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Introducing myself and Clorox.

Brooklynyte

Brooklynyte

New member
Hi everyone, I'm brand spankin new to the snake scene and did my research and decided it was time for me to get a corn snake. I just purchased my Blizzard Corn from moreptiles.com and he should be arriving tomorrow. His name is Clorox and my name is Joe. I just have a few questions, even though I did my research I feel I still need a few answers.

Petland discount is not my favorite place, after all my research it disturbs me to see the lack of knowledge when I went in to buy my tank and supplies. First off I have a 10 gallon tank to start off with, I have the screen lid with two lock clips and I'm getting two more today so i could put one at each corner as I heard they are houdini's. I bought Desert Blend Lizard Litter for substrate... I know aspen is best but #1 I like the color and #2 I let that damn employee talk me into it... I know, I'm an idiot for that. It does say that its good for all snakes though so I'm hoping I could use it until I run out, and then buy aspen. Does aspen come in any darker colors? I would love to have a substrate that contrasts my Bliazzards light color.

I bought one hide and I'm going for another one today, just a simple half rock with an entrance. My water dish is an awesome glass astray from Marlboro lol.

She also talked me into buying a lamp instead of a UTH... "you dont see snakes getting heat from the ground in the wild do you?" is what she said. I know, another bad move. Is the UTH that much better than a lamp? I sorta like the way the tank looks with a light up top. So I still need to buy athermometer and humidity meter, some frozen pinkies, another hideaway, and if you guys say so, some aspen. I dont plan on feeding him in the tank as per suggestions so I'm hoping the Desert Litter isnt a big problem. And also, a UTH if its needed. Thank you for all your help and please let me know if theres anything I forgot or any suggestions you may have for a new corn owner. Thanks for all your help!!!
 
*sings the Chlorox song* "Mama's got the magic of- CHLOROX!"

Welcome Joe and Chlorox! :wavey:

The problem I have heard with Desert Litter bedding, both here and at BeardedDragon.com, is that it molds VERY quickly if it gets wet, and is also relatively non-absorbent. It's basically ground walnut shells- they tried to market it for birds, found it molded easilly, so they repackaged it and are now selling to herp folks. If you feed your snake out of his cage, the impaction risk is nil, but you definitely don't want him eating the stuff- it's NOT digestible and can impact their intestines- which is really ugly stuff.

I can tell you that my new hatchling (I've had her a week today!) loves to snuggle down in the aspen. She spends most of her time under her log, snuggled into it, but pokes her head out to glare at me when I enter and reaffirm that she is THE BIG BOSS around here. :crazy02: I'd go with aspen... I've not regretted it.

I'd take the lamp back and tell the woman she's a schmuck- how often do you really see Corn Snakes out lying in the sun?? They are nocturnal!! :shrugs: I am using a UTH, the T-Rex Cobra Heat pad, for my new little hatchling. It works quite well, and I am using a plug-in lamp dimmer from Home Depot to regulate it manually. I may look into a ZooMed Thermostat, and see how that works. They're like $23 online, so it won't be a huge loss if it sucks.

Good luck with your new little one. Post pics soon!

Lauren
 
Hey there!

I live in Brooklyn too, but do my shopping at the Union Square PetCo near my job. I went to a Petland Discount in the Financial District last week, and it was depressing. They had two garter snakes slithering around in a tank, no hides, looked like one of them had some weird problem with its skin, like it was caved in on the back - but I don't know much about garters.

The supplies at that one were minimal and cost more than PetCo too. My policy is that I only ask pet store employees if they have something and where they have it. If something they said were to contradict something folks agree on here, well, the likelihood that they have more experience than some of these people is nil.

I've been to the Petsmart on 86th St. too, and their fish tanks had dead fish floating around in them. I couldn't stay there. If you go to PetCo, make sure to get their PetCo card. I saved 5 bucks on my critter tank by having one.

Finally, welcome to the site and good luck with your new pet. :)

-Sean
 
Brooklynyte said:
She also talked me into buying a lamp instead of a UTH... "you dont see snakes getting heat from the ground in the wild do you?" is what she said.
Click to expand...

The rocks and ground a snake would move on in the wild absorb the heat from the sun and get warm. :shrugs: I have little faith in big chain petshops... if you're going to buy from a shop, go to a smaller family shop or something.

UTH is preferable to a heat lamp as a lamp will dry out the atmosphere.
 
Actually, the heatpad was more but I bought it anyway lol. I just spent 100 bucks in the pet store (not petland). This store was actually very good. Pet World on 86th and fort hamilton in Brooklyn. Ok, I bought...

One Exo Terra Heatwave UTH pad... $17.99

One ESU Electronic Temperature Control (thermostat) $39.99

One Exo Terra Hygrometer... $5.99

Four (just to be sure) Tank Top locking clips... $5.00

One Corner Rock Bowl for water... $5.99

One ESU Digital Thermometer WITH probe... $9.99

And thats it.. now I need some help setting up.

Can I place the hygrometer anywhere in the tank or a specific location?

I am using Desert Sand for now until I run out, then I'll buy Aspen but until then where do I put the thermometer and the probe for the thermostat? Will the snake burrow under the sand?

If the snake wont burrow under the sand, should I keep the temp higher so the 85f is up at the top of the substrate instead of under?

How do I mount the UTH, do I put it right on the glass or something else?

I appreciate all your guys' and gals help, you guys rock.
 
Ok, I apologize but I went and did some more research and figured since I'm using a thermostat, I'll just stick the UTH to the glass, second I placed the hygometer in the middle of the tanks back wall, might move it to the side wall for less eye sore, I taped the thermostat probe right to the bottom of the glass where the heatpad is and set it at 84 degrees and currently have the thermometer porbe on the glass floor to make sure the thermostat is working properly, I dont eat snake so I dont wanna cook "ox". I'm still not sure if the snake will burrow under the desert sand. Right now I'm just hoping that the sand will conduct enough heat to raise the temp above the substrate... if not, I'm going to buy aspen tomorrow. Thanks again for all your help. I'm so anxious to get my snake already, he should be here tomorrow around noon. If anyone wants to take a look, heres his pic... still on moreptiles.com,
06169m.JPG


Thanks again for all your help!!
 
Hi, I'm Bill from Memphis. I just got my MOReptiles babies today. Rusty is a male disappearing stripe Amel and Sunny is a male butter motley. I found Mark to be professional, knowledgeable AND patient.

Both the boys are happily investigating their 10 GAL tanks. Each tank is set up identically...locked screen top, UTH, aspen substrate, one sizeable ceramic water dish, one medium half log hide one the warm side and one half of a paper towel core on the cool side. I've decorated both vivs with some silk flowers. To my surprise both boys like to climb the flowers. I thought they would plant themselves under the aspen and stay for a week.

I've put the shipping cups in the tanks as security blankets, but it looks like I can remove them tomorrow. As per everyone's advise I'm going to wait until Satuday to feed and until next Wednesday to try handling them. At that time I'll get some photos of the boys and their digs.
 
Awesome Bill, congrats on your new babies. Yeah, Mark is a good guy. My Blizzard should be here tomorrow by noon. I'm leaving work early so I could take hime out of that box and put him in his new home.
 
Well, if that stuff is ground walnut shells, you should definitely be vigilant. The Zoo-Med UTH I bought came with a little instruction sheet that specifically says to avoid using walnut shells for reptile substrate.

I would think the only time you might raise the thermometer off the floor of the viv would be if you could be positive that the snake never burrows in it. Incorrect temperatures can cause all kinds of feeding problems, but burned snakes have it worse than cold ones, from what I've seen. You'll probably want to measure the temperatures at both spots initially to see what the differential is. If it is large, I doubt it's worth it to use that substrate at all, at least on the warm side.

-Sean
 
Well, I just went to the petstore, one where the guy is actually knowledgeable and owns snakes and he said to get that stuff out IMMEDIATELY, so thats what I'm doing, I went to take him out and he went to bite me lol, he's too cute... so I decided to give him a few minutes to get used to my scent since i just walked in the house. I just put him in around 12 today and it's now 4. I am going to be using cypress bedding now. I like it cause it's dark, plus I read on here it's safe and the snakes burrow into it.
 
Here he is, I dont know if its normal but he's been staying on the hygrometer serpentine style for a while now, I think it might be so he could see me sitting at the computer. Now I just have to find out when I should feed him my first feeding.

Here he is on video. (YouTube)
 
Pretty little fella you got there; looks real alert/not fearful too, which is a big bonus.

I hope my okeetee is as bold when he comes on Wednesday.
:cheers: Congratulations!
 
Nice looking snake. Glad to hear that you had a good experience with moreptiles.com At least now I'll know of another place online that is good to work with. I got 2 from Kath Love at cornutopia.com. She is really very easy to deal with also.
Rob
 
I have been using the walnut shell desert blend for quite a while now. My leopard Gecko loves it and my Corn has had no problems with it. He is able to manipulate it into positions that he likes under his hide so it affords him some of the comfort of burrowing under his hides. He does not get fed in his cage however so I cant comment on anyone that has had an impaction problem. I will probably change to a new substrate once this one has run its course but mainly just because I like to change things up every once in a while. I've had no problems with this substrate so it may not be others #1 choice but it is at least a passable choice if it is something you already have purchased. Just my two cents on the topic.
 
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