• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

What did I do wrong?

M

mycurlylocks

New member
Could anyone give me any ideas as to what I did wrong? We bought a young flourescent orange cornsnake from Rich at the Raleigh, NC show on May 3.
He ate the pinky mice fine, I fed him weekly. He was in a 20 gallon long tank with a shallow water dish he could get into and some hide spaces. I had read to use newspaper for the young snakes, so I was using white butcher's paper, no wax on it. The room never drops below 70 degrees.
Two days ago he died. He was not moving much that morning, I could see his tongue flicking when I bumped the tank. He had eaten two pinkies three days prior, one was digested and the other one was real close to being fully digested.
Went in the room at lunch time and he was laying there dead. The room was at about 76 degrees.
My son is heartbroken, the kids at the cancer wing of the hospital are disappointed, they were supposed to get to see him this week when we go in for chemo.
What did I do wrong? I would like to know before we try to find another cornsnake.
Thanks,
Candy King
 
Candy,

I'm really sorry to hear that! Let me first say that there may not be "an" answer for what went wrong. Sometimes, the best example possible of a cornsnake just doesn't make it for some reason, and we never can be certain what that is.

However, I may have misunderstood, but it seemed that the temperatures for your snake were a little low. I try to keep my snakes on a temp gradient of 75 degrees at the low end and 85 degrees at the high end. This allows for full and proper digestion. It is "POSSIBLE" that your little guy simply could not digest his food well enough, and had trouble regurging. I think I recall Rich saying something about one of his animals dying from aspirating a regurge once, but I could be mistaken.

Of course, it could be something completely unrelated to temps, but that was all I saw as a possibility from what you have written. Please let us know if there is any further information you might be able to provide as clues to the problem.

Again, I'm really sorry your boy has had to loose his pet, especially at such a difficult period in his life. Please let us know what we can do to help replace the pet when you're ready!
 
Hi Darin,
Glad to see a familiar name here.
I am usually on faunaclassifieds, but my son wanted to get into cornsnakes. He thought they were beautiful and Carol had told us they were easy starter snakes. (Rich was at the gun show!) Like to never got to meet him!
This was our first snake and I researched on the net right after we got home. I didn't realize the temperatures needed to be that high. I had moved him further away from the heat sources, because I figured the heat from the uros and beardeds tanks would be too much for him. I had read to keep him anywhere from 70 to 85 degrees and to not let him get cold while he was digesting his food.
That is probably what I did wrong, I let him get too cold. I could barely see the bulge from the second pinkie, the first one was gone completely. He had grown about three inches since we got him, so I felt pretty good about that.
Now I am glad I didn't get the butter corn he wanted. It was more than the flourescent orange and money is real tight for us.
Are there certain types of cornsnakes that are easier than others? Carol had told us this one was safe, so I know we were okay on that. I just don't want to make anymore mistakes. When I can get some money saved up, we will try again!
Thanks for all the help,
Candy King
 
No matter what morph you like, they are all the same when it comes to chances for survival etc.

I would pick another corn you guys like, set up the tank like Darin mentioned......one side room temp or so...the other side between 83-85 or so degrees. I have very long enclosures, and I give mine 90 all the way to room temp on the other side. The use both sides frequently. Don't worry about overheating *unless* you A. let the warm side get over 90. Anything over 90 is bad. And B. you don't provide a cool spot, but since you already seem to have a cool area that won't be a problem for you! :) Get a good thermometer if you don't have one already.

Sorry about your loss, they won't all be like this.

bmm
 
I bought two ambers and two blizzards from Rich in Oct. and both ambers died within 6 weeks - it's a roll of the dice to get strong healthy animals. sometimes they just werent meant to be - you probably did everything right

I'm sorry your snakes deaath has affected so many people
 
Sorry you lost one, it happens to even the best keepers

What type of heater are you using for the tank? A 70-76 degree room without a heat source is really low for a young snake.

The only thing to be worried about with various substrates is feedings. I prefer giving my new arrivals substrate to burrow in. It seems to provide an extra sense of security as some like to burrow and some don't. By having it initially, you can observe andsee which your corn prefers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top