New to snakes, some questions.

[abesabraham]

Hi guys,

I'm a new owner to snakes but not to exotic pets.

I've always wanted a snake but never did get one until now and am going to pick it up this friday :] I used to go to petstores all time and pretend I wanted to buy snakes so they would let me hold them but all that stopped until I got to know the pet store employees.

But it's a milksnake.

I couldn't find a proper forum for milksnakes on the web and found this instead and was just wondering if I could stay on here asking newbie questions.

I did do my research on the web but I'm looking for more specific answers as lurking and reading abajillion care sheets won't really help :\


Andddd here are my questions,

1. The snake I'm getting is about 1 feet in length or smaller, what do you consider this as? A hatchling or a juvie?

2. For feeding, [I'm gonna go with Frozen pinkies] how often should I feed a baby that size? Once every 5-7 days? That's what most of the care sheets said but I would like a second opinion :]

3. Shedding. How often does a snake that small shed?

That's all for now, I hope I could learn lots from here. Anddd any information about milksnakes are welcomed :]

 

[snakewispera snr]

Hi..... You can hang around if you want...LOL
Milk snakes are very similar to corns, and lots of people on here have them so your in good company...
Pinkies are OK for food, every 5-7 days is ok for feeding... Some say every 4 days but I think that is too much. They shed when the skin wears out or they out grow it.... Once a month is average but it could be sooner or longer depending on lots of things..... As a young snake it will shed more often and slow down a bit as they get older....
So welcome and some pics when you get it....
PS what part of Asia are you in

 

[abesabraham]

Thanks for the swift and awesome reply!

I'm from Malaysia.

And I'm getting an apricot pueblan milk.

Yupp it's gonna get a major photo shoot when I get it :]

Oh yeah I'm gonna be housing in a exo terra KK, it's the flat one and I have paper towels as substrate with a hippo clay hide and a flat water dish. I also have some exo terra jungle vine in there as well for it to climb. Do you think that'll do?
Should I add more hides?

As for heating, although it is constantly hot over here throughout the year, it does rain quite a bit, even so only gets down to 81F, 80F around so, do you think I should get a UV lamp for heating when it's raining? If so, which? Red?

 

[snakewispera snr]

I have a pueblan milk as well. Beautiful little snakes.... They tend to be nervous snakes and bury themselves... Ours never climbs, or we never see it climb....Get more hides for it, bark layed flat is good, something they can get under.... As for a bulb, you don't need one.... Getting too hot may be your biggest problem if the coolest temps are 80f or so... No UV is required so you can leave that out... Can't wait to see some pics... Best of luck with your purchase....

 

[abesabraham]

Okay I will get something flat for it. Do you think I should switch to aspen bedding since I'm going to be feeding in a seperate container. Would that give the it more security? But since it's pretty tiny I'm not sure.

 

[Jenstar]

I think your snake would like the aspen... I use aspen and my corns because they like burying themselves and it's easy to spot clean.

 

[snakewispera snr]

Yea like Jen said...Aspen is ideal... Your little snake will be like a pig in s... No..I mean, like a dog with two d.... no ...I mean, very happy with aspen...

 

[abesabraham]

Ah okay, I went to a pet store just now and couldn't find any aspen bedding, I'm gonna try tomorrow or this weekend at another one.

I was just wondering, what about Breeder Celect? That recycled newspaper stuff. And corn cobs? Do people use that?

 

[snakewispera snr]

I've used the paper stuff... And coconut husk stuff and wood chip/bark....As long as it's meant for reps it's usually Ok.... I gave up with coconut husk though as I found it got between the scales on bigger snakes....
You can use kitchen paper towel, in lots of layers... They will get between the sheets when young and it's easy/cheap to replace.....

 

[abesabraham]

I think I'll stick to aspen bedding :]

I got a piece of flat bark that I microwaved for an extra hide. Think that'll do? Or should I get more? so excited. I'm gonna get the snake tomorrow

 

[snakewispera snr]

You can never have too many hides...Until it comes to cleaning..LOL
Pueblans are very shy snakes, so making them feel secure is paramount....
They are hopeless to handle when young and are wriggly little things, they musk and generally don't want to stay still, but they do calm down and become great snakes to own..... Just let yours get settled in for a few days/week first... Great choice IMO

 

[abesabraham]

Okay :]

Should I try to feed it when it gets home? Or should I leave it alone for a few days?

Because the dealer told me that the last time it was fed was last week.

 

[snakewispera snr]

Don't worry about feeding it.... Leave it for a few days to settle down....
Ask the breeder how they fed.... There's a few ways to do it, so knowing how he/she goes about it will take stress off both of you....

 

[abesabraham]

Well the dealer told me to pop the pinky infront of it and yeah not much.

But I'm gonna ask. I doubt he'll be of any help though. He is after all just a dealer.

 

[Jenstar]

If you can't find aspen in the reptile section of your pet store, try looking in the small animal (rodents) section... You can usually find bigger bags and it's less expensive.

 

[abesabraham]

I've got it!!!!!!!!!!!!! : D

It's a beautiful snake.
Tiny lil thing.

But there's some brown spec on it's snout. Should I worry?

here are some pics.

Tomorrow I'm gonna get some Aspen and redo his/her KK.