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New guy here, could use a bit of advise.

A

AnotherNewGuy

New member
Hello everyone! Brand new to the forum, because I got the coolest christmas present ever this year: a baby albino corn snake! She's my first snake, and is really gentle; great to handle (the person at the pet store said that she thinks the snake is female, but wasn't positive. Not much of a way to tell, so we're just going to have to assume) She loves climbing under my shirt, or in the pocket of my hoodie, and curling up for good stretches of time. I have been feeding her pinkies on Thursdays, 2 at a time, thawed, in a seprate plastic container. Her setup is in a 20 gal. tank; there is about an inch of dirt, a good sized water dish, a wood arch shaped "house", and a clump of wet terrarium moss. (The lady at the pet store reccomended it) There is a 75 watt heat lamp in the center, and a heat pad to one side. All seems to be going well, but she's coming up on a shed. For the last 2 days, her skin has been rough and wrinkly, and is peeling back a bit in a few places. I have been spraying the dirt 4-5 times a day, when possible, but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick. I live in Alaska, and winters here are about as dry as it gets. By now, should I have seen a bit more progress with the shedding? If so, how could I help her along? Thanks in advance.
 
One thing you can do is take your moist (not wet) terrarium moss and put it into a little tupperware box with a hole cut in for access. That way she can go in as she needs to. You can skip the heat lamp as that is just causing more dryness and isn't necessary for snakes anyway. As long as she has the heat mat on one side at the appropriate temp, and a cool side, she'll be fine. You can even move her water bowl closer to the warm side to increase the humidity, but make sure she can't knock it over or it might crack your tank.

Are you using actual dirt? Most prefer aspen shavings...much cleaner. Best of luck, congrats on the new pet, and welcome to the forum! :wavey:
 
I agree with LBoz, you can make her a little hide with moss or you can use just damp paper towels. Also since she's a baby and in a 20 gallon make sure she has lots of hides so she doesn't feel scared, I like toilet paper rolls, they work great. It sounds like you're doing great. On a side note, because I'm curious, what's the temperature there?
 
Yes, also curious as to the temp in the tank. Yes, it's cold in Alaska, but I'm sure it's quite comfortable inside your house where the tank is. And honestly, a heat mat AND a 75 watt for a 20 gal is more than I'd use for my pythons/boas. I keep a 45 watt off to one side of my baby fl king's 10gal and it's more than enough for her.
 
Welcome to forum..as you can see lots of people with great advice here.

I had heard dirt is not a good substrate for corns. Most prefer aspen shavings, newspaper or paper towel. I've also heard of cococut fibre being used but I'm not sure how popular that one is as I am still very new to the corn world myself.
 
Thanks for the replies, everyone. Turns out, I'm using coconut fiber, not dirt. It was pretty late when I typed that. She seems to like it, and burrows in it a lot. As for the shedding, I was being too paranoid. I woke up with morning to find a nice sized chunk of snake skin in the middle of the tank, along with a few clumps on her house. She was rubbing against it to try to get the skin off. She is pretty much entirely done, except for a segment around her middle. I've heard that you can put them in a wet pillowcase for a little while, which can help rub off the rest, so I might try that tonight. As for the temp, I'm not sure. She moves all over, but spends a lot of time on the hot side. I would assume that that means the temp is fine, but I'll stick a heat gauge in there, just to be safe.
 
Your humidity might be a bit low as the skin should shed in one whole piece. You can make a humid hide (which is what I do for my corn) with a plastic container, lid with a hole in it ie.a margerine container., and adding some moist moss to it or damp paper towels. It took Bubblegum a day to figure it out but I added it to his viv again for this shed and he swished around in there from the get go...nice smooth shed this time too.:)
 
You should definitely get a heat gauge in so you know for sure what temps your snake is living in. Too hot/too cold can affect eating habits and while it seems like things are going well so far, better to be safe than sorry! Quite a few people use aspen shavings/paper towel, but we use coconut fiber and haven't had any problems with any of ours. I would suggest getting a humid hide (as other have) rather than spraying your substrate, just because the moist fiber will cause more humidity than your corn snake necessarily needs.

Welcome, by the way! Post pictures of your snake! We love pictures!
 
Right now, the thermometer is reading about 73 degrees fahrenheit around the middle of the tank, which is obviously hotter near the heat pad. Her eating habits seem normal; she seems quite happy to gobble down her 2 pinkies every thursday. As for the humid hide, I'm going to try that. I will also try to get some pics up when I get the chance. Again, I really want to thank everyone for all the help. I was really worried, and this is helping a lot.
 
Most hatchlings eat every 5 days. And you should really look up the munson plan on here it's an excellent guideline for feeder size andand how often to feed. Good luck with your new baby.
 
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