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Paranoid new mom about hiding.

Evol_girl

Evol_girl

New member
Hi - Brand new snake owner... I think I'm just looking for some reassurance because from what I've been reading, on here and just in general research, our baby's behavior is very normal... But I'm paranoid and nervous and want to do everything PERFECT so I'm gonna ask...

We just got (about a week ago) our first baby corn. She's about 4 months old we think. We got her for my daughter who's 9 (very responsible with animals though) but obviously I'm taking over the majority of the care, especially in the beginning.

We have her in a 10 gallon tank for now, with aspen shavings - two hides on either side, water, a climber tree... We started out using an UTH but I had a hard time getting it to be accurate and I was worried about burning her so we've switched to a heat lamp until a more accurate thermostat gets delivered (red for night, daylight for day). I'm PRETTY sure her set up is just fine for her...

My biggest question is that she is completely hidden ALL the time. We have only taken her out once - after 5 days to give her a pinky (which she ate perfectly) but in order to get her out of the tank I literally had to take everything out and shift around in the shavings to find her. I had a moment of panic where I thought she might have even gotten out! She was buried in the far corner in a tiny knot under all the shavings.

I know the babies tend to be scared and like to hide - but.... Is it normal for her to NEVER come out? What is the best way to handle this? We would love to hold her and get her used to us, but I don't want to have to dig her out of a hiding spot and terrify her every time... How long should we leave her alone - should we try anything to get her to at least show her face sometime?
 
Don't worry, it's normal, as you already realized, for her to hide like that in the beginning.. hell, my two corns hide still and just come out sometimes to slither around in their tank.

She needs a "settling in" time and it might take up to a week or so. Try to handle her about 15 mins each day to start. Others might tell you differently, but I am speaking for my own experience. That will tell her she doesn't have to consider you a threat to her and you won't eat her.

Try to hold her in the cup of your hand.. Nanci (a member on here) advised that to someone recently and she should know.. lol... holding her in the cup of your hand and close to you will make her feel more secure too... and builds a bit more trust between you.

Corns are more active at night.. so it's common for her to stay underground or in her hides during the day.

She will settle in. Mine did.
 
I have to agree with what Ares has told you. I have 6 corns, ranging from about 4 months old to almost 1.5 years. They are all semi-shy, but getting much more used to being handled. My "big boy" - the oldest of the crew, I just got as a yearling in December. He was NOT friendly when I got him. He gets handled every other day at a minimum. Short times if he's moody, a little longer if he's ok with it. Yesterday wound up being an awesome "play time" for us... he decided he liked being held, and was all over my arm and shoulder and then even decided to dig and play in my hair a little. He's never been that eager to explore when I handle him. My littlest ones love to be held, and are great about it. My snow is still very shy, but even he is starting to come out a little more if he sees someone in the room. Give her time, she'll be just fine!
 
Thanks guys... I kind of "knew" it was more on the normal side of behavior, I just... well - you know :)

So as far as trying to handle her every day, or at least every other in short bits of time... You guys feel its OK to kind of dig around and pull her out to do that? I have been told you should never pull them out of their homes, only when they express the desire to come out - like, coming over to your hand, etc... I have to say I can't imagine her, at this point at least, ever "coming over to say hi" to our hands!!!
 
Evol_girl said:
Thanks guys... I kind of "knew" it was more on the normal side of behavior, I just... well - you know :)

So as far as trying to handle her every day, or at least every other in short bits of time... You guys feel its OK to kind of dig around and pull her out to do that? I have been told you should never pull them out of their homes, only when they express the desire to come out - like, coming over to your hand, etc... I have to say I can't imagine her, at this point at least, ever "coming over to say hi" to our hands!!!
Click to expand...

I go into my corn's tanks and gently pull them out.. I guess it depends how you go at them.. If you go quickly and roughly, yeah they will bow up etc..

Since you have to get them out anyway to feed them, you will have to pull (or take) them out.. just gently I guess is the key.. and in non threatening movements.
 
Man, if you saw how slow and soft I was with her you'd think I was mentally slow or something. I kinda coo to her in a whiney little voice (I didn't even do that to my daughter when she was a baby!), I probably go about a millimeter a second to get a finger under her tummy - there is NO freaking her out on my part!
 
Ares2010 said:
I go into my corn's tanks and gently pull them out.. I guess it depends how you go at them.. If you go quickly and roughly, yeah they will bow up etc..

Since you have to get them out anyway to feed them, you will have to pull (or take) them out.. just gently I guess is the key.. and in non threatening movements.
Click to expand...

Another - probably stupid - question...

We put a TON of bedding in there... I think it was a "the mind is bigger than the eye" type thing because I figured she'd need a lot of cushion... She's about the size of a pencil so I have NO idea where I got that idea...

Do you think it would be better - or worse - or non-consequential - if I took out some of the bedding so she only had like an inch or two in depth to squirm around in, instead of the like - 4" she has now??!?
 
Hey Evol_girl. I don't use aspen so I can't answer your question about depth, but I have read threads on this site where people have found it hard to get the right temps with thick layers of aspen.

Re: handling...If I waited for my girls to come out to play with them, I'd never get to play. :) I usually wait until evening to get them out since that's their natural activity cycle. I'm just gentle and slow in my movements and take them out when I want to interact with them. It doesn't seem to bother them. It's great that you're concerned about your snake's welfare.
 
I use Aspen and I give my scalebabies about 2 inches of it. I call both of my smaller 2010's 'subway' because they LOVE to tunnel...love it, love it, love it!. Plus, 2 inches is enough for them to sit on top of the substrate, under a warm side hide or snuggle down into when they thermo-regulate. AND...possibly the biggest plus of 2 or so inches is there's less to look through when it's feeding day! LOL
 
i had bark for a while, but it didnt look good and was too rough, so i switched to reptile carpet and a bowl full of aspen for Sly to play in. he loves hidin in it and tunnels a bunch
 
My two cents. I have aspen bedding ranging from 4 inches to an inch deep. I totally get the caution that you are using. I really baby my hatchling. I dont sqeeze her and when i need to get her I am very gentle and set her on my fingers and let her move on to me. As far as hiding goes. I used to be real nervous (even after doing a ton of research on this site) that she hid under substrate for sometimes 3 or 4 days. When she is ready to come out she will. If she has only been with you for a week or three then she needs that alone time and hide time. Dont worry about taking her from her hide. I do that every night.
 
Thanks for all the advice and support!! We took her out tonight (after some searching!) and I think she enjoyed it. She wasn't too tense, crawled around our arms and hair, and checked out all the creases in our pants and sleeves :). I appreciate all the help - we feel much better about it now and are excited to keep learning more about her :)

*side note - she is currently NOT hiding :)
 
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