Hey Cole, that blacklight is in fact bad for your snake's eyes. The phosphorous coating in the cheap blacklights is worst, but even the hi quality ones emit at harmful wavelengths for reptile eyes and is recommended only for short exposure with blindness and potential tumors resulting from long term exposure. UTH's regulated with at least a rheostat (lamp dimmer, $10 Home Depot) is best. If it's cold enough in your house a ceramic heater ($35 last 3-4 years) or quality red bulb like with Zoo-Med (the EU standard bulbs are great, and won't burn your house down like the cheap plastic wrapped bulbs out there - really, they're plastic wrapped, and melt off the bulbs, don't use them) to supplement. Invest the $35 for a temp-gun. They are light saber cool. Take the temp reading on the glass inside the tank (move the substrate away to get reading) where the UTH is. For a glass tank I put the UTH on a tile under the tank and use empty cat food cans as lifters to keep the tank up. The dimmers take some dialing in, then a piece of duct tape to keep them from getting knocked around. Check your temps at least every other day. I'm a bit OCD, and check them twice a day, mostly. A digital probe thermometer can help too, if placed on the glass. Glass temp is important for 2 reasons: 1. If that's the hottest spot, your snake can't burn, and 2. Snakes need belly heat to digest. But it's good to supplement the ambient temps as well, otherwise the snake can go for all the warmth it can get from the ground and still chill above leading to respiratory infections and the like. Generally, in their native environment, the ground is mildly cooler than the air, and that's a reason El. gut are predominantly a southern species. The air tends to the warmer side, even at night.
As far as newspaper goes, I avoid it. The printing process including cleaners and ink, is exceedingly toxic. And ink does rub off on your skin and to a lesser degree due to scalation, your snake's. It may actually make your snake look shinier - the inks are great for cleaning glass, try it for cleaning your tank, but it isn't really good for them. Snakes have a greater sensitivity to chemicals than we do, due to the smaller body and more limited liver capacity. Will it prove to be carcinogenic? I don't know. It has for (human) printers, in fact the high toxicity levels in printing are of major concern to many printers. Then again, people have been keeping snakes on it successfully for years. People have been eating raw eggs, too, successfully for many long years, but I say scrambled, if you got them. Can and should are often far apart in my book. I tried the Care-Fresh paper pellet bedding, but it didn't insulate the heat as well as I'd have hoped. As I said; I avoid paper. But it's your call. Personally, I really like coconut coir for retaining moisture, and for durability, and it seems easier to deal with, for me, than aspen. With daily spot cleaning, and weekly turning it lasts up to 8 weeks between changes with my more "neat" snakes. Keep a towel or cloth over the screen top or it dries out quickly. Just cover whatever isn't covered by the heat lamp. And the final decision maker on the subject here, the snakes seem to like it best.
A young corn should shed every couple or so weeks, by a year about 6 weeks, and bi-monthly after that. What size are you feeding and how often? A hatchling can eat every other day; an adult my friend has (a 585g M Coral Snow named Lorien) gets a mouse every 5 weeks and would eat weekly if allowed to. You may look up the Munson feeding plan here on cornsnakes.com for a _general_guideline, bearing in mind that every snake will be different. Invest in a kitchen/dietary scale at Target ($40 on sale now) that weighs in grams. A postal scale would work too, digital is always best. Keeping weight/shed/regurge/temp/cleaning records is a great idea and will be valuable to your vet, should the need ever arise. Takes 2 minutes to set-up in Numbers (Excel for those who are slow to join the revolution) and minutes a month. Gives a great overview of the growth of your snake. Photos are great to include too.
Good luck with everything.....
