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New tank - new snake

B

behavis

New member
Hi everyone,

I'm not completely new here. I have had a baby corn last year which sadly got sick and didn't make. I got a lot of help from you guys and I've finally decided to give it another go.

I got myself a 2,5 half month old corn which I've got from someone who lives near to me. Not really a breeder so the 5 baby's he had, got a lot of love and attention. Not sure if it's a male or a female though. But he's really calm and used to being handled.

Anyways I'll post a few pics below of him and his new home.

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I'm using an underneath heat pad hooked up to a thermostat. Temps and stuff I got figured about before I got the little guy home so that should be fine. I've also got a uv lamp bulb in there which I switch on in the evening.
Two hiding spots one cave on the warm side which is kinda hidden underneath the hanging vines and another spot on the cool side next to the water dish.

I got him home on friday and gave him his first feed on sunday without any problems. By sunday it had been about 7 days since his last feed so he was quite hungry. Now since his feed he has spend pretty much the whole time burrowed down in the substrate. At first I thought I'd lost him until I moved some of the aspen around ;-)

Now the guy I got him from said that he should be about ready to shed. I'm guessing this is the case, so I haven't disturbed him to try and "dig" him out and find out...

So if you like leave a comment with some hints and tips or suggestions.

Thanx,
Nick
 
Just a thought, is it safe to have the bulb (any bulb) directly in the tank, instead of outside? Regardless of if it is a heating bulb, I think your snake could still get burnt...

The rest of the tank looks awesome!

Also would love to see pictures of your little guy/girl!
 
I suppose if she would find a way to touch the lamp itself, yes. But the branches are a considerable distance from it. So there really isn't any way she could come in contact directly with the bulb. It's a 40Watt light and I measured underneath the bulb on the wood it doesn't reach more than about 93°F or 34°C.

BTw on the first picture you can see him/her on top of the vines ;-)
 
I thought the same thing about the bulb. I've only been a corn momma for a short time, but I'm a complete insomniac, and since we have night bulbs on our vivs I am able to watch my scalebabies when I'm up at night.

I can tell you this: They are INCREDIBLY flexible, strong, and when they are determined to reach something, they don't give up easily. I've watched them stretch their entire bodies trying to reach the top of the viv, only leaving about an inch of their tails holding on to wherever they were climbing from :/

See if you can get a dome light fixture for the bulb. Amazon has some rated for up to 150 watts for less than $11. It's well worth the money so you can worry less about your little one getting into things. They already get into (and out of) enough things to keep us quite busy! LOL ;)

Other than that, your setup looks great! :D Congrats on your new addition! :)
 
All you need is the UTH hooked to a thermostat.
I would not use that light, it is extremely dangerous to have the bulb inside the tank.
 
Of course, I lead you to Amazon without noticing you are in Belgium :dunce:

Check with your local pet supply store and see if they have something you can use. Domes aren't too expensive, and it will keep your little one from having any unforeseen accidents ;)

Also, I'd love to see a pic as well. The first picture is showing up very blurry for me :/
 
I didn't even notice the light was plugged into the thermostat (see what insomnia does? :dunce: again LOL)

As AliCat said, an Under Tank Heater is much better for cornsnakes than any sort of heat lighting. My lights are non-heating black lights that I have so I can watch our corns at night without disturbing them. I have the lights in domes outside of the top of their vivs. Even though the bulbs generate very little heat, I still have them plugged into the thermostat along with our UTH's (just in case) ;)
 
Okay, after doing a bit looking around I notice what you mean with a dome. So that's just some kind of "hood" around the bulb, preventing the snake from touching the lamp itself. I thought about the lamp to give some uv light to the snake, even though they don't really need it. But also for having a bit of light in the tank in the evening so I can see what's going on.

So what would be best in your opinion? Fit the dome around the bulb, use the lamp on the outside or maybe fit some LED lights in the vivarium?
LED's of course hardly use any electricity but I thought the lamp would be nice as an extra hot spot where the snake could bask in the heat outside of the shelter...
 
I recently read in a new 2013 corn snake book ("Corn Snakes" Lance Jepson, VetMB):

"... buy one of the commercially available units designed for reptiles." (pg. 116)

"Corn snakes should have lights rated at 2.0 [2% UVB]." (118)

"Always buy lights specifically designed for reptiles as many fluorescent tubes said to mimic the sun are colour rendered to deceive our [human] eyes and do not emit the correct light spectrum. Unsuitable lights include those made for aquaria, general fluorescent tubes available from hardware stores and ultraviolet tubes marketed for inclusion in pond filters. These are especially dangerous as they emit UVC and can cause serious eye damage. Glass filters out UV light so the correct tubes are made from quartz - which makes them for expensive than ordinary fluorescent lights." (119)

Mind you, this is just one opinion, but one opinion that I personally trust.
Hope this helps!
 
*Makes them MORE EXPENSIVE (not "for expensive").

Nonetheless, this vet is basically saying to buy reptile-specific light bulbs to save the eyes or your pet.
 
Hey guys, today I went ahead and bought a decent hood, the exo terra compact top and two 13Watt repti glo bulbs to go with this. However I have just put one of the two inside, with two it give of a who lot of light. These bulbs also emit UV-A.
This hood fits perfectly since I also have an exo terra vivarium.

I also went ahead and took two pictures of Motley, yes this will be his or her name, guess it go both ways :)
She is getting ready to shed I think, these past 3 days I have hardly seen her move around. Her skin seems to be getting dul and depending on how the light falls on her, I could swear I saw a blue-ish color in her eyes...

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Anyways I also put a simple humidity monitor in the viv. I've sprayed the plants wet a couple of times today. The humidity is up to about 65% now.
I hope this will help with the shedding.
 
Corns do not need UV light and there is one member on here who feels his use of UV caused macular degeneration in his corn.
 
diamondlil said:
Corns do not need UV light and there is one member on here who feels his use of UV caused macular degeneration in his corn.
Click to expand...

I was hoping someone would say this, and it bears repeating: corn snakes do NOT need UV light. Why? Because they're nocturnal - they come out at night. So no UV light needed.
 
I agree with everyone on the light. No need to have it. Besides a temp of 93 is way to hot for corn snakes.
 
Well that's a good thing then that I have only one lamp of 13W. Honestly how much can this emit? The specification of the lamp also says:

The Exo Terra Repti Glo 2.0 is a general light source with a high visual light output and a very high color rendering index (CRI), but a lower 2% UVB radiation. This bulb is suitable for snakes, amphibians, frogs, toads, salamanders and nocturnal animals. Plants will thrive under this light as well. It is also a perfect complementary light to a second higher UVB bulb to boost visual light in the terrarium.
The UVB value is 40mW/cm², not that this means anything to me.
By the way the 93 temp was only under that 40W bulb which I won't be using anymore ;-)

I was kinda hoping if you guys could tell me if the humidity and such is ok for a shedding corn snake. Right now I'm able to keep it between 65-75%. There is also a bowl of water large enough to soak in but I havent seem her take a bath yet. It's the first time she will shed under my care and I'm a little but anxious that everything will go ok...
 
Snakes need UVA (found in all bulbs) but not UVB; however that book I was reading suggested that UVB is also not necessary, however if you do get a full spectrum bulb (or perhaps for growth of real plants), use NO MORE than a 2.0.
 
Hey, I'm no expert, but I've never misted my cages when my snakes are shedding so it stays around 30-40%. I've also never had a bad shed and never seen the snakes in their water bowls. I guess it depends on the snake, but unless yours is having problems, I wouldn't bother misting at all especially since (s)he has a water bowl big enough to get in if (s)he needs it. I've read that too much humidity can lead to upper respiratory infections and wet aspen will more easily grow mold. I'd suggest letting it go with normal humidity and see how it goes.
 
hmm, yeah I have read about the respiratory problems as well. I'll lay of the water sprayer then ;-) Normally without this I would be around 50-55% humidity. Guess this will do just fine then.
Thnx
 
Just a small suggestion: since you mentioned having the bulb in there for viewing in the evening. Snakes do not see the red spectrum so you can easily do like I did and place in some aquarium LED viewing lights. I put 3 red ones in my snake's tank and you see him perfectly at night and it doesn't bother him at all.

Here's a picture of how my tank looks with the LED lights. The picture was taken about a year ago but it pretty much looks the same other than a few placement adjustments to light the entire tank better.
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I just bought 3 of the Hagen Marina LED units and the hub for this.
 
I do not know much about the red bulbs, but I do know that snakes can see the colour red - and in fact, many colours (more so than the human eye). New literature is being written about this, too! Very exciting.
I think the colour red is less intimidating on the eyes of a snake, which may be why it does not bother them at night (as opposed to full spectrum lighting of UVA and UVB).
 
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