Newbie..with many questions :)

[Wannabevet83]

Hey you guys, I am a fairly new corn snake owner. I have a beautiful amelistic (sp?) male corn who's about 2-3 feet or so. I aquired him from a friend about a month or so ago.

I have tried to do some good researching on the husbandry, but I figured I would get your opinions out there...anyway, here's the setup:

tank: 20L

lights: I have a hooded fixture that partially covers the tank, with a reptile day bulb on one end and a red light on the other.

oh yea, and I also have a heating pad attached to the outside bottom, on the warm side


temp: 80 degrees on warm side, 70-75 on cool

substrate: aspen (I keep in a couple of inches deep 'cause he likes to make tunnels

hide spot: reptile log, he also has a water dish that he likes to wrap around

feeding : 2 F/T pinkies once a week, in a separate enclosure


Now here are my questions:

Would it be okay to start feeding twice a week? If so, would 3 pinkies be too much (2 pinkies in one feeding, 1 the other)

Also, should I supplement with calcium/vitamins on the pinkies? I'm just questioning the calium content.

I was told they don't need a UV source due to eating full prey, is this correct? I have been using the light bulbs to provide extra heat as well as a good day/night cycle. Also, in regards to heat...it my setup too warm?


I think those are all the questions I have for the moment...I'll be sure to update if I think of anything else

Thanks!

Ginny

 

[Rachel]

One thing I picked up on...you should be feeding way bigger mice than pinkies for a 3-4 foot snake! I generally feed a mouse that is 1.5 x the girth of the snake.

What are the dimensions of your tank? I'm not too good with 20L stats ...
Yup, no UV. Your temps seem fine (I work in *c so could be wrong). As for supplements, its up to you. There is no real need for it, although I do dust pinkies as they have a low calcium content (but you should be moving to bigger mice so this wouldn't be an issue). I use Reptibal supplement and will use a calcium supplement with the females when I start breeding my corns.

HTH, Rach x

 

[Chip]

Why in the world are you feeding a 2-3 foot cornsnake pinkies? I'd feed small mice if it's closer to the 2 foot range and adult mice if 3. But a nearly grown corn could eat a dozen pinkies in a meal. And stepping up in size would insure that the mice had begun developing bone mass, which would eliminate any need for calcium suppliment. I've successfully brought a lot of snakes into this world and have never used a calcium suppliment. Maybe some out there do, but I've never known anyone to in my circle of herpers.

As for everything else, it all seems fine. 80 for the warm side is by no means too hot. 70 for the cool seems a little cool (and almost impossible to have that much of a gradient unless the enclosure is very large) so I'd put an indoor/outdoor thermometer IN the cage and put the probe on the opposite end. This will give you a better idea of the ambient air temp. Good luck!

 

[Wannabevet83]

Thanks for your help, guys!

The reason why I am feeding the pinkies is because a breeder from a reptile show I went to recommended them... He said to feed mice the same width as the thickest part of the body. Now, he has gotten bigger since then, which is why I bumped up to 2 large pinkies a week...

Let me go measure him so I can get an exact legnth...
Okay, I couldnt find a tape measure, but I measured him against my 55 gal (which is 5 feet long) and he's closer to 2-3 feet...sorry about that! He's under a year old, if that helps you guys picture him.

So back to my main concern...the pinkies. These are considered large pinkies, as in just starting to grow fuzz. And I have a ton of them (again, from reptile show)...so is it okay to feed multiples until I'm out? If not, I can get fuzzies...I'll just be out 50 mice lol

And as far as the tank goes...everyone I've talked to says a 20 Long is fine for a corn Should I go up? I mean, I don't think he needs a larger tank at the moment, but I could be wrong....

 

[Wannabevet83]

Oh and the dimensions for the tank are: 36 X12 X12 inches

 

[Rachel]

Oh right, I thought you meant a 20 litre tank!! Those dimensions sound fine. Still, your snake should be on bigger mice. At that size and age I have mine on bigger mice than you and alot of people think I feed too small a meal! Your snake should be on misce 1.5-2 x the girth of your snake. Pinkies most definately are not that if your snake if 2-3 ft long (unless he's VERY skinny). My 4 month old corn is on the size of mice you are describing and is about to move up a size next month.

 

[bluetattoo]

Hi there Ginny,

Apart from the feeding , another thing I picked up on there is that it's best to have a couple of hides, one at the warm end and one at the cool if poss.

Good luck with your snake.

Blue

 

[Chip]

that's an odd tank size.

If I remember the formula right, Length x width x height divided by 214 is roughly size in gallons. That would give you 24.224 gallons. But the floor dimentions are the same as a thirty gallon long tank, which is very spacious (compared to those of us who use rubbermaids!) and should be just fine for the snake for it's whole life.

Were it my snake (and I only had one and lots of frozen fuzzies) I'd go ahead and feed them off; but probably five per feeding, once weekly. My "this year's" hatchlings are on large fuzzies now and aren't moving up until the mice are gone.

My main curiousity remains what are the actual temps in each end of the cage. You can get a digital thermometer at any hardware store that will clear this up quickly. 70 is too cold, but if you have one end reaching 80 (air temp) it's hard to imagine the rest of the enclosure is ten degrees cooler unless the room is really cold.

 

[Wannabevet83]

okay, thanks you guys for all your help

i'll be sure to get another thermometer soon