Corn Snakes

[chishnfips]

Hello folks,

I tried the wrong forum so I put it in here,

I was wondering about corn snakes, I would like to get one, not straight away but in the near future. And I was wondering if anyone had good advice about keeping them. I am going to the pet shop on saturday, I phoned them and they are getting one out for me to hold and get used to before I buy one. Which is really good of them.

I have researched them to find out what they need in terms of surroundings, tank sizes food etc.

But what I dont have is experience from owners... (ease of looking after them, general do's and dont's, cleaning of tanks how often how much, best substrate to use in terms of ease eg, astro turf, wood chippings, paper, best way to heat the tanks eg bulbs or heat pads, any special lighting if any, temprement of the snake etc...)

All the info I want is more the kind of info an experienced keeper can give me rather than a google search.

anyways cheers in advance


chish

 

[grahamsokel]

Corns are great snakes

heat wise i use a selection,some of my vivs are heated with bulbs on a dimmer stat others with ceramics on a pulse stat and then i have some heated with a heat mat on a temperature stat.
Substrate i use aspen in all of my corn snake vivs
i have artifical plants,branches and hides in my vivs
viv size a 3ft is big enough for an adult corn snake but if you are going for a hatchling you can start with a small tank

food wise again depends on the age of the snake it could be anything from Pinky mice up to xl mice
a good reptile site is www.livefoods.co.uk and loads of people ready to give good advice

 

[gems]

Hi,

I have had my adult male corn Ziggy for 8 years, had experience of other snakes before as my dad kept them, and I think I can safely say they are one of the easiest species to keep. Obviously, as with any pet, different people have different experiences so don't take that as gospel!

With regards to maintainence etc. I find him very easy to look after, much less effort than fish! I feed him once every couple of weeks; this is because he's an old boy now (about 12 years old), and he only eats day old chicks which are quite big and take a while to digest. With a younger snake feeding will probably be more frequent, plus mice are better, are easy to get hold of, and they come in a variety of sizes (mine only eats day old chicks because that is what he was fed on when I got him). His tank gets spot cleaned every time he poos, and I do a big clean out once a month, and also after he sheds.

His tank is an old fish tank, adapted for him. It has a heavy wooden lid (with airholes drilled in it) which is essential as they are masters of escapism! In the lid is a normal household light fitting with a 40w lightbulb in it. Under one end of the tank is an under-tank heat pad to provide the heat - the light bulb mainly provides light more than heat. Currently in his tank he has two hiding places - one in the warm half, made of half a hollowed log which stands over his under-tank heater and under the light bulb where he likes to bask. The other is just a patch of substrate away from the light and heater that is sheltered by some fake plants where he likes to curl up to cool down. He has a big water dish, which is good for soaking in when he's about to shed his skin (note that not all snakes will like to do this, some manage just fine without soaking), and I try to change the water every day as fresh water is very important to them, they are a species which likes to drink a lot. He also has a branch for climbing on, another activity they seem to enjoy. When I can afford it I am going to get him a much taller tank to provide him with more climbing opportunities. The substrate I use is shredded Aspen wood. It's a bit like straw so he is able to burrow through it with ease (something else he does a lot of!), plus it soaks up liquid quickly which is good for keeping his environment damp free. I have found that spreading the aspen over a layer of newspaper on the bottom makes for easier cleaning too.

Generally the temperament of the corn snake is a good one, they seem to enjoy being handled, although they get very grumpy just before they shed, and so would you if you were itchy and uncomfortable and couldn't see very well! I have never been bitten by him, although my dad was once, but that was because he smelt of day old chicks (he's a falconer) and put his hand in the tank when Ziggy was due to be fed! It didn't do much except leave a little scratch on his hand, their teeth are too small to do much damage.

I have very much enjoyed having Ziggy as a pet and will continue to do so, as providing they are kept clean and fed the right diet they should live to a ripe old age

Hope this has been of some help.
Here is a not particularly great pic of my Ziggy

 

[chishnfips]

cheers for the replies, awsome info there thanks, I hopefully will get one in the next few weeks, I cant wait, I take it all depends on how much you feed them to how much they shed.

 

[CAC]

Theyre very friendly, and arent in any way scary, but IME they arent as interesting as some other snakes. But, if i did have to reccomend a beginners snake, then i would say a corn...
Id just use a heat mat, on a stat, and you should be fine. Also, whats great about snakes is that if you go on holiday, then you dont need to get someone to feed it

Mikey

 

[guppy_man]

ive kept a number of reptiles in the years, i prefer snakes to any other reptile though, i have a 3ft kingsnake, which is georgeous, great colors, and i have a royal python, which is hardly ever out and about in the tank, hes only fully awake when we get him out, he loves it out of the tank, my dogs and cats don't though, they have to go in the passage away from him.

i had a cornsnake, but died in tansport, so took it back and ended up with my 5 yr old king snake, hes doing ok, his name is houdini, because hes escaped a fe times, he escaped for 9months outside, and my nextdoor neighbout found him on his doorstep, he didnt realise it was ours, but because we knew about snakes, he called us over to have alook, and it was ours lol, he must of been hibernating, and living on mice or something.

my python is housed in a 4ft tank, with a couple of rocks and wood, with bark chippings for substrate, we just heat the tank with a normal house bulb, 150w.
my kngsnake is in a 3ft tank with nearlly all the same deccor.
and i feed the python, gerbils, rats and chicks, and the kingsnake, chicks rats and mice.
snakes are great pets, if you know what you are doing.

one other thing, make sure your tank lid is secure, put something heavy on the lid, otherwise he might get out.

 

[chishnfips]

cheers for all the replies again.

I could just picture my bro's face if it ever escaped lol . lol


So do you put the heat mat under the substrate or under the actual tank to prevent burning the snake?

 

[demonmagus]

under the tank I think

 

[CAC]

Under the tank
If you have a very thick substrate thought, then there will be lots of heat loss...So dont go too thick.


MIkey

 

[chishnfips]

okey dokey, cheers,

I am going to see them on saturday, getting all excited lol

 

[grahamsokel]

Is your viv a glass Tank or wooden?
if its glass make sure there ia a slight gap between the heat mat and the bottom of the tank or the base will crack

 

[chishnfips]

It will no doubt be glass yes, unless I get one of these geo boxes someone mentioned, but I am not so sure about those because they are plastic

How would I do that, would I put a towel between them?

 

[grahamsokel]

best way is just put a few pieces of polystyrene tiles on the corners and in the middle of the back and front just to raise the tank slightly off the heatmat.
also you will need a vivarium hood for a tank rather than a fish tank hood

 

[chishnfips]

Yip My bro is going to make me a custom hood from wood. Pads came with the heat mat that I bought

 

[grahamsokel]

You will need some sort of vents in the hood otherwise the tank will be too humid for a corn