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My New Baby Corn Setup

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dryw1992

New member
Hey folks, this is Dryw (pronounced drew).
I just got a baby Okeetee Corn and its my first snake. I have a few questions, and I want to make sure my setup will be ok for a while.

1. I have a 14"x8" plastic "critter cage" with a self snapping lid. Inside i have a small water dish i made, a cardboard hide, and a fake plant. i am also using aspen substrate. i need to know if this cage is safe to use without snaps or something heavy on top to keep the snake from escaping.

2. I live in the dorms at NMSU and our room temp is usually 69-75. I talked to the breeder i bought the snake from and he said that the snake would be ok until the winter time. the terrarium itself is usually at 70-72 but there is no gradient. is that an ok temperature for food digestion?

3. I bought the snake 3 days ago, and i have been handling it for no more than 3 minutes a day. I don't want to over stress it but i still want to show my friends :p Is this ok, or should i wait like 2 weeks before handling it. And on this subject, how long should one typically wait before feeding the snake, the breeder told me that it had eaten one day before i bought it.

Alright, thanks a lot guys, hope that this wasn't super boring!
I look forward to participating in more discussions!
Dryw
 
This is an example of the cage i have, its not blue but that doesn't matter :p
I also threw in a picture of myself, why not!!?
 

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I'm not an expert. in fact I'm new here too, but from what i understand you should wait a min. of a week to hold your snake to let him get used to his new environment. And if he ate the day before you got him which you said was 3 days ago, you should wait at least 48 hrs to hold him after he eats, I don't think it's worth stressing him out just to show your friends. As far as tank heating goes you should use UTH for the warm side to keep that side about 80-85 degrees and about 70-75 on the cool.
 
the reason i wasn't sure about heating now is because with the tank being so small, i would think it could overheat super quickly. Thanks for your feedback, i'll prolly wait until this time next week before i handle him and maybe a little more to feed him.
 
if the tank is to small you could go to your local petco since they are having the $1 per gallon tank sale, you could get a nice 10gal tank for $10 and the mesh lid is on sale for $7 and then i believe tank clips are $2-3
 
oh that sounds awesome, i didn't know they were having that sale! would you happen to know for how long? would it be ok to get a 20 so i don't have to buy a new one when the snake gets older?
i heard that the size tank i had works great for babies because they feel much more secure
 
Hey dryw1992,

Go to Wal-mart buy a sterilite tub and a box of large binder clips(the black clips used to hold paper). You need the binder clips to secure the sides of the tub.

Tub with lid = 8.00
Binder clips = 1.40

Heat Pad = 20.00
Thermostat = 40.00 (from e-bay) or Dimmer = 10.00 (Wal-Mart)
Water dish = 5.00
Substrate = 0 to 10.00 (paper free - aspen)
Hide = free (old butter tub)

I can not get much cheaper.

Love the Fatman
 
70-72 is too low for a Corn Snake to properly digest. They need a gradient with the warm side being in the low to mid 80s.

Buy a heating pad and set it to medium. Stick it under half of the tub/ tank. If you buy a 20g long from Pet Co make SURE you get one with a VERY secure lid. The ones that PetCo sells in their $1 gal sale do NOT come with lids. Sometimes the lids are just as expensive as the tank was, and they are not very secure.

Tubs or a larger kritter keeper for the time being might be more secure.

Also, if you get a larger tub make sure to provide adequate hides and cover so that your baby feels comfortable. Good luck!
 
The size of your tub will prob be alright for the first 6 months or so the warm side temps should be about 85f the cool end isnt that important however i would not let it get any lower than around the 70f mark which you say is the average temp in the room anyway this is about the same temps as i keep mine and they are in perfect health i think you will be needing more tubs soon one snake is never enough lol
 
Everyone else gave really good advice about the habitat for your pet. I'll mention the handling though...different snakes are comfortable with different things. With our first, we didn't handle him until after his first feed. Our new baby more or less demanded that we hold her (we were getting her into home, and she started nosing my bf's hand. She very happily went to him and spent a considerable amount of time circling his fingers. As soon as she appeared the slightest bit stressed, we put her in her critter keeper (we use them too...the largest size), and she spent a good bit of time exploring in there.

Different snakes have different temperaments and tolerances. Do what's best for your snake...if he seems stressed, especially around others, then maybe less handling is good. Our boy is calmer, but still stresses if he's handled too much (a few minutes a couple times a day is what he tolerates well)

Note: I'm no expert...I haven't been here long, and I'm fairly new to cornsnakes myself.
 
I used the same type of little plastic cage as you when I got my first corn snake as a baby (mine is blue). All in all it was cheap but pretty much a waste. I couldn't make a warm and cool side in it because it was so small. The smallest UTH (under tank heater) that I could find was for a 10 - 20 gallon. So for a week I had a human heating pad under half of it set as low as possible because it was still getting too hot. I ended up buying a 10 gallon Zilla Critter Cage with the sliding locking lid. I love it because my snakes can't push it off and just in case they might be able to slide it open somehow from the inside you can put a little lock on the front.

Anyway a 10 gallon will last the snake for a long time. They say an adult needs at least a 20 gallon tank. I personally feel that is a bit too small. I like to give my corns room to stretch out. So I got my bigger snakes in 40 gallon tanks. The Zilla Critter Cages aren't cheap but they are very secure and my snakes have never escaped one. I think that makes the price worth it.

One more thing. Some people suggest feeding babies every 4 or 5 days. But I've always fed them once a week (every 7 days) with no problems. It's up to you and how fast your snake digests. I had one baby I had to feed every 4 days for a while because she digested so fast. You should give your snake two days after feeding before you start to hold them again. I always give them three because mine always poop on the 3rd day.

P.s.
That plastic cage you bought does make a good feeding bin until your baby out grows it.
 
WingedSweetheart said:
I used the same type of little plastic cage as you when I got my first corn snake as a baby (mine is blue). All in all it was cheap but pretty much a waste. I couldn't make a warm and cool side in it because it was so small. The smallest UTH (under tank heater) that I could find was for a 10 - 20 gallon. So for a week I had a human heating pad under half of it set as low as possible because it was still getting too hot. I ended up buying a 10 gallon Zilla Critter Cage with the sliding locking lid. I love it because my snakes can't push it off and just in case they might be able to slide it open somehow from the inside you can put a little lock on the front.

Anyway a 10 gallon will last the snake for a long time. They say an adult needs at least a 20 gallon tank. I personally feel that is a bit too small. I like to give my corns room to stretch out. So I got my bigger snakes in 40 gallon tanks. The Zilla Critter Cages aren't cheap but they are very secure and my snakes have never escaped one. I think that makes the price worth it.

One more thing. Some people suggest feeding babies every 4 or 5 days. But I've always fed them once a week (every 7 days) with no problems. It's up to you and how fast your snake digests. I had one baby I had to feed every 4 days for a while because she digested so fast. You should give your snake two days after feeding before you start to hold them again. I always give them three because mine always poop on the 3rd day.

P.s.
That plastic cage you bought does make a good feeding bin until your baby out grows it.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more with that underlined statement :)

I also have a 10 gallon that i have had since i got the snake, it has last me about 11 months so far and it will work for a couple more, so if you get a 10 gallon it will be good for at LEAST a year, I am going to move mine up to a 40 gallon here pretty soon, the way i see it is that you aren't freaking the snake out by putting it in too big of a cage right away and after a year or so, they will do fine in a 40 gal, this way you only need to buy 2 tanks and when yours gets big enough to put in a bigger cage, you can buy another snake for the 10 gal :D
 
My new baby is also in a plastic Kritter Keeper. I have had her for about 2 months and am already considering getting her a larger enclosure shortly. I do think the Keeper was just fine for a starter home for her though because she did seem to be comfy/secure in it. She's growing so fast though that I worry about her having enough room, so I might be upgrading her to a 10 gallon soon.

For heat, I am using a small heating pad that was made specifically for use with small plastic hermit crab enclosures (ZooMed Hermit Crab Heater), so it works perfectly for the plastic Keeper. I have it on a thermostat set at 85 and have no problem keeping a very nice stable temp gradient (85 on the warm side, 75 on the cool side), even in such a small enclosure.

Here is a pic from when I first set it up:

esnake5.jpg


You can see the part of the heating pad and thermostat on the right. I was borrowing that thermostat, but I bought a new digital one since then that I actually like better: HydroFarm Digital Thermostat

Congrats on your new baby! You should post pics of her/him, too!
 
Sorry, I forgot to add that once you have a temp gradient you will need to add another hide so there is both a "warm side hide" and a "cool side hide." Otherwise he might get "stuck" on one side or the other just because he wants to hide and he will not be able to regulate his temp effectively. :)
 
Hey Guys thanks for all the information!
Here's my update.
I got a small heat pad, it takes up a little less than half of the tank, and i put a terrarium liner in the bottom to keep the snake from getting burned. The temperature gradient is about 73 for the cool and 80-83 on the hot, depending on the time of the day. I also put an extra hide in the hot side. I only have a webcam on my laptop, no digital camera, so i'm going to try to get some pics up of the new setup.
I haven't handled the baby since wednesday, so about 4 days ago. I plan on feeding it its first pinky tomorrow, then i think he should be ready to handle by next wednesday. My feeding schedule will probably be monday at 2 and then again on wed/thurs at 2.
My snake pretty much only comes out at night, but thats ok with me, hes probably still getting used to his new home.
Thanks Again,
Dryw
P.S. If that feeding schedule sounds bad, let me know :D
 
Hey Dry I'm here in Las Cruces too. Head over to Awesome Reptiles on Solano (look for teh green light outside the store) and they should be able to help you out with everything you need. I am not affiliated with them in any way but they gave good advice and it's where I just got my first corn this weekend (see my pictures in my post in the photo gallery, they sold me a very healthy snake).
 
dryw1992 said:
Hey Guys thanks for all the information!
Here's my update.
I got a small heat pad, it takes up a little less than half of the tank, and i put a terrarium liner in the bottom to keep the snake from getting burned. The temperature gradient is about 73 for the cool and 80-83 on the hot, depending on the time of the day. I also put an extra hide in the hot side. I only have a webcam on my laptop, no digital camera, so i'm going to try to get some pics up of the new setup.
I haven't handled the baby since wednesday, so about 4 days ago. I plan on feeding it its first pinky tomorrow, then i think he should be ready to handle by next wednesday. My feeding schedule will probably be monday at 2 and then again on wed/thurs at 2.
My snake pretty much only comes out at night, but thats ok with me, hes probably still getting used to his new home.
Thanks Again,
Dryw
P.S. If that feeding schedule sounds bad, let me know :D
Click to expand...

I think the feeding is a little to much i would feed up to about 8 months every 5 days at the most then every 7 days after that any more than this can be bad for the snake
 
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