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Young snake-- temperature problem?

edenlore

edenlore

New member
Hello... I obtained a baby corn a few days ago and I've got a UTH under the tank for heating purposes-- I have a stick on thermometer (and having looked around I'm seeing they're not exactly recomended...) which is reading 70 F, and I've noticed Perdita is sticking to the warm side of her tank. She ate a pinky about 48 hours ago, and originally I thought she was just hanging out in the warm side for better digestion, but she seems to be done digesting and she's still hanging out on that side. Also, she seems like she's about to shed (and certainly due one, according to the record I got from the pet shop), but I haven't seen her going near the water bowl to submerge at all, as I was told she probably would do... Is there anything I can do to help her shed?


(She's four months old, BTW, if that's relevant, and I'm new to snake-keeping, as is probably evident :))

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
As you said, stick on thermometers aren't a favoured choice. You should buy a digital thermometer with a probe-they can me bought fairly cheaply. Once you've got that, the temperature on the warm side of the tank should be around 80-85 F, and teh cool side about 75 F.

Not all snakes will submerge in their water bowls before shedding-it's entirely up to the snake's 'personality'. If you don't know the humidity in there, I'd get a cheap humidity gauge. The stick on versions of those tend to be ok from what I've heard. When the snake's in shed you should try and keep the humidity at around 60-65% (Mist the tank with a spray bottle if you have to raise it), and at about 45-50% normally.

Hope this helps. And welcome to the forum!
 
I've found mine tend to hang on the warm side just before shed, and I don't have one that will submerge in their water bowls for shedding. At least not on a regular basis. My amel decided to do that last shed for some reason, but he never has before.
 
Yes, get a digital thermometer...I too was given a stick on one when I got my first corn. Now, I cant say I would feel at ease at all without the digital. The stick on ones just aren't accurate...plus they measure air temperature, not substrate temperature. I wouldnt worry about your little one not going in the water bowl. I have never seen mine go in at all...and mine shed fine, usually in one piece. Hope this helps....I suppose its whats been said up there anyway...but never mind.
 
Thanks, everyone for your advice.

She's now moved to the cold side, her eyes are really cloudy and she's spent most of the last 24 hours coiled up and very still... normal behaviour pre-shed? 0_0
 
Yes, look for a shed in about 5-10 days...her eyes and skin will look cloudy for a few days, then it will nearly clear up, a few days later you should expect a shed, and you will have a bright shiny new snake! Hope the shed goes well for her...and more problems..just ask...
 
Another option for you to monitor your temperatures is a Temp Gun (PE-1): .http://www.tempgun.com/main.html I have one, only cost about $25 (USD). I've heard some talk that the chepaer ones have some inaccuracies, but it's definately better than the "stick on" ones. Also, I noticed you have more than one snake, which makes the Temp Gun even more economical to use mainly because you don't have to buy a new device for every enclosurer you have. BUT you have to have the responsibility and discipline to use it often on EACH enclosure to monitor their temps.
 
Didnt notice she had more than one snake...maybe it was my signature you were looking at???
 
Yeah, I definitely only have one snake. :D

Her eyes have cleared now-- anything I should be doing to help her? I haven't handled her much over the last few days because I've heard a lot about them being grumpy during a shed, but she's seemed absoloutely fine when I've had her out, just crawling all over me as per usual.

Also, she would be due a feed today, but should I wait until after she's ditched the old skin? It doesn't seem to be affecting her too badly at all, and she took a pinky on Saturday.
 
You can try to feed her. I always offer mine food, even if they are in deep blue. They'll either eat it or they won't. You can mist your viv a bit once a day until she sheds just to bump up the humidity a bit.
 
About room temperature will probably be best-as long as you don't spray cold/hot water directly onto the snake it shouldn't make much of a differance.
 
I don't really notice. It's room temp most likely as it sits in the bottle in the snake room. I have snakes that require daily misting so I always have the sprayer there.
 
I take it that it's bad to spray her directly? She tends to come out and look at me whenever I open the tank, so she's been caught by the spray a few times. The water was room temp though.
 
It depends on the snake. Some mind it and others don't seem. My guy ignores the mist. Lady G would slither and hide, so I avoided getting her wet when I sprayed.
 
To be honest I don't spray my vivs at all usually, but now that 'central heating' time of year is coming I'm more likely to, as I had a couple of the snakes have dodgy sheds last year in the winter.
 
Diamondlil,

I don't spray anymore either, but humidity was a made to be a big deal when I was in Arizona, so I use to really work at keeping at least some humidity in their vivs :)
 
Can't say I mist either...mine are still in contico's so I tend to cover up some of the holes in the tank to increase the humidity...no problems so far...
 
Yep, Ginger, in this climate(!) no low humidity problems, but once my teenagers get their hands on the central heating controls so they can lounge about in comfort.... Last winter had to spray because the snakes tended to have harder sheds than they have had this summer. Almost forgot about the potential problem until I read this thread. So :cheers: Edenlore
 
edenlore said:
I take it that it's bad to spray her directly? She tends to come out and look at me whenever I open the tank, so she's been caught by the spray a few times. The water was room temp though.
Click to expand...

It won't harm her to spray her directly, but she may not like it. If she runs from the spray, then try to avoid her. If not, you can spray her directly--just so long as your water is room temp.
 
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