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Total cost

A

Amyshizzle

New member
What was the total cost for your tank, sustrate, water dish, etc.
What did you buy?
Excluding the snake.

How much money a week do you spend on your single corn snake?
 
Well, I bought my 40Gal critter cage for 99 bucks when I had bearded dragon, but
now I still have it, and I spent over roughly 150 for substrate, water dishes, decors, hides, and heat pad.
I send about 10-20 bucks every 3 weeks for food, and only 8 bucks for substrate a month. Hope this help you.

If it was only for single corn, I would say about 10 bucks every 3 weeks, but I have 2 now and I also spent over 100 bucks for 2 water dishes, silicone, and plexisglass.
So I can split them in half, to keep them away from co-habbing.
Now, all that money's gone, and I am still happy that I don't spend that much every monthly, only about 20-30 a month for nesscary things.
 
wow, that is a lot lol.
I just looked at the prices for the blizzard corn and butter corn plus shipping and the totals were: Blizzard corn 150, butter corn 140. Thats not bad but I do not think I will come up with that much money. So I am going to go to the local reptile shop and see what they have there.
 
I think I spent $120 to setup my viv. It includes:

Viv
lid
aspen substrate
under tank heater
thermostat
digital thermometer
water dish
fake branch for climbing
couple of small hides

weekly costs should be fairly low. If you keep the viv cleaned out, you should go through a medium size bag of aspen every 4-6 months. A bag cost about $7.

I spent $100 that last time I ordered food. That should last about 6 months for 3 snakes that are about 1 year old each.

Hope this helps

Rich
 
I bought a Small Exo Terra Rainforest Habitat for about $150 (I think), initially.

Then a $15 heat mat, and $15 rheostat.
$5 Water dish.
$14 and $9 Exo Terra Hides.

Free toilet paper/paper towel rolls. I use 4-5 sheets of paper towel as substrate.

If I buy pinkies where I live, it's $2.50 each. If I buy them at PetLand downisland, it's $.98 per pinkie, and I think $1.49 per fuzzy. Jasper gets one fuzzy a week.
 
Be careful buying from shops. Sometimes it's fine, but my first snake was from a petstore and she ended up dying a few weeks later from a respiratory infection. I thought it'd be cheaper than buying online because I'd avoid shipping costs. Instead she ended up being more expensive because of the vet bills... and she still didn't make it. Just be warned that shops aren't the best places to buy from. Their conditions aren't very good compared to most breeders. My new snake had a higher initial cost but she's perfectly healthy and she's got a great appetite.
 
Yeah. To second what Raiyne said, I bought my snake from the local pet store (same one with the expensive pinkies) and they really knew nothing about snakes. Unfortunately I didn't know any better and wound up paying like... $50-$75 for my normal morph corn snake. Thankfully she's in good health, but you can probably get a normal for considerably cheaper than that if you deal with a breeder.
 
I spent about $150 on a critter cage, uth and thermostat...and another $30 on hides, bedding, water bowl and fake plants. Not too bad but I think you can find most of it cheaper online. Then he costs me $1.09 every 6 days for a fuzzie at the local pet shop. Again those are probably cheaper to buy in bulk online.
 
I spent $7.99 for my snake's enclosure, $7.99 for a bag of aspen bedding, $1.99 for a doggie bowl that doubles as a hide and water dish. I added toliet paper rolls and paper towel rolls and a jello box and extra plastic plants that I had laying around. I spent 95cents on a peice of tile, and 15$ on a heat mat which isn't set up yet since it is usually between 79 and 85 degrees in the room.

I got my beautiful ghost for 30$, so 30+8+8+2+1+15=64$. For food for my three snakes I got pinkies for 19c a peice, and spent about 40$ because I had to buy two different sizes, but they should last many months.
 
Sarynkitamo said:
Yeah. To second what Raiyne said, I bought my snake from the local pet store (same one with the expensive pinkies) and they really knew nothing about snakes. Unfortunately I didn't know any better and wound up paying like... $50-$75 for my normal morph corn snake. Thankfully she's in good health, but you can probably get a normal for considerably cheaper than that if you deal with a breeder.
Click to expand...

I just thought I'd play devil's advocate for a sec...

It's true that there are many pet stores that don't know what they are doing with their snakes but there are also some that are ok! My local Petco is great! Two of the kids that work there own corns and love talking about them and are really attentive to their corns there and are in fact, very knowledgeable. Another of their guys owns toads and also makes it a personal chore to make sure the herps are ok.

I got my normal corn from Petco for $30 and he is perfectly healthy, has a great appetite and is not at all aggressive.

So it's true, pet stores may not be the best and it is definitely safer to buy from a breeder but just do your homework, go to the pet store knowing most of the basic info regarding corns (like they're temps and humidity) and ask the people there about them. If their answers are off, that could be a red light. Also, don't hesitate to ask them if any of their employees own snakes or are particularly knowledgeable in corns.

Good luck!
 
Amy, you can also check craigslist and freecycle in your area for fish tanks or snake vivs. All my vivs are fish tanks, and the majority of them came from freecycle and garage sales, and a few from shops that went out of business. There are a ton of things you can use to decorate without spending a lot of money. You can go to a dollar store for some silk or plastic plants. Just check to make sure there are no sharp wires in them. Hides can be just about anything size appropriate to the snake. I got a new guy today and his two hides consist of small fed-ex boxes until I can make or get him something permanent.

My corn's hide is a plastic coffee can container that I cut the bottom off and put a hole in the side for him to crawl in. Wood can be free...just be sure not to use pine or probably even cedar. Woods that have resin in them aren't good for the snakes.

For aspen, check out stores that sell horse bedding. You can get giant bags of aspen for very cheap.

Water dish, again, check out garage sales, dollar stores etc. You can use a glass ash tray, a candle holder, whatever. Just be sure that it's heavy enough that the snake can't tip it over and large enough that he can soak in it when needed.

Food, that's probably the only thing that will run you some cash on an ongoing basis.
 
The whole breeder vs. pet shops debate confounds me. It depends entirely on the breeder and the pet store in question. There are good pet stores and bad breeders...in case anyone forgot.

Pet stores also have the benefit of allowing you to handle and play with your new pet before paying for it, and being close to home allowing you access after the fact to any knowledge they may have. As well...you avoid shipping charges.

So while you might pay $50 for a normal corn from a pet shop, you don't spend $50 on shipping. A normal corn from a breeder online might only cost you $25, but you pay $50-60 in shipping, and that normal corn just cost you $75-80, sight unseen, and having never handled the snake you just purchased. You also have to worry about the shipping, and if the snake survives.

Like I said...depends ENTIRELY upon the breeder and the shop in question...

But back to the original question...when I got my first normal corn for my daughter, we spent roughly $185 for cage, UTH/thermostat, hides, substrate, and water dish...INCLUDING the corn, and we bought it all from a local pet shop where she could go in and play with the corn before we paid for it. As well, you can minimize costs by using cereal dishes for water, and general household "clutter" for hides like TP rolls, plastic containers cut in half, empty boxes, etc...

BTW...that first corn is the nicest corn in my collection, has never hissed or even pulled back into a strike pose, is extremely healthy, and fathered his first clutch this past spring. He is a normal Aztec het. for amel and motley. I regularly use him for educational purposes and bring him to the pre-schools in the area where all the kids are able to hold him and pet him...and he never gets angry or stressed. Pet shop snakes tend to be accustomed to lots of peering eyes and "hands on" experience from inexperienced people. This *can* make them less stressed out over time, and easier to deal with. Noty always...but potentially.
 
tyflier said:
Pet shop snakes tend to be accustomed to lots of peering eyes and "hands on" experience from inexperienced people. This *can* make them less stressed out over time, and easier to deal with. Noty always...but potentially.
Click to expand...

I've often thought the same!!!
 
Well thats not nearly as much as I payed for everything for my beardie. Well my local reptile shop is called prehistoric times. I am going to check them out possibly today.
I know their beardies werent in too great of shape, but maybe their corns are. Oh, and if I do not get one from there I am going to order one from BHB reptiles. Shipping is 90 bucks but the snakes arent expensive. Also, I have a tank in my back yard but it has no lid. I do not even think its big enough. Its about a ten gal.
 
One thing to keep in mind - in the event anything does happen, a vet appointment runs me about $75.00 and a fecal test is $17.00. You should try to keep that in reserve just in case (depending on your local vet's cost).
 
Amyshizzle said:
Well thats not nearly as much as I payed for everything for my beardie. Well my local reptile shop is called prehistoric times. I am going to check them out possibly today.
I know their beardies werent in too great of shape, but maybe their corns are. Oh, and if I do not get one from there I am going to order one from BHB reptiles. Shipping is 90 bucks but the snakes arent expensive. Also, I have a tank in my back yard but it has no lid. I do not even think its big enough. Its about a ten gal.
Click to expand...

If the corn is a juvie, a 10g should work for a while. You want something that's at least half as long as your snake's length. A 30g long would last him his lifetime, so if you start with a ten, keep your eye on craigslist for one for teh future.
 
This is the tank I have my beardie in he will outgrow it in about a month. Is it suitable for a corn?

DiablosTank001.jpg

DiablosTank002.jpg
 
I can't see your photos on my computer for some reason. I just wanted to say that a large viv is fine for a small snake, but be sure you have plenty of hides. Baby corns are prey for LOTS of things in nature, so they need places to hide in order to feel secure. That has a direct impact on disposition, digestion, and probably lots of other things we can't quantify at the moment.
 
Oh okay, I will provide lots of hide spots and bushes. I went on freecycle.org and found a 60 gal. for my beardie so hopefully when I get the pix tomorrow, I will like it and will go pick it up! Lets hope, then I could probably convince my parents into letting me get a corn! I hope! lol
 
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