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Newbie Heating/Temp Questions

M

marjon

New member
Hi

My son (8 years old) has asked for a snake for his birthday, so I have been reading up on corn snakes and bought Kathy Loves Corn snake owners guide after seeing many recommendations for it on this site, but I have a couple of questions.

1. I will be getting a UTH. Is it better to use a Thermostat with the UTH or not.
The one I was thinking of getting is here
Is this overkill ?

2. Any thoughts on this thermometer
Or would you guys recommend another product from here or some other online shop as my local pet store only carries the stick on type of thermometer.

3. Feeding the corn. I want to feed the corn in a separate box to avoid him swallowing substrate. How do you guys achieve this do you put the pinkie in in the separate box (within the viv) and the manually place the corn in the box after or let the corn find his own way into the box. Also do you place a lid on the separate box to ensure that he will not take the pinkie out of the box?

4. Where do I place this separate box in the warm, cool ends or in the center between cool and warm areas

The snake will be a hatchling and I am looking to purchase it around the 3rd sept.
Also any advice on persauding a reluctant wife to be more accepting of the snake as a family pet. :rolleyes:

T.I.A

marjon
 
Welcome to the forum :)
I personally use a thermostat and a hygrometer with my uth so I can accurately read the temperature at the warm side of my viv.
To be honest I wouldnt like to rely solely on the thermostat and I get piece of mind from my indoor outdoor hygrometer readout.

With regards to feeding, I tryed putting the food inside the viv in a container but she wouldnt take it, so now I put her in a seperate tub outside of the viv with the food and she takes it straight away. I then put the tub in the viv and she slides out and hides for a few days to digest.
I usually handle her before putting her in the feeding container, and whilst she is feeding the viv gets a clean out which I find the most convenient method for me.

Hope this helps
 
Hi and welcome.
I looked at that stat, and it is more than you need. If you were gong to use a bulb then it would be necissary, but for a uth it is more than needed.
I use a uth and this is the stat I use . It's £24 + £5 p+p from faunology.co.uk. you could go cheaper still and get the mat-stat, but that would require regular adjustment by yourself, where the 300w calibrated stat does all the on/off work for you as and when required.
The difference between the one you were thinking of and the one I recommend is that a bulb cannot just be turned on and off all the time, as that would damage the bulb quickly, so it supplies constant power but only as much as is needed. They all come with a 5 year guarentee btw, and I think for 25 quid it's a good deal, considering all the time saved on reading temps and acting accordlingly. You set the dial and watch the led come on and off as the heat is needed. ;)
 
G'day and welcome ! :)

In my opinion slither offered some very good advice as far as the husbandry side goes.

As for persuading the reluctant wife I have first hand experience with that. First off, NEVER "make" her do anything with the snake she is uncomfortable with. If she (please excuse me saying "she") is pushed into handling the snake it won't help, just let her take her time and let her go at her pace. My wife hated snakes and anything to do with reptiles period. 12 months after being first introduced and watching me handle them, seeing they are quite placid creatures she went out yesterday and got a chamelion, sidestep I know but it was a huge step I think.

The best way is to encourage her curiosity but never force it. My better half still won't touch the snakes, but atleast she can see they are not that bad after all.

Just another side note, beware that corn snakes in particular are addictive. LOL :)
 
Thanks ~slither~

I think I will go with the stat you recommend now I have a better idea of what the differences are.

@ jnky

When you put your corn in the tub do you heat the tub in anyway (uth?) and how long do you leave her in the tub after she has eaten before placing the tub back in the viv?

@ graffixcs

Sounds like good advice re the wife at the moment she is quite against getting a snake and say she will not have anything to do with looking after one. Which is fine by me as I can understand why. I will just hope she comes to accept the snake sometime down the line even if she has no intention of handling it.

Thanks

marjon
 
My wife was completely against snakes before I got my first corn, but I eventually got her to allow it in the house. It helped that I made sure she knew that I'd never expect her to do any caretaking or even have to see it. I keep my snakes in a back room which is mostly just my stuff. She has shown some limited interest in them since bringing home the 1st one. Even agreeably handles the smaller one's on occasion. I'm up to 3 adults, 2 yearlings, 1 hatchling and 13 eggs cooking, and still haven't been thrown out yet, so basically, there is hope, lol. Good luck with it all, and definitely watch out for the addiction factor :crazy02:
 
I handle her for half hour or so then slide her into the container with the food which she will take immediately. I then leave her in there as long as necissary until I have finished my cleaning chores, change water ect.
I have no need to heat the tub and she is normally still warm from handling, and the cleaning takes no time at all, plus my room temp is around 77° anyways.
What I dont tend to do is handle her after eating, I let her leave her feeding container on her own accord which can be a while after putting her back in the viv.
btw my hygro and stat both cost £25 each.
In fact if your not set up yet my total cost so far is approx £110 which includes viv (36" x 12" x 18") , stat, hygro, hides & water bowl, just to give you an idea of costs; substrate & food is minimal for one small snake.

hope this helps
 
With and UTH i would always use a thermostat. That way it significantly reduce the risk of overheating.
 
For feeding, i put my corn in a totally seperately cage (10 gl.) and put the mouse in and shut the top. I have a heat lamp for that cage. After digestion about 1 day, I put him back in his normal cage and let him be for 2-3 days. As far as persuading the wife, My parents would say that my snake is the best pet in the house. It's quiet, only eats about once a week and one deficates only about 2 times in a week. Good luck!
John
 
Thanks for the advice everyone.

I will must likely be getting the viv etc next Monday and the snake a week later once I have the viv set up and at the correct temp.

marjon
 
feeding

well i'm new to corns as well :shrugs: but I have just fed Jake (okeetee corn 4 yrs old) tonight. what I did was get my husband (or in your case your son) to hold Jake while I bought in the mice on a paper plate. put them on the plate in the viv and closed the door. We then put him in through the other sliding door on the other side of the viv. He went straight for the food, gulped them down in 10 mins flat from the paper plate and then went in his hide. i then took out the paper plate and left him to it. i won't handle him for 3 days now. But i'm glad it all went alright. :crazy02:
 
Convincing your wife - my story

About 3 years ago my son and husband wanted to get a snake. I thought they were nuts and figured they would never get around to doing anything about it. Just my luck his first grade teacher had a ball python that he was glad to "lend" to us to see if my son really wanted a snake. I did nothing to help take care of the snake but was curious and would hold him as long as he wasn't hissing! Being the Mom in the house when the poor snake had bad sheds I ended up being the one who would "help" him finish his shed and get the eye caps off. Well, then my husband goes and gets a garter snake and then another and then oops we have babies and by then I am hooked. I start researching snakes and start buying them at the reptile shows I had never wanted to go to and buying over the web! The kids now dread when they hear that I have found a new reptile show in the area! I have 3 corns and 8 on the way, 8 garters and one on the way and one western hognose. Now my husband thinks I'm nuts!

So you never know!

Joanna
 
Got the Snake Today

Well the deed is done I bought my son his snake today (he's named him Spike).
My son is very excited about his new pet.

Spike seems to be very adventurious he must have investigated almost every inch of is viv today. I was really expecting him to find a place to hide and stay there for a couple of days until he got used to his new home.

I have one question at the moment when I picked him up from the pet shop they said he was due to be fed tonight (Saturday) so the last time he was fed was a week ago. Will he be ok to last until Tuesday before I feed him so he has four days to settle in.

I keep refering to Spike as a he as I am not sure what sex he is yet, hopefully I will find a local expert that can sex Spike for me.

Not sure if this is the correct place but I have (hopefully)attached a pic of Spike can somebody please tell me what morph he is?


marjon
 

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I've been told to give new babies two days to settle in, but hatchlings can go without food for a long time, so if it's necessary to wait till Tuesday, he can.

He looks like a normal corn snake to me (although I'm kind of a newb myself), and a very gorgeous one at that. He has such an adorable head marking; I've never seen one quite like that. :)
 
rhinecat said:
I've been told to give new babies two days to settle in, but hatchlings can go without food for a long time, so if it's necessary to wait till Tuesday, he can.

He looks like a normal corn snake to me (although I'm kind of a newb myself), and a very gorgeous one at that. He has such an adorable head marking; I've never seen one quite like that. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice.
I thought he would be ok to last until Tuesday just did not want to starve him from the start.

His head marking is why he is called Spike as my son thought it looked like a spike (or a ink pen nib as my wife thinks but did not want call him Nib).

marjon
 
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