The tank is a 20L. For info on the kit that I purchased you can google Zilla Deluxe Snake Kit. It's just a little starter kit. I've never really been great at DIY so I figured I'd let my husband handle all that when he gets back next month. The store I bought her from sells special ready made humid hides. Provided the truck will run tomorrow(not terribly fond of this cold weather lately) I'll pick on up tomorrow. I really wish I she'd peek out real quick so I could make sure she's okay without having to bother her. The daytime light is a 75 watt Zilla daylight blue incandescent. The night bulb is a 50 watt Zilla black heat incandescent bulb. I think I'm going to downgrade the daytime bulb. It had the cool side temp up to 86 degrees today, much warmer than I wanted. The night bulb has the cool side at 78. My humidity came up to almost 20% within an hour of switching off the daylight and turning on the night. I haven't yet misted the bedding but I'm going to do that real quick pending anything other remedies. The measurements come from a Zilla dual humidity and temperature guage. I'm going to get a kit that has seperate guages for each reading and putting one of each at each end of the tank.
P.S.- The Bark Blend is ground douglas fir bark(even though most of it is pretty large pieces about 1in x 3/4in give or take. Jungle Mix is much more finely ground, more the consistancy of rough soil, and is a fir and sphagnum peat moss blend. Both are from my LPS. The aspen is the chips. I don't like the shredded for my furry critters as it can get into their airways. I'll get whatever it takes to stabilize this viv's humitidy so suggest away!
Boy, I hardly know where to start, but here goes nuttin'...
I think you said your snake was very small, maybe a juvenile, and it's lost somewhere in this cage. First, I don't recommend such a large cage for such a small snake. For one reason, they're hard to observe under those conditions, and it's hard to catch a mistake when something goes wrong. Something is very wrong with your setup.
Start with your substrate. The aspen chips don't work well for snakes, especially small ones. I don't think they hold the moisture well enough, and they seem to suck the moisture out of your animals rather than helping them. Your cage is way too dry and it will be bad for your baby snake. I suggest finding it asap and doing what I said before...a little soak, to make sure it's hydrated.
I used shredded aspen with my mouse colony and it worked great. They didn't inhale anything. In fact it worked better than chips. I still recommend shredded aspen, even for rodents.
I've been out of the corn snake loop of the hobby for several years and I've never heard of all this Zilla stuff. I'll have to do some research on that; but it seems pretty obvious someone has come with a full line of accessories for pet reptiles that can be marketed through pet stores and such. I won't comment on the quality of the products, but only on the functionality of them.
I don't know what your humid hide is like, but if it's any good you may find your snake in there. I think the overall conditions of the tank are pretty bad. You don't need the light sources for one thing. It's way too hot. You're probably cooking the snake. The undertank heater is plenty to keep your snake warm. The cool end is too hot too. I'd turn of all the overhead lamps and test the temperatures when the cage cools off. Your snake will try to hide until it cools off and then may come out to look for food and water.
I'm keeping my snakes in a room that varies from 70 to 80*F. It is warmer during the day and cooler at night. I use UTH's under some of the cages, usually after the snakes have fed, so they can digest better, otherwise..no extra heat. Even at these temps the snakes still try to find the best places in the cages to rest and hide. They like tight places and places that are somewhat moist/more humid. I'd qualify this info with saying it's winter and I believe in a partial brumation or slow down, if you will, in metabolism.
I've commented on the aspen bedding already. The bark with fir chips doesn't sound much better than the aspen. I doubt it will hold moisture very well. The other bedding, the Jungle Mix, sounds better, although I've never used it. I don't like the fir in it, but the sphagnum, peat moss blend could work. The fir contains a toxic sap when fresh cut. When dried out it might be a lot more neutral. I would have to see the bedding when dry and when moistened. The other ingredients will hold moisture better.
Once again, I'd recommend finding the snake at once. If I were the snake, I'd either be in the humid hide or under the Jungle Mix bedding. Good luck....
:santa:
