New WI Corn Snake Owner

[Lessej]

Greetings all!

Hailing from Pewaukee,WI. First post here on the forums and I'm a new but returning owner of a corn snake. I've previously owned an Albino Bubblegum for quite a few years and have taken about 10 years off from snake ownership.

On 07/18/16 I scooped up a Male Hypo Anery Corn from a local pet shop that sources from local breeders. I'm still waiting to hear back on a better approximate date of birth but I'd estimate he's at least 2 years old. I haven't had a chance to measure him yet but I'd say he's at least three feet long as well. Prior to getting him I've been delving back into the research and doing lots of reading and also building my own enclosure. Dimensions are about 48 x 22 x 22. I'm not sure of the inside dimensions off hand but I know it's equivalent to 100 gallon setup. Took about 3 weeks off and on a couple hours here a couple hours there and I'm pretty happy with the results.

At the time that I picked him up he was already overdue for a meal so on the second night he already took a large mouse from me and I have let him rest since then. I dont really subscribe to the idea of not handling or feeding for a few days to a week. The snake seems in a great mood. As far as I know I won't be able to use a heat pad in this type of setup so I'll be using a heat lamp for the foreseeable future. I use a lamp years ago with much success so I don't see a problem. Warm side temperatures at the substrate (Aspen Snake Bedding) are 84° with a "standard" Sylvania 40 watt incandescent bulb. This is the only lighting and heating for my setup. I've got the light in a Fluker's Deep Dome set on a timer from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. right now. I had a 60 watt bulb in there but it got up to between 88° and 91° during my test runs before I had him so I thought that was too hot and swapped it for a lower wattage. That was too hot, right?

I've attached some pictures of the setup and the snake and if anyone has any comments or suggestions I am very open to them!

Thanks!

 

[Shiari]

Uhmm... that is NOT a hypo anery (ghost) corn. That is a sunkissed amel. And if you bought him for the price of a ghost... holy crap did you luck out.

 

[Lessej]

Cool! How can you tell which type he seems like might I ask? They had a "Sunkissed Amel" next to him in another tank for $129.99 that looked similar but was even brighter orange.

Myy corn cost $59.99.

 

[Shiari]

To begin with, anery is short for anerythrism which means "the condition of lacking red". This leaves a white/gray/brown/black snake. Hypo is short for hypomelanism which means "the condition of reduced black". This means the black gets dropped down a notch into browns and grays instead of a true black.

As your snake has no black pigment at all, it is at least an amel. Amel is short for amelanism ('lacking black'). The sunkissed is because of the modified pattern. The disjointed head pattern is one sign of the sunkissed gene probably being present. The other is the pattern on the body. In normal patterned snakes the saddles are shaped like this:

)____( )____(

The edges 'reach' for the other saddle.

In sunkissed, those edges are squared off and this is REALLY apparent on the neck, where many normal corn have connected saddles. Instead, a sunkissed will look like this:

[___] [____]

 

[DollysMom]

Shiari beat me to it and glad she did because she knows her stuff.

Beautiful snake. Corn snakes can be the same morph and look quite a bit different. I can't imagine what the other one looked like because yours is stunning.

It looks like you've got the basics covered. Looks like you provided lots of hides and of course the substrate is one big hide. Is your light for heat or do you have a UTH? If your light isn't on a timer, I highly recommend it. In fact if you don't absolutly need it, light other than LED can be drying. If you don't have a thermostat, and I can't tell from the picture, many of us use the Hydrofarm Jump Start which you can get on Amazon. It looks like your enclosure is secure. I lost one due to escape so I always look at that. They are little houdinis for sure.

More importantly do you have any questions or concerns about your set up?

Welcome. I hope you'll stick around.

 

[Eavlynn]

You have a beautiful corn! I really like the set up you have for him as well. I also use overhead heat instead of a UTH. I'm not big on the risk of fire that the UTHs pose, and it looks like your temps are pretty spot on with good ventilation. I like to monitor the humidity in my colubrid enclosures to keep it around 40% so as not to dry them out, and mist when they are in shed.

Congratulations on your new addition and welcome back to the reptile community! I hope you enjoy the forum as much as I do. The people here are phenomenal and genuinely care about each other, and their snakes.

 

[DollysMom]

Lol thanks Eavlynn. I win the incomplete reading award today. Not sure how I missed that whole paragraph.

My only concern is heating at night, but I'll leave that to folks who heat from overhead.

 

[Eavlynn]

I think it's easy to miss paragraphs because we look forward to jumping ahead and seeing the photos Ceramic heat emitters are great for heat without light output. All of my snakes that haven't transitioned to radiant heat panels have them. Everyone has their own preferences for heating though.

 

[Dragonling]

And if you bought him for the price of a ghost... holy crap did you luck out.

Lucky find! Of course if I found something like that at a show my first inclination would be to correct them, only to later regret not taking advantage of their mistake first! :laugh:

 

[Shiari]

Lucky find! Of course if I found something like that at a show my first inclination would be to correct them, only to later regret not taking advantage of their mistake first! :laugh:

Had that happen at one of my first reptile expos. A 1.1 pair of 'sunglows' being sold for $100.... and they were sunkissed motleys. So should have bought them.

 

[DLena]

Beautiful snake, and your DIY cage is amazing. Here's hoping you have other DIY ideas!
Welcome.

 

[DollysMom]

I think it's easy to miss paragraphs because we look forward to jumping ahead and seeing the photos Ceramic heat emitters are great for heat without light output. All of my snakes that haven't transitioned to radiant heat panels have them. Everyone has their own preferences for heating though.

Yeah, if and when I need overhead heat CHE and RHP are what I would be looking into. Heating is very personal and situational. It is another example of there being more than one way to do things right.

Thanks for being so gracious about my faux pas. Apologies to the original poster for not having my eyes open and asking redundant questions!

 

[Lessej]

Thanks for so many awesome replies! Thank you for the compliments on the snake and cage! Also, thanks for the great description on the different types of Corn patterns/colors.

I'm very interested in learning more about the Sunkissed Amel Corns considering the store did have a snake of that very type nearby, I'll bet they had more than one and perhaps mislabeled one of the cages. Now I can't be sure he's even a male though.

To answer a few questions, I don't have night time heat as my home's upstairs where he is is generally warm and it doesn't cool off very well but holds heat wonderfully. So far in the cage the lowest it's gotten is 72°. I do have my incandescent bulb on a timer set for 12 hours. The humidity in the cage seems to hover right at 30% all the time. Cage is locked tight with 2 1/2" barrel bolts. Perhaps if I had a baby in there they could probably squeeze through a few very small gaps around the acrylic, but other than that this big guy isn't going anywhere.

I did measure him today and he's exactly 3 ft. I fed him a little over 48 hours ago and I don't even see any lump of a mouse at all... I wonder if I should give him another.

I snapped a few new pictures. I'll definitely have to stick around and check out a lot of the great articles and threads that I'm sure are on this forum.

 

[Zeina]

The pictures are beautiful, the snake has such bright colors, I love it.
I would delve a little deeper into the humidity aspect, 30% might be too low just considering they need the humidity for shedding- From what I know it's best to try and keep it at around 50%, but I'm not sure if the 20% difference is a HUGE deal or not, I'm no expert- plus I live in Florida where it's humid year round and mine's always at 50-60% -__-

Welcome =)

 

[axis1]

. . . Cage is locked tight with 2 1/2" barrel bolts. Perhaps if I had a baby in there they could probably squeeze through a few very small gaps around the acrylic, but other than that this big guy isn't going anywhere.

. . . .

Don't be too sure! I'd plug up ANY gaps the most efficient & effective ways possible! Having lost a few beautiful animals, I'm saying this from experience (and concern) that these little sneaky ones are aptly called "snakes" for more than one reason!

BTW, that is a VERY gorgeous snake you got there!!! Welcome to the party!!! (Sorry I'm late, but I was off doing something snake-related!).

:bounce:

 

[Lessej]

Thank you all for the compliments and I'll keep the humidity in mind! Perhaps I'll move the water dish a little closer to the heat lamp for evaporation. So far all he's really done this week is hiding in the very ample amount of snake bedding that I've given him as I haven't seen him out much in the way of cruising around or trying to escape. I was even considering taking some bedding out so I could see him from time to time or at least be able to find him easier. I'll have to keep an eye on if he is looking to get out anywhere. I have heard some local people say that if you give them a UVB light they might become more active but I don't know how much truth that holds. I thought they are generally known to be crepuscular. Maybe my guys just needs a lot more time to become comfortable in his enclosure before he starts showing himself.

 

[ZoologyGirl]

Welcome, I am in Milwaukee. Concerning humidity I tend to only have shedding issues during winter when the house is sealed up and dry. Super humid out right now. That said, using a heat lamp may dry out the enclosure more than a heat pad. Just keep an eye on the next shed and if there are any issues maybe think of using a humid hide for future sheds (In winter if I encounter shed issues I will put a closed rubbermaid bucket with damp sphagnum moss inside the enclosure, with a hole for the snake to get in/out, when I see that the snake goes blue preparing to shed)