.
 
Well, I got up this morning and he was still up there, but he looked dead. So I start lifting the top, and it looked like he was sticking to it, so I thought he was dead. Then I realize that he's pushing up against it, go to grab him so he doesn't fall, but he moves the opposite way and falls in to the cage onto the substrate. Needless to say, he was not very happy with me. So I felt like a big jerk. I went to get his TP tube so I could cut it in half and he tried to bite me, even though I was too far away. So I REALLY feel like a big jerk.

The TP tubes are cut in half now, and I am going to make his other hide much smaller too. And then I'm not going to fiddle with anything until I feed him on Wed....or maybe Fri/Sat now since I just totally made him uncomfortable again. :(
 
To help, I read that someone puts small dowels there to keep the snake from "resting" on that little ledge. You'll probably need small dowels for all 4 sides, but doing that would keep him from always being up there.

This happened all the time when I had tiny corns. Keeps ya on your toes, cause you HAVE to be sure you've secured the tank. LOL.
 
amanda007 said:
Well, I got up this morning and he was still up there, but he looked dead. So I start lifting the top, and it looked like he was sticking to it, so I thought he was dead. Then I realize that he's pushing up against it, go to grab him so he doesn't fall, but he moves the opposite way and falls in to the cage onto the substrate. Needless to say, he was not very happy with me. So I felt like a big jerk. I went to get his TP tube so I could cut it in half and he tried to bite me, even though I was too far away. So I REALLY feel like a big jerk.

The TP tubes are cut in half now, and I am going to make his other hide much smaller too. And then I'm not going to fiddle with anything until I feed him on Wed....or maybe Fri/Sat now since I just totally made him uncomfortable again. :(
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He'll get over it but it seems every young snake hangs out on those lid lips. Obviously he likes it, so maybe put a branch near it so he has safe passage :)
 
Well he uses the branch in there to get up, and he can apparently slither along the whole lip, even around the corners. My husband suggested putting something up there, but if he likes it and is comfortable there, I don't want to take away his only comfort zone. Hopefully he'll like the smaller hides better, and spend more time down on the floor. We'll see how it goes for the next few days. I just don't want to stress him out more than I already have.
 
Emily1188 said:
P.S. Try giving him half of a toilet paper tube to hide under. Maybe the hides you have are too tall for him to feel secure.
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Emily-

Thanks so much! This really did the trick. He's been in his little half-tp tube hide all day today instead of up on the lip, and when I accidentally bumped it changing his water, he zipped out but seemed a lot less peeved at me, no tail shaking or anything. So hopefully this means he feels more secure in his new home.

Thanks again!
 
Paper towel rolls are also a favorite but for larger corns :)

I have one of those, a nice exo-terra hide and then a kraft dinner box and my yearling prefers the KD box lol :)
 
Totally normal. All of mine do that but I've moved to keeping hatchlign to yearlings in Herp Havens with no lip. Used to freak me out as well.

My adult corn totally goes for the cut in half cocoa pebbles box as a hide. She snubs the expensive natural looking one!
 
baby corns are arboreal, in nature they like to hide under loose bark. corns are hard wired to climb.
 
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