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snake exersise?

C

coralife205

New member
When I first bought my corn snake in december, I was really into it. then later on I bought a second one, became afraid of it. I gave the second one away. but I still have the first. I never ever took the snake out other thenjust to feed it. All i had was a basic set up, not much of stuff for the snake to climb.

Now im becomeing less afraid of the snake, and I am getting back into it. I Actualy just bought a new tank for it and am going to make it something to look at. I grow live plants in my fish tank, and thought to my self....why cant I do something creative with the snake tank, make it something to look at. Though I wont do live plants Im still going to make it look nice.

so what does this have to do with snake exersise?. Well. Since I never pulled the snake out for more than 2 miniuts a week, for about 5 months, and there wasent much for the snake to do in its old tank, Im finding things online that talks about snake exersise...So Im wondering if I have permanently done any damage to the snake by not handeling it very often and giving it less to do in its tank....How often should I be handeling it per day / per week ?????and for how long?
 
I think snakes are like people, they can get out of shape and then get back into shape. I would start with handling him briefly (like 5 minutes) every couple of days except for the 2 days after a meal, and if he is comfortable (not freaking out) with that, keep him out longer & encourage him to slither thru your hands over & over. Or climb on a chair, or the stairs, or anything like that. Some like to swim in a lukewarm bathtub, which is great exercise, so you could try that.
 
I don't think that 5 months will have damaged your corn.
From what I've seen, corns don't exercise much unless they have to, much like your average lazy human.

I would worry more about feeding your snake appropriately than whether it is exercising. Don't let your snake get fat.
Exercise is most important if you are going to be breeding your snakes. I think that there are plenty of snake owners who never handle their snakes who have healthy, long-lived snakes.

An interesting environment can be said to give a snake a more enriched life, by helping to promote exercise, which fights obesity and reduces stress. Many corns will climb, or sit on top of hides, or dig in the bedding... this at least will make the snake more interesting to watch whether the snake likes it or not.

Don't worry about handling your snake, especially if you are scared to. Your stress can stress out your snake.

I have a feeling that many of those with larger breeding collections keep their corns in simple vivs and don't handle the snakes much- but that their snakes are healthy and happy.
 
how much should the snake weigh. When i bought it, the owner, breeder, said it was almost a year old...right now its about roughly a foot and a half long....maybe 2...but all the way around, the circumference thing is about no bigger then a quarter. Its on fuzzies, but I feed it two fuzzies at the same time, once per week. Im wondering if I should move up on food, because you can barely even see the fuzzies after it swallows them ( hardly any lump in the snake). Its getting ready to shedd right now, Im suprised it did not yesturday...
 
It sounds like the snake is ready for bigger food, as you should see a little bit of a lump. If you look at how big around the snake is at the widest point, the biggest meal should be no more than 1 1/2 times as big around as the snake. So a little bigger around than a quarter. And being that big around sounds OK to me as a yearling. Check out this thread to see how to match the snake's weight to the size of the mouse:

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50106
 
I would just start handling the snake a couple times a week for 15-30 minutes. May I ask what you were afraid of with the snake?
 
I was afraid of being bit....but i still have not been. I got rid of the snake that I was afrai of. Many people on here said it was a hybrid between a king and a corn snake... and thats why it was aggressive....I dont konw...I dont have that 2nd snake anymore. Im back to the original...
 
Are you still afraid of being bitten? If so...when you do finally get bitten, I think you're actually going to laugh at how painless it actually was. To most it's more comical than anything, because you realize that you were worried about nothing :D
 
Someone here described corn snake bites as like being '"attacked by angry velco". I thought that was very accurate and extremely funny.
 
Well, it can certainly bloody you up a little at that size and there's nothing wrong with being a little bit afraid of being bit. If it's not aggressive you shouldn't worry too much. Handling it will of course calm it down. But really, it's not that big a deal, though velcro is an understatement for a 2' long snake. Sounds like it needs bigger food. If it's smaller than the diameter if your snake it's probably not adequate, or at most, a waste of money.
 
And boy do I know it! The angry velcro attacked me repeatedly tonight while being stuffed into a feeding bin. Attitude bit me, the mouse, me, the mouse, me, me me, a total of about 5 or 6 bites, 2 of which actually produced a tiny dot of blood, but not enough to photograph. It itches! LOL
 
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