Questions from a newbie!

[Vegas]

Hi there,
I'm really really close to buying my first cornsnake, I found a breeder up here in north of sweden not far from me. He says it was born in September, now it's only about 30cm long, can that be? From reading I've learned that newborns are about that size but I don't know.
Also, the tankissue, or viv as you seem to call it around here. I'm planning on buying a 100x50x50 something viv, is this to big for him/her in the beginning? I'm thinking it might escape with such a large viv when it's so small. Should I house it in a petbox or smaller viv until it's a bit larger?
Also, if I defrost a pinky for it and he/she don't want it. Is that one then consumed? because I assume I cannot freeze and defreeze several times because of the bacteriahazard, is that correct?
Here's the little booger!

P.S I don't know for sure that's the snake I'm going to get, he have 4 left from the hatch. Also I don't know when those pictures was taken.

 

[TripleMoonsExotic]

The little guy does look really small to be a September 04 baby. Some hatchlings do grow slower then others (and some breeders don't feed as often as other breeders).

As long as their are plenty of hides, their should be no problems with viv sizes. As long as the little guy can thermoregulate properly, you shouldn't have any problems!

 

[stefmc24]

some snakes are considerably bigger/smaller than others. i don't think you have anything to worry about. i know some people who have snakes 4 months younger than mine and they are 6-8 inches longer. as long as your corn is healthy, i wouldn't worry.

if you have access to a smaller viv, i'd use it. if you don't, just make sure you put plenty of hides in the bigger viv. he should be able to get from one side to the other without being out in the open too much. as long as the snake feels safe, you should be fine.

most people i've talked to will re-freeze a pinky once, but no more than that.

congrats and good luck!!

 

[Vegas]

Thanks for the fast respond! I don't know what time you've got in the states right now, prolly bothering you in your beutysleep right?

Yes it does look a bit small, BUT however I don't know when those pictures were taken, I first thought those were pictures from like a couple of weeks after birth. But then I e-mailed the breeder and he told me they are about 30cm long, and that fits the pictures quite good. I'm a bit confused, I've e-mailed him once more but he's really really slow to answer. But he wrote in the last e-mail that they are eating well and so, they're about 50 USD (350 SEK) in price, normalcolored.

EDIT: stefmc24 you answered while I was writing. But yeah ok so you don't think I have anything to worry about? he seems to be pretty serious and he's got several corns himself. About the viv I was thinking if I have a frontopened viv with slidedoors I've heard sometimes when they're small they can press their head through the smallest of spaces and when the head fits, so does the rest.

 

[stefmc24]

it's about 10:30est here where i am in virginia.

if you're concerned that the breeder might not be giving you accurate information (either intentionally or by accident), maybe you should look for another breeder you feel more comfortable with.

they can definitely squeeze through even the smallest spaces. it's very important to make sure the viv (no matter how big or small) is escape proof.

 

[Vegas]

Well, I don't know what to think about the breeder since I've only received one e-mail from him yet with very little info, only one thing I can't figure out, if you put out an ad about you selling something, atleast I would check my messagebox more often then once a week.
Also it's not that easy to find another breeder, I live in a very small part of sweden, about 1000km away from the real action. (Stockholm)
Btw, I don't know if I'm really offtopic now or something but what bottommaterial do you recommend, I wan't it to be easy to clean and look ok, any suggestions?
Another thing, should I get a snakehook? I was thinking after feeding, is it very good to grab him? if he puked up the food I mean.

 

[Vicki M]

Feeding
The best thing to do is to feed in a seperate container, this stops the snake from eating the substrate by mistake which could lead to big problems. You can place the snake in a smaller container to feed then when he has eaten just place this container back in the viv and let him crawl out when hes ready. But saying this if you feed outside then you can gently lift him back in afterwards without a problem, just wait 20mins or so until the mouse is in the stomach (you will notice the bulge).
Or if you feed in the viv which is fine as long as you only have one snake in there, just place the mouse on a something like an ice cream tub lid so he doesnt digest any bedding.
As for bedding I use beech chips but lots of people recomend aspen which i will be changing to soon. Other than this newspaper is fine and may be better at first so you can notice the little poops! You will need to spot check for these daily.
Are you able to visit the person you are getting the snake from? This may be a good idea if possible then you can check the condition of the snake yourself.

Good Luck

 

[stefmc24]

personally i use aspen bedding. it's cheap, it's easy to clean and it smells nice.

i would not get a snake hook. something like that will stress your snake more than simply placing it back in it's viv. what i do to aviod handling is gently lower the feeding container into his viv and tilt it slightly so he automatically climbs out. i haven't had a problem with this method at all. but if you must pick him up, be sure to support him. moving him from the feeding container to the viv shouldn't cause a regurg.

 

[Vegas]

Vicki M: Yes I've been told earlier too that the best thing to do is to feed in a separat container, I read in another thread a great idea, make a hole in the side of the container and when the snake is finished he can crawl out through the hole whenever he feels like it. About the bottommaterial, I'm not that good in english so I don't really know what Aspen is.
I've seen people who have small colored stones, like red or blue, good to spot the poo-poo, less good is perhaps it don't keep the damp very good. Most people I've seen use woodbarque. I think it's called reptilebarque at the petstores. One more stupid question, what color is snakepoo? is it light or dark colored? the best thing would be to have a bottommaterial that contrasts the poo out.

EDIT: Yet again I was writing while you responded stefmc24, yes just tilting the container a tad is probably the best thing, the McGyver solution with the hole in the side might be a bit overexagurated then. (No offence)
Can someone perhaps post a picture of your viv with Aspen since I don't know what it looks like.

 

[TripleMoonsExotic]

Aspen is a type of wood chip (in my Avatar, my Amel Stripe is on aspen). You would want to avoid Pine and Cedar.

 

[rayray]

Also like someone said in thier post about the hole in the side. You could prolly find a stopper like out of a piggy bank lol and jus make the whole in the container big enough for the plug and when he/she is done eatin u can remove the plug and the snake can crawl out when ever he /she wants. But i dunno what anybody else has to say bout this . lol sometimes i get to into an idea and dont fully think it out and it dont work but this might.

 

[Vegas]

I'm probably going down to get both the snake and buy equipment + viv next weekend. Now what do I need? I'm buying one of those heatmats (UTH? you call em' that?) to have under the viv on one side, also I will buy a viv with a lightramp on top, now it would be neat with blue light, if I get a blue light I can have it on day and night right? so that way I have the light on 24/7 and just turn the UTH off at night? or what should I get? if I buy a regular white light lamp I just turn off the light at night and leave the UTH, or?
I will also buy a termometer and a timer + some accesories like branches, flat stones, hidings, substrate ofcourse and waterbowl.

 

[rayray]

Well u do need the basics which is the viv and the snake of course. There is a thread about lgithing ...let me put the link in here .....http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18032 in that thread there are a few suggestions for lighting and some ppl jus use regular light. Um....there r clamp lights which hook on the top of the tank and kinda hover over it. You defintely need uth and a thermometer, and ive been told ...to get somethin to test humidity lol i forgot what the proper name is but this is the thread that i made on it.....http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18046 those are some of the basics u need, definitley with some hides since of the size viv ur using, um....im sure someone else will have some other suggestions for you but right now this is all i can think of lol. Oh and congrats on ur fisrt corn.

 

[TrpnBils]

I'm probably going down to get both the snake and buy equipment + viv next weekend.

You may wanna get your setup going before you actually buy the snake. That way, you can get the heat/humidity worked out before it has a chance to be a problem. I set mine up about a week or two ago and it took me probably 2 days to get everything to the right level and stable.

 

[gatorlink]

I totally agree with trpnbils get the setup, work out all the kinks before getting the snake. You may wanna get a lamp dimmer/ rheostat or thermostat, these instruments allow you to control how hot/cold the UTH gets. I would also recommend a digital thermometer as these give the most accurate readings

 

[TrpnBils]

That's a good point about the thermostat... An alternative that I use and has been mentioned on here a good bit lately is putting the UTH on a ceramic tile. There are good and bad sides to this. It's bad because it's not as convenient as a dimmer because you have to vary the heat by changing the distance to the bottom of the viv. It's not something that needs done all the time or anything, but you do need to have some space between the UTH and the viv to give it room to breathe (don't worry, it'll still be warm enough. I have mine about an inch away from the viv and it's fine). The upside to this is mobility. If you're changing/upgrading your viv anytime soon, you can just move this tile setup to the new one. That way, you won't have to buy a new one or try to unstick the the old one (which can potentially be dangerous).

 

[Vegas]

Yeah that's a good idea, the only problem is, I live in a very small city, our local petstore only sells fish and things for cat/dogs. I have to go 300km to the nearest town that has a larger array of animals/equipment. But I might talk to our petshop if they can order a viv and the rest of the equipment I need, cause I were thinking to hit 2 flys in one hit, picking up both snake and viv while I'm in that town.

I seriously gotta move out of here. Jaws 2 is running at the cinema at the moment (j/k) :laugh:

 

[gatorlink]

fortunately a lot of the supplies for a cage setup can be purchased from non-pet store sources, all except the tank, lid, UTH and food
Substrate: aspen can be bought at animal feed supply stores
Hides: can be made from flower pots or any number of plastic containers etc get creative
Water Dish: a small water dish for a dog can be used one thats not easily flipped over
Tree branch for climbing can be taken from outside as long as you clean it thouroughly so as to kill any insects