Lola - Progression

[Gulf Coast Girl]

Hi all, I'm new here (this is only my second post) and I've been reading a bunch of the progression threads and thought I'd do one of my own.

This is my first snake, it's a Creamsicle that I got from Petland. I know many of you frown on pet store snakes, but it's my first snake and it was a bit of an impulse purchase After reading some of the For Sale threads here by breeders, I'm sure my next snake will be from one of the breeders here

Anyhow, I don't know the gender of my snake, but I'm guessing female and calling her Lola. Since I don't really know the gender I thought Lola was a fitting name (a la the song Lola by The Kinks). The reason I think female is that right after the cloaca, the tail immediately goes very narrow. I'll probably probe it in a few months to be sure and if it turns out it's male I'll change the name (not like it will know right).

I'm keeping a brief journal of feedings and weight in Excel to help me stay on track. I'm sure you more experienced folks don't need to resort to this, but since I'm a newbie, I thought it would be good if I kept everything in writing.

Today is the first time I weighed her and she weighed in at 8.5g.

Here are some picture of her I took with the macro setting on my camera.

Sleeping

Here you can kind of see where the tail narrows, maybe you experts can let me know if you think I'm right in my gender guess or not.

She hasn't shed since I hot her on 9/23/10 so I'm hoping she will soon. Also, I'm really hoping more of the yellow coloring comes out as she gets older... but I have no idea what to expect since she's my first snake.

 

[Gulf Coast Girl]

Some more information.

Currently Lola is residing in a 15 gallon aquarium with a metal screen on top. I have the screen secured with 4 locks and I filled a tube sock with aquarium rocks and I keep that on top of the little door on the screen top. The door has a little turn lock but I feel better with a little weight on it anyway.

I have 2 hides, one on warm side, one on cool side and a big water dish on the cool side. I'm using aspen bedding. I've got the tank on a metal shelving rack and what's neat is I can look at the bottom of the aquarium through the rack and see all the trails she has made on the bottom. I should get a picture of that.

Right now I'm using a heating lamp but will eventually switch to a UTH. I live in FL and I keep the heat lamp on in the day so the warm side of the tank is 84 f during the day. I shut off the lamp at night and my house temp is 75 f. Humidity is generally between 40-55%.

I also have a 113 lb. dog in, but he's an older dog and doesn't bother the aquarium at all. I always put the dog in the back yard before I take the snake out just to keep the stress level to a minimum.

I guess that's all I can think of for now

 

[Sarah1228]

She's so pretty! I loooove the last picture! Way too cute!

 

[Gulf Coast Girl]

She's so pretty! I loooove the last picture! Way too cute!

Thanks Sarah!!! I realize my little corn snake is not as vibrant and dazzling as so many that I've seen here.... but nonetheless.... I'm tickled pink to have her and just want to make her life here in my home a happy one

 

[Sarah1228]

Thanks Sarah!!! I realize my little corn snake is not as vibrant and dazzling as so many that I've seen here.... but nonetheless.... I'm tickled pink to have her and just want to make her life here in my home a happy one

Yes she is bright & vibrant! Lol when I saw that yellow I was like daaaaang! She's only gonna get brighter! Trust me!

 

[oneirogenesis]

Beautiful snake and I love the nail polish! You and Lola have the same colour scheme going on

The close-up picture of her face is adorable.

 

[Gulf Coast Girl]

Yes she is bright & vibrant! Lol when I saw that yellow I was like daaaaang! She's only gonna get brighter! Trust me!

That's good to know! I'm really hoping the yellow comes out more but when I asked the girl at the pet store she said she wasn't sure but didn't think the colors would change. She was very helpful and nice but obviously not an expert. I look forward to learning a lot from you all

Beautiful snake and I love the nail polish! You and Lola have the same colour scheme going on

The close-up picture of her face is adorable.

Thanks! I love that close up face picture too.... I would have taken more but she's still a baby and was getting a little frantic so I put her back in her home and let her be.

Summer is over now so I should probably ditch the yellow/white polka dots. It was fun for a while though

 

[Sarah1228]

I am far from an expert but I've learned sooooo much from everyone & these forums! But one thing I know for sure she will change colors when she grows bigger & older. My baby did! When I first got him at a month old, he was a pale orange & off white color. Now he's bright orange, some red, lots of yellow around the neck, & very little white!

 

[Sarah1228]

Some progression photos on snakes u will see on these forums are so cool! Sometimes you'll even ask yourself....is this the same snake?

 

[Jessicat]

Here's a picture that shows you how to visually ID your corn's sex. It's not 100% foolproof, but it should give you a better idea.

Female tails taper right after the vent and are usually shorter. Male tails are longer, thicker, and take awhile to taper off.

 

[Gulf Coast Girl]

Here's a picture that shows you how to visually ID your corn's sex. It's not 100% foolproof, but it should give you a better idea.

Thanks Jessicat! I looked at the picture before I read the description and I guessed the 4 on the left correctly by their tails. I really think Lola is a female because right after the Cloaca the tail is instantly narrow. There is no extra width whatsoever past the cloaca.

I really appreciate the picture you posted, one of the best I've seen in countless hours of searching for information. Thanks so much!!!

 

[Dreamsnake]

The true gender is not entirely important unless you want to make some eggs. My male snow has a really long tail with a gradual taper. I like the pink eyed corns as well.

 

[Christen]

Lola is beautiful. Congrats! I think that it is a great thing to keep track of everything. I am sure that many of us with many years and many snakes do the same thing. It is hard to keep track even with one but it gets harder with more. Even when I had a couple one would shed and I would swear that he just shed 2 weeks earlier. So the short end of that is I have an excel spread sheet set up as well. :laugh:

 

[Christen]

Oh and if she turns in to a he you can just call her Lolo. I had a hatchling this year that I swear he was a she (I think I was kind of hoping) he is a little amel and I started calling him Ruby almost as soon as he came out of the egg. Well when I finally probed him his named changed to Rudy.

 

[Rdoyle]

s/he is nice looking corn

 

[Snakehead]

Pretty snake! If I had to guess, I would say female also, but untill you probe it you can't be 100% sure. Or at least try to pop the tail. I think she may be a cubed pattern also!

 

[Nanci]

Lola is really pretty! I'd guess female. And cubed!! Nice pics of her!

 

[Daniel]

That was one excellent 'impluse buy' right there!

 

[Jessicat]

Thanks Jessicat! I looked at the picture before I read the description and I guessed the 4 on the left correctly by their tails. I really think Lola is a female because right after the Cloaca the tail is instantly narrow. There is no extra width whatsoever past the cloaca.

I really appreciate the picture you posted, one of the best I've seen in countless hours of searching for information. Thanks so much!!!

No problem!! Those are taken by Kathy Love. I'd DEFINITELY recommend buying her book. It's considered the corn snake bible around these parts.

Even though there's tons of information on this site, buying her book is definitely worth it. Theres lots of information on husbandry, breeding, answers to problems you may be having. Oh, and did I mention lots of beautiful color pictures of morphs! Lots of goodies.

Here it is on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/18..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=12D8DQ400R6FE0Z87BK5


Also, congrats on Lola!!! It's harder for me to visually ID a snake's gender from a side view like that, so I figured I'd point you in the direction of Kathy's informative picture. It's still probably a good idea to get her probed when you're comfortable doing that, but now you have a very educated guess!

Looking forward to seeing updates in this thread as Lola gets older! :cheers:

That's good to know! I'm really hoping the yellow comes out more but when I asked the girl at the pet store she said she wasn't sure but didn't think the colors would change. She was very helpful and nice but obviously not an expert. I look forward to learning a lot from you all

Also, just wanted to let you know that Lola is a Creamsicle Cube (as Nanci referred to). Cube is a form of Stripe. Just to confirm, she has a totally white belly right?! I thought it was worth mentioning since workers at chain pet stores usually don't know much about Corn Snake morphs.
There are some great photo collections of morphs on another forum called The Source, as well as Ian's Vivarium. You could also do a search here on Stripes/Cubes to see how they change over time.
Every Corn is unique. Part of the fun part is watching them change.

 

[Bree]

Lola is adorable! I can see why she was an impulse buy... How could you have left the store without her?! The sleeping picture is too cute.