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New Snake

CarloS01

CarloS01

Dog
Hi
My 12 month corn snake got free the day before I went on hols.. Any way 3 weeks on and no sign of her..

So I went to the pet shop yesterday and got myself a new one :)
I got what i wanted, which was one which is very placid and about 18 to 24 months old. If my other one turns up ill put them together..

Couple of questions on my new one ..

I am planning to leave it alone for about 3 days then feed it.
What about handling ? leave it alone for a bit or just keep handling once a day ?
Put it in its viv yesterday.. got up this morning and its curled up in the water bowl with its head out the water.. still like it now.. Is this normal ?

Ta
Carlo
 
Sounds like its too hot. WHat are the temps? measured at substrate level. Hot side you should measure right on the UTH. If you find your old snake you should NOT put them together.
 
You have discovered cornsnakes are escape artists. If you are using the same cage for the new one as you did the old make sure you have remedied how ever it is that she escaped. If you don't, then the new one will probably escape as well.

Also, keep looking for your old one. 3 weeks seems a little hasty to give up looking for her.

As for if you find the old one; DO NOT PUT THEM TOGETHER. Search for cohabitation; it's not worth it. If you find your first snake; plan on getting a separate set up.
 
Ive put a lock on the door now as i reckon the kids left it a jar a bit.. Although I didnt see this.

As far cohabiting.. They do this all the time in the pet shops.. Whats different at home ?

Carlo
 
CarloS01 said:
Ive put a lock on the door now as i reckon the kids left it a jar a bit.. Although I didnt see this.

As far cohabiting.. They do this all the time in the pet shops.. Whats different at home ?

Carlo
Click to expand...

The difference is that pet shops generally don't care. They just want to make a sale. They can save space by co-habbing corns and therefore have more room for animals to sell and make money from. A word of advice, don't believe everything you may learn from a petstore... ;)
 
Plissken said:
The difference is that pet shops generally don't care. They just want to make a sale. They can save space by co-habbing corns and therefore have more room for animals to sell and make money from. A word of advice, don't believe everything you may learn from a petstore... ;)
Click to expand...

What Plissken said!
 
Another difference is that in pet shops it is usually a temporary situation. It isn't like keeping them together forever.
 
Got up this morning and again the snakes in the hot tub
The temps I am monitoring and are constant over the UTH at 29.5 degrees
Yesterday I got him a new larger hide which he did spend the night in
 
CarloS01 said:
Ive put a lock on the door now as i reckon the kids left it a jar a bit.. Although I didnt see this.

As far cohabiting.. They do this all the time in the pet shops.. Whats different at home ?

Carlo
Click to expand...

And just to add... cohabbing accidents DO happen in petshops, too. My snake Connor was nearly eaten by a cagemate while he was in the shop, so the risks in a petshop remain exactly the same as they do at home.
 
CarloS01 said:
Hi
My 12 month corn snake got free the day before I went on hols.. Any way 3 weeks on and no sign of her..

So I went to the pet shop yesterday and got myself a new one :)
I got what i wanted, which was one which is very placid and about 18 to 24 months old. If my other one turns up ill put them together..

Couple of questions on my new one ..

I am planning to leave it alone for about 3 days then feed it.
What about handling ? leave it alone for a bit or just keep handling once a day ?
Put it in its viv yesterday.. got up this morning and its curled up in the water bowl with its head out the water.. still like it now.. Is this normal ?

Ta
Carlo
Click to expand...


Any chance of answers to me questions :)
 
CarloS01 said:
Any chance of answers to me questions :)
Click to expand...

Maybe I misunderstand but that does sound a bit rude since we are just trying to prevent anything bad happening to your snakes. But I will try to answer your questions anyway.

Don't handle the snake for about 4 days - a week after you've got it so it has time to settle in. Be sure not to handle for 48 hours after the snake has eaten.

There are a number of reasons why a snake may sit in it water bowl...

-The tank may be too hot
-The humidity may be very low
-The snake may be starting a shed
-The snake could have mites
-The snake may be using it as a hide as it can't find anywhere secure to retreat to
 
Yep fully understand... Could just see this thread going off on a tangent without getting the info im after :)

Tank temp good min 29 max 30 (sensor off UTH)
humidity dont know... although ive kept a snake in here for 12 months no probs.
Hides - just got him a new one which he uses
hes shed about a week ago

Mites .... Now theres an interesting one.. how I check this.. Can I see them ?
Carlo

Shall i get a small water pot which he cant get into ?
 
CarloS01 said:
Yep fully understand... Could just see this thread going off on a tangent without getting the info im after :)

Tank temp good min 29 max 30 (sensor off UTH)
humidity dont know... although ive kept a snake in here for 12 months no probs.
Hides - just got him a new one which he uses
hes shed about a week ago

Mites .... Now theres an interesting one.. how I check this.. Can I see them ?
Carlo

Shall i get a small water pot which he cant get into ?
Click to expand...

You should ideally have a temperature gradient so that your snake can regulate its own temperature. :)

Now, mites:

Yes, you can see mites. They will appear as tiny black insects, or red if they've been feeding (they drink blood.) The first thing to do is check your water bowl. If you have mites, you may see tiny black dots on the bottom of the water bowl, this is because the mites drown while your snake is soaking. You may also be able to see the mites on your snake, and even on your hands after handling the snake.
 
It seems to me that having a bowl your snake can soak in is a good thing. It helps him regulate his temp and moistness at a minimum.
 
A few days on and hes stopped doing it..
He ate 2 fuzzies and im leaving him alone for 3 days to digest and settle into his new surrounding..

All seems well now.

Absolutly no sign of escaped snake. Ive been getting up in the night and the house is well occupied until about 1am every night. Ill use old my spare pinkies by putting them around the house.. see if that does anything.. after that ill give up.. unless he appears one day.
 
Have you tried a bottle trap to see if you can catch your original snake? If you don't prevent it from eating the pinkies and then just wandering off, you won't be able to actually catch it, you're just feeding him in what he'll see as a gigantic vivarium.

A bottle trap will stop him from scarpering as soon as he's eaten - so you've got a better chance of retrieving him.
 
Hang on..... you had your escaped snake for over a year, yet you still have handling and viv questions. Then your snake is gone for 3 weeks and you get a new one..... Strangely enough most owners would still be holding out hope for the original snake at this point. Also you said that '(you) reckon someone left the tank open and that's why your snake escaped. You didn't say that's why you KNEW it happened, yet you have your new snake in the same tank as the original escaped from.

I've had one escapee, and I knew it was my fault. That doesn't make me a freak of nature or a bad snake owner, that just makes me a human being who made a mistake and won't (all being well) make the same one again.

As to sitting in the water dish: some snakes just like to do that. I had one that had never ever been seen in the dish before, so I checked the water. Sure enough, she'd got a bunch of mites. It's either temperament or a husbandry problem, very easy to check out. (aka if all your husbandry is correct and free from variants then you can check that off and the snake just likes to soak. ) My girl managed to pick up mites from new substrate.

I dunno, if you've had a snake for a year then the fact that they've only been missing for 3 weeks and you run out and get another one raises one red flag. The fact that owning a snake for a year and you obviously did not research the first time raises the next 3 or 4 red flags for me.
 
ickle_moose said:
Hang on..... you had your escaped snake for over a year, yet you still have handling and viv questions. Then your snake is gone for 3 weeks and you get a new one..... Strangely enough most owners would still be holding out hope for the original snake at this point. Also you said that '(you) reckon someone left the tank open and that's why your snake escaped. You didn't say that's why you KNEW it happened, yet you have your new snake in the same tank as the original escaped from.

I've had one escapee, and I knew it was my fault. That doesn't make me a freak of nature or a bad snake owner, that just makes me a human being who made a mistake and won't (all being well) make the same one again.

As to sitting in the water dish: some snakes just like to do that. I had one that had never ever been seen in the dish before, so I checked the water. Sure enough, she'd got a bunch of mites. It's either temperament or a husbandry problem, very easy to check out. (aka if all your husbandry is correct and free from variants then you can check that off and the snake just likes to soak. ) My girl managed to pick up mites from new substrate.

I dunno, if you've had a snake for a year then the fact that they've only been missing for 3 weeks and you run out and get another one raises one red flag. The fact that owning a snake for a year and you obviously did not research the first time raises the next 3 or 4 red flags for me.
Click to expand...

What are you on about...
So what If I purchased another.. If the other turns up ill have 2.. In different tanks as advised.. How is this red flags.

Its now 4 weeks and im still looking.. However I missed having the snake hence I purchased another... I hope you arnt saying im a bad keeper because that will really piss me off.

As for the cage.. It cost me an arm and a leg so i dont particularly want to bin it.. I totally cleaned and disafected it.. I just cant see how it got out apart from the door being a jar.. No i didnt see the door open.. However a day earlier I had a load of 10 yr olds in the house to a party and im puitting it down to someone opened the door... Hence ive now fitted a lock and the keys are with me.

As for the red flags you can shove them where the sun dont shine.
 
OK, that's about enough. I had to check the ages on the last two posts. This is one of the most informative forums on the internet. Keeping a snake as a pet is still quite a minority pursuit. It is difficult to find reliable information. The type playground posturing exhibited here does nothing to forward the goals of spreading trustworthy information.

Please all of you experienced owners, be patient with the newbies. And all you newbies be respectful of those people who are trying to help you out...and all of you with bad tempers...well I'll leave that to those with better imaginations than I.
 
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