• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

new be here

L

lady nitro

New member
hi everyone my name is melody and i have one corn snake i beleave its a motley not sure have to do more research on it. but anyways i have a question. i had phoebe for almost 2 mths and she's about 15 inchs long. when i got her she was 12 and i got her from a local pet shop, since i had her she has not shed and i dont know if she shed at the lps i didint ask. but i feed her evey other week i think she on a diet or something but not worried about. she been acting strange to me lately. when she moves around she keeps bending her head back almost like she confuse and she dont know where she is, and she keeps rubbing her nose on everything like she's tring to losen the skin so she can shed. but i dont know if thats what it is. has anyone had this happen before. i starting to think it might be stress from the cold its been cold it our apt lately, so i wonder if that can be it. i just went to the store to get what ever i can that would fit in her home. i found a little that will fix for her cage and a mini heat pad thing so maybe that will help alot. she's still to small for a big tank and plus my husband nows some guy who's wants to give one away. but anyways any input and advice would be great. i'm so happy i found this group to. yahoo group dosent have a big selection on corn snakes. sorry so long i'll try to post a vid of phoebe to show you how she's acting later on tonite when the husband comes home. i dont know how to work it.

melody & phoebe
 
If I were you, I would be feeding that little one at least every week, if not more. Beef it up, force it to bust out of that skin...:D

So you went to the store and got a second heat pad or this is the first? Also do you have a bowl of water in there with it? No heat with or without water could cause a humidity problem and that could be a reason for not shedding. Not to mention possible other probs.

I believe hatchlings should shed about 8-10 times in the first year...as they mature they will shed less often. Maybe 4 or 5 times a year.

Quigs
 
this is the first heat pad, and yes there is a bowl of water in there with her. right now she's hanging out on her branch that i picked up for her. when i had her out today she was cold ( i know that they are slitely cold) and as she was in my hand she was warming up. plus she was just hanging out in my hand to. i tried to feed her sunday night but she didnt want it. i tried again today and still nothing, well strange thing to me again, she knew the pinkkie was there because she was about to take it had it in her mouth and then she let it go and was playing around, so i tried to feed it to her and she took it again and then let it go, then she did it for the third time but this time after she let it go she keep her mouth open and did one of her head bent backwards thing. almost like she had lock jaw. so i thought maybe the pinkkie was to big so i found a smaller one. and she like at me like i dont want that. she's really freakin me out, i have held her from 3 to 8:00. if she still acting up tomorrow we are going to take a trip to the vet. its better to be safe then sorry.

melody & phoebe
 
That's what it sounded like to me. Heat is an absolute necessity for all retiles! SHE'S COLD! A heating pad is good...but you also should go out and buy a digital thermometer and I would recommend buying a temperature gun as well.

Your goal is a temerature gradient, a warm side and a cooler side with a hide on each half.

Are you feeding frozen/thawed pinks or live ones?

I would withhold even attempting feeding for at least a few days or even a week and let that baby warm up and get it's juices flowing...then try to feed a small meal. You might want to avoid handling during this time as well.

Good Luck,

Quigs

PS. Glad to have ya here, stick around and read over all the past threads on here. Lots of good info already and the minds here are pickable if you get hung up! You might also want to check out Kathy Love's book "Cornsnake Manual". There is a ton of great stuff in there!
 
It sounds like she needs three things, more heat, more food, and less handleing. Make sure she has a "warm side"(around 88-90 degrees) of her cage and a "cool side"(around 75-80 degrees). A corn that young should be eating once a week. She may be refusing food becuase she is stressed, too cold, in shed, or may just be used to eating every two weeks.
Start with correcting her temps and just leaving her alone (no handling) for about a week. Slowly try and get her on a once a week feeding over several weeks. example:
After she eats for you again, wait about 12 days before feeding her a second time. After that time, offer food after about 10 days, then next feeding wait 8 days, then 7.
Often corns will rub and try and escape thier cages when they are hungrey, in shed, or stressed. Just take it easy. After the week "destressing" waiting period you can start to handle her again but make sure it is not for long period of time and no handling 2-3 days after feeding. Also if you don't already own it, I'd highly suggest you get Kathy Love's book, "The Corn Snake Manual".
Good Luck and Welcome to the forum!
 
thanks for the advice. :D i just check on her and she is very comfortable at this time. right now she's in a small viv so i cant really put to much in there. she has a hide way, small drinking dish and a branch. the branch i pick up at the store it's for birds, but she likes it. umm her bedding natural cypress mulch so if she need to hide she also can craw underneath. so right now she's on an old sub box thats by the vent heat in our apt. she has her light on and heat pad on, plus a black cloth half over her cage. i been feeding her frozen pinkkies. umm... temperature cage... i actual have one we use it to read the temperature on the engines of our nitro truck. i also pick up the book to yesterday. her eat habbits are stranges this is the two weeks, she eats a week and then 7 days later. thats how i get two weeks. with handleing her i really dont handle her that much. beside yesterday. umm anything else? i think thats it for now. i'll update you guys on hows she doing.

melody & phoebe

p.s. i wish i found this site few mths ago. i love it :D
 
Glad she seems to be doing better. Make sure you have a hide on both the warm and cool sides of the tank so that she can choose where she'd like to be and still be able to hide. They will sometimes prefer to stay in the hide rather than be out in the open in the temperature that they want. A neat and very inexpensive way to do this is to halve a paper towel tube, cut an entrance hole, and let it run down the length of the tank.

You mentioned she has a tendency to bend her head backwards as if confused. This may be a problem with her neurological function, and the symptom is called stargazing. Obviously without seeing her in the act it can't be said for sure, just to let you know.

Welcome to the forum (I'm new here too :) ) and good luck!
 
thats very interesting. i'll look into that. right now she comfortable hangout in the corner enjoy the warmth. she moves from one spot to another. I have a picture of her takein today but i cant figure out how to post it. i tried earlier but it said it was to big :shrugs: i just i have to wait until the husband get's home.

melody
 
She is probably going to shed.

You need to make sure one side of the tank is the cool end (room temp is fine) and the other side is "warm" side at around 84 degrees. Without this gradient or the availability to get warm the snake will not thrive. You need a thermometer to make sure you are getting the warm side up to the right temp accuratly.

I would just not handle her, make sure you have a warm spot for her to thermomregulate and give her a week.

bmm
 
ok i found my temp gun and i just did a reading in her cage.

one side is between 84 and 88. the middle is a little hoter because of light.

other side where water dish is 78.

are those temps good or did i need to adjust?

i read it somewhere dont remember where ( been doing alot of read on cornsnakes) during the day her tank should be a curtain temp and curtain temp at night.

should do that to are should i leave it alone. i'll take another reading tonite to see the diff.
 
Ideally one end of the enclosure would be the warmest, with the other end being the coolest, allowing a temperature gradient. Your temps sound okay. 88 is a bit high however. Don't worry about having it drop at night. This will likely happen with the room's lower temperature overnight, not critical.
 
pic's up

all right I have a few pics of phoebe up.....

not the best but at least it's working now.....

hope you enjoy..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top