New corn

[babbaloo99]

Hello All, I just got my new snake less than two weeks ago. He seems to be doing well and is about 7 months old. I have some questions about his set up. I do have a heat pad under his tank on one side, but I am wondering if I also need a heat lamp? Sometimes he curls up in his hide or under the wood chips and my house varies from 69 - 72 degress throughout the day. Should I use a heat lamp to regulate the temp in his cage better? It's my first snake. So far he has eaten twice quite well and shed already the other day. Thanks for any advice.

 

[MegF.]

Sounds like your snake is doing fine if it's eaten twice, and already shed. You will want to try to have a temp gradient from about 70 up to mid 80's. I had a harder time with the gradient when I had a smaller tank. Now that she's in a 30 gl. I can have a warm and cool side that's well-deliniated. I put in a heat lamp as well as a pad on the warm side, because my house is so cool, the temp in the tank stayed at around 60 degrees and my snake never left her hider cave. It turns off at night, so it cools off in there. She seems to like to hang out in the cool end for now, and then curl up in her plant after the heat lamp has been on for a while in the day. Here's a picture of her new viv.

 

[babbaloo99]

Thanks for your feedback. Nice set up you have. My snake looks very much like yours but with a little lighter coloring. He seems happy and moves around regularly. I was just a bit nervous because he had been in his hide a few days but that wound up being due to his shed cycle. Do they get fairly exhausted after that? He was pretty active the whole day but then the next two days he slept under his water dish. How do you monitor the temps? Do you recommend a specific temp gage? Thanks for your help.

Irene

 

[MegF.]

I use the crystal stick on thermometers in each side of the viv. They aren't incredibly accurate, but I think they do the job. There are certainly better gauges out there, I just don't know which one is the very best. My snake seems comfortable with the setup. She is out in the open a whole lot more these days. I'll let you know how she is for the next shed. She usually either lays inside the wet paper towel tent I make her, or in her plant. I also mist the tank more at that time to get the humidity up. She definitely keeps to herself right after shed, and I usually give her a day before taking her out to make sure the tail shed completely. Usually she has just the very tip get stuck, because she had incomplete sheds there before I got her. It killed of the end of her tail, and it still isn't quite right on the tip. I think right after shed their skin is really sensitive, as she doesn't seem to like being handled right after.

 

[MegF.]

OOPPS!

I was going to post a picture of her right after shed. Here it is....

 

[galaxip]

I think right after shed their skin is really sensitive, as she doesn't seem to like being handled right after.

I'll bet we give them the creeps!


That's a Beauty snake, BTW!

 

[MegF.]

Thanks! She is awesome....