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Hey there!

Rudy

Rudy

New member
Hey guys, I am new here (Obviously). My name is Andy, or Rudy (family nick name), I am 18 and have a baby corn snake I purchased from Petco on Sunday. His name is Fernando (My friend named him cause I couldn't think of a name). Fernando is currently being housed in a 29 gallon tank. I have just aspen shavings and a little log for him to hide under. As well as a water dish and a UTH mounted on the side of my tank and a ceramic bulb above that area. I have both running because of 2 reasons. #1 I don't think the side heater gets the tank very warm and #2 I like to have my air conditioner running. The past few days I didn't have it running because I didn't want him to get too cold. But now that I have my ceramic infrared bulb in there, I feel alittle more comfortable running my AC unit. Friday is payday (yipee!) and I plan on stocking my tank a bit more with things Fernando would enjoy and or need.

Long story short... I am Andy and new to this forum and would appreciate all the help I can get!

Thanks guys!

-Andy
 
Welcome to the Cornsnake Forum, Rudy!

You've got a thermostat or some other way of monitoring temperatures in the viv, right? I'm not certain what kind of ambient temperatures Wisconsin has, but I think that both a ceramic bulb and a UTH is a bit of over kill? Most people here will tell you that you should just a UTH anyway.

Cornsnakes absorb heat through their bellies, so having the UTH probably isn't of much use. You should have a thermostat (preferably) or a rheostat (if you can't find a thermostat) to make sure the temperatures are in the right 'zone'.

Sounds like you've got a good setup (pics of Ferdy and his viv anyway, please!) so I'd recommend some fake plastic vines and plants that you can just stick onto the glass of his viv.

Make sure the lid is secure! It's a matter of -when- your cornsnake will get out, not if!
 
Note to self! Re-read before posting!

Most people here will tell you that you should just use a UTH anyway.

Cornsnakes absorb heat through their bellies, so having the UTH on the side of the glass probably isn't of much use.
 
Welcome Rudy!
You might find that the heater works better under the tank. Put something under the edges of the tank to raise it up a little for airflow.
If you get a thermostat to regulate the heater it should be the only heat that you need. Unregulated the heater can get a little too hot for your snake.
Get us some pics of Fernando and his redecorated vivarium.
 
Sarynkitamo said:
Cornsnakes absorb heat through their bellies, so having the UTH on the side of the glass probably isn't of much use.
Click to expand...
Actually . . . many of the bigger breeders, and several smaller ones, have individual reptile rooms that are kept at 80-85*F so there is virtually no direct belly heat for their entire collections. Personally, I currently have back heat on all of my racks except for my keeper hatchling rack and have not had any problems with digestion of meals. With that said, I do have my UTH's attached to the bottom of the aquariums I use for my snakes. ;) Just wanted to note that while it's probably the better way to provide heat, belly heat is not necessarily as vital as many believe. I think it's more important to provide that temperature gradient of warm to cool.

Welcome to the forums Andy and congrats on the new corn pickup. You do have physical space in your living quarters for more don't you?! :grin01:

D80
 
Hehe, thanks for the warm welcome guys! I do plan on getting pictures up, but my phone doesn't take the best pictures granted its a 2megapixel camera I am waiting on getting a real digital camera if you REALLY need to see pictures I guess I could take some :p I'll move the heating pad to the bottom of the tank. So you really think that the ceramic bulb isn't going to be needed? I don't have a temperature control on my AC unit so I don't know what temperature it cools down to... I have a REALLY old AC unit, it is probably from the early 90's late 80's. The unit just keeps staying cold and eventually freezes into an icecube(literally) until I shut it off and let the ice melt. Anywho, I do have a standard fluorescent fish tank bulb lighting the tank. I read that corn snakes don't need special lighting requirements like most snakes. I would like to at least get 1 more corn snake in there, I don't know if it is "allowed" but it would be nice to have another one.
 
Rudy said:
I would like to at least get 1 more corn snake in there, I don't know if it is "allowed" but it would be nice to have another one.
Click to expand...

It's highly recommended that you keep each cornsnake separately if at all monetarily possible. Except during breeding season they tend to keep to themselves, and most people think that keeping two snakes together is just asking for trouble.

http://cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71131 is a little cautionary tale about my friend who keeps his cornsnakes together.

If you have no other option than keeping them together, consider waiting to get the second snake until you can keep them separate. If you absolutely must have two corn snakes in the same vivarium, feed them separately in plastic containers.
 
Well from what I read prior to joining this site, I knew not to feed the snake in his regular home. Learning Hand + Home = Food is bad... Hand + Box = Food is good :p But my corn snake is still so tiny and the ones at petco are the same size maybe an 1/2'' shorter or longer. I would love to have 2 in the same viv but if you guys really cringe about that thought, then I guess I won't :)
 
*gives you a cookie* ^_^

You should look into getting tongs or medical forceps if you can. Remove the hand thing from the equation entirely. Not a must-have thing, but it's generally a good idea.

*shifty eyes* you should do some cellphone pictures!
 
Welcome, that is a beautiful little snake, Fernando. You have lots of room for him to grow. Good luck and have fun.
 
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