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New tto cornsnakes, need help

S

snkhndlr

New member
a friend and I just rescued a cornsnake from an idiot who neglected it. I need expert or at least experienced knowledge to provide her with the best care.
I am using reptile bark for bedding. A X-Terra heating pad is under the tank and currently keeps the tank at 70 - 80 degrees F. There is a rock for her to bask on.
I have a 60 watt reptile bulb over her. I only leave it on for a couple of hours after misting the tank. She doesn't seem to like the bulb, but I want to keep some level of humidity for her.
She has a small bowl (5"wide, 3" deep) which I change daily.
She has eaten three pinkies in a 5 day period.
Oh yeah, she is about 3 feet, 2 inches.
If anyone, please experienced only, can help me out, that would be great for me and my corn. Let me know if I need to change anything I'm doing. Thanks.
 
Well, sounds like you're doing pretty well so far.

Since you're using reptibid you might want to get a dimmer or something for the UTH, since most of them are around 100-110---and snakes can burrow under the bark and lay flush on the glass---which would cause burns.

Water dish seems fine, just dont over-do it with misting.

The food----that needs to change. A 3 foot corn needs to be on at minimum hoppers---should be small adults. Unless this is a 3 foot that was born in 2004. But if the snake has some decent size (girth) to it, it needs to be on bigger prey.

When you step up, make it one mouse of appropriate size every 7 days. 3 pinkies in 5 days isn't enough for a 3 foot corn and it's better to give a bigger meal once a week and let it digest and such. That way you can hold the snake without risking a regurge.
 
im just curious, you dont leave the light on at night do you that may be a reason y it doesnt like it. and every think seems ok. look at my site (its in my sig) and it has a real good caresheet. so good luck with the new corn. and she shouldnt be on pinks at leat adult or hoppers
 
hey joe looks like i was typing way too slow oi though i would be the first 1. lol got to consentrate. :grin01:
 
snkhndlr said:
a friend and I just rescued a cornsnake from an idiot who neglected it. I need expert or at least experienced knowledge to provide her with the best care.
I am using reptile bark for bedding. A X-Terra heating pad is under the tank and currently keeps the tank at 70 - 80 degrees F. There is a rock for her to bask on.
I have a 60 watt reptile bulb over her. I only leave it on for a couple of hours after misting the tank. She doesn't seem to like the bulb, but I want to keep some level of humidity for her.
She has a small bowl (5"wide, 3" deep) which I change daily.
She has eaten three pinkies in a 5 day period.
Oh yeah, she is about 3 feet, 2 inches.
If anyone, please experienced only, can help me out, that would be great for me and my corn. Let me know if I need to change anything I'm doing. Thanks.
Click to expand...
One book "The Corn Snake Manuel" by Kathy and Bill Love. Any questions you might have you can find it in the book. I consider it the corn snake bible. For a Snake at 3 feet you should be feeding it hoppers or small adult mice. Pinkies are fine but they will get more nutrients with bigger mice. But everything else sounds good. I like to here about people like you that love snakes so much they save them. Good job :)
 
You might want to try Aspen Bedding all my snakes use it, I used to use repti bark aswel but it dries out. Plus they like to burrow and aspen works great for that.
 
newt said:
One book "The Corn Snake Manuel" by Kathy and Bill Love. Any questions you might have you can find it in the book. I consider it the corn snake bible. For a Snake at 3 feet you should be feeding it hoppers or small adult mice. Pinkies are fine but they will get more nutrients with bigger mice. But everything else sounds good. I like to here about people like you that love snakes so much they save them. Good job :)
Click to expand...

No, pinkies are not fine. Even 3 pinkies a week isn't enough food---I'd be surprised if a 3 foot snake would maintain it's weight on a diet like that.
 
Is the rock that you have for basking a heated one? If it is, it needs to go as they can burn themselves on it. The under tank heater should provide sufficient belly heat so you really don't need it. I wouldn't mist too much as corns don't require high humidity. Only when shedding is it helpful to up the humidity levels. It's great that you've rescued this poor critter! I'm sure you'll fall in love with it. And I agree that a 3 ft. snake should be on more than pinkies. Mine is on adult mice.
 
basking rock

No,it is not a heated rock. It used to be, but we removed the cord and placed the rock in the tank so she would have a place above the reptile bark. Thanks for the advice.
 
feeding larger prey/shedding to my corn

Thank you all for the advice about larger prey. After my original posting, I fed her two fuzzies and noticed she could not coil around them at all. At her next feeding, I will move her up to adult mice. By the way, is it normal for her to shed within 10 minutes after eating? I got a beautiful full (one piece) skin from her.
 
Thanks. How much misting is overdoing it? I've been spraying just enough to create a layer along the top of the reptile bark and sides of the glass. She doesn't seem to mind when her reptile bulb is on, but she definitely does not like the mist to come in contact with her.
 
snkhndlr said:
Thanks. How much misting is overdoing it? I've been spraying just enough to create a layer along the top of the reptile bark and sides of the glass. She doesn't seem to mind when her reptile bulb is on, but she definitely does not like the mist to come in contact with her.
Click to expand...
to know if your overdoing it on the misting get a hydrometer(spelling) to moniter your humidity anything between 30-60% is good but try to keep it between 40-50% :cheers: hope i helped
 
Mr. Lee has been with me for little over a year. hes 41" long and eats like a king. last week i took him to my feeder supplier and walked in and dropped him into a rubbermaid bucket and just dropped the feed in and he ate 2 adults and 2 sub-adult mice.i was going for 3 but said what the hell try 4 . i let him woof it down the put him back into the backpack and took him home. like everybody else has said the bigger the prey your snake can eat the more nutrients he'll recieve.when i 1st started posting here some people accused me of power feeding. if a snake in the wild finds a burrow and goes in he'll eat everything he can. as for the shed mine has shed once a month for the whole year ive had him except for this past february.his tank is 40"x40"x17" and i mist it every2nd day before i go to bed around 11:00. aspen chip is a great substrate for them to burrow into.all i have for mine is 1 50 watt dayglo bulb and hes fine with that i have 3 temp strips around the tank and it stays right at 77 - 79 degrees with the help of the heating and air from the vent next to his viv. good luck with your snake
 
slithering

You ARE power feeding! It's very unnatural for a 2003 to be 41" long already...and for it to shed EVERY month. A snake in the wild might eat 4-5 mice at a time, but then they might not get a meal for several months. In captivity, they eat MUCH more often than that and do not get as much exercise and do NOT need to be fed as much.
 
How much misting is overdoing it?
Click to expand...

once twicw a week is fine unless the snake is shedding, in which case twicw a day is better to rais humidity.

By the way, is it normal for her to shed within 10 minutes after eating?
Click to expand...

Some snakes will eat whilst in shed others wont, my advice is don't feed once the eye's turn "blue" because the extra expantion of a mouce in the body can make shedding harder.

I will move her up to adult mice.
Click to expand...

At that size (around38 inches) i would start with a regular weekley diet of a medium adult mouse, this will have all the nutritional value the snake will need from 1 week to the next, for a good advise service on nutritional value have a look HERE at rodent pro for a comparison.

Good luck and welcome to the forum.
 
slithering said:
Mr. Lee has been with me for little over a year. hes 41" long and eats like a king. last week i took him to my feeder supplier and walked in and dropped him into a rubbermaid bucket and just dropped the feed in and he ate 2 adults and 2 sub-adult mice.i was going for 3 but said what the hell try 4 . i let him woof it down the put him back into the backpack and took him home. like everybody else has said the bigger the prey your snake can eat the more nutrients he'll recieve.when i 1st started posting here some people accused me of power feeding. if a snake in the wild finds a burrow and goes in he'll eat everything he can. as for the shed mine has shed once a month for the whole year ive had him except for this past february.his tank is 40"x40"x17" and i mist it every2nd day before i go to bed around 11:00. aspen chip is a great substrate for them to burrow into.all i have for mine is 1 50 watt dayglo bulb and hes fine with that i have 3 temp strips around the tank and it stays right at 77 - 79 degrees with the help of the heating and air from the vent next to his viv. good luck with your snake
Click to expand...


I agree totally with CornCrazy, you are feeding that snake WAY too much! 2 adults and 2 subadult mice at one feeding for a 2003???? :eek1: And then you put him in your backpack and took him home? It's a wonder you didn't have 4 puked up mice in there when you got home. I'd also question whether that bulb is enough heat for your snake to digest such a meal.
 
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