Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I fed my corn a couple pinks last night, and i just went to pick him up a few mins. ago, and he rattled his tail, i never seen him do that before, anyway he didnt want to be picked up, then he went into his water, and rapidy swam around, i never saw him do this before either. He drinks, and goes in, but never swims around and everything. Is this normal or not.

Well for one, he may be showing this agressive tail rattling because he just ate and just wants to be alone. Handling a snake within 24 hours of eating is just somthing you should never do if you don't have to. You are risking a life-threatening regurge cycle for one, especially if it is young. You should be waiting a MINIMUM of 48 hours before you bother a snake after it eats.

ok i thought it was 12 to 24 hours after feeding. i will let him be for a few days. He has never been aggressive twoards me, thats why this caught me off guard.

technically it is 12 to 24 hours but just to make sure,wait a couple of days.its what i do anyways.better safe than sorry.

Not maening to push the issue, but I have seven of the currently available books on corn snakes, and each one states two days as a minimum before handling.

Is your technical reference from another older text or manual? I'd be interested to know who was dictating that it was ok to handle a snake after as little as 12 hours. I'm a newbie myself, so I'm tring to put together as much accurate information as possible and trying to filter out hearsay as I go along..

>>Not maening to push the issue, but I have seven of the currently available books on corn snakes, and each one states two days as a minimum before handling.
>>
>>Is your technical reference from another older text or manual? I'd be interested to know who was dictating that it was ok to handle a snake after as little as 12 hours. I'm a newbie myself, so I'm tring to put together as much accurate information as possible and trying to filter out hearsay as I go along..

not meaning to create problems here but the books SUGGEST a certain amount of time between feeding and handling.
It is a good general suggestion, especially for newer owners to help take away a possible problem area but it is not a hard fast rule that must be followed to the hour.
When you get to know your snakes you can handle them when you feel it is appropriate.
The thing to remember is the closer to feeding time you handle them the more careful and observant you need to be and you should defintely limit the amount of handling time.
Don't get me wrong, I agree people should be reminded of the possible complications I just don't think it should be expressed as a hard, fast, must-be-obeyed rule.
You will find, in time, that there aren't very many hard fast rules when it comes to corn snake care. New ideas come about almost daily.
good idea to wait? Yes
absolutely necessary for the safety of your snake? not really unless there has been some problem such as regurgitation.
sorry, not meaning to step on toes here

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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

_____

Makes sense to me. Just one more fact to go into the never-ending knowldge base.

I was contemplating creating a wiki of some sort where little blurbs of info like this can be stored and searched. Sure, most everything can be answered in the forum, but for one, you have to wait for a response, and most likely you end up with several conflicting answers. Secondly, as constant reader of the Kingsnake forum, I can attest that you must weed through the "my cornsnake just barfed-what do I do" posts 5x a week. I'm not complaining, but it seems that a centralized reference is called for that might make way on the forum for newer topics.

I also realize that nearly everyone who sells corns has a care sheet available, but again you run into the missing data / conflicting data situation all over again. As a newbie, you tend to accept what you read as gospel, and as an educated newbie (the most dangerous kind) I can state as fact that everyone has both correct and startling incorrect information on their care sheets.

Books are no better. I have no less than seven books dedicated to only cornsnakes. They are all along the lines of "Keeping a happy pet" and few have little usefull information once you get past the "set up your tank" phase. True they all go as far as getting you through such complicated processes as breeding corns, but how many newbies even have that in mind?

I myself have recently gone through an ordeal of trying to figure out what to do about pinworms in an adult snow that I just got. Even my vet could come up with no definative answer. He pulled out two giant texts that he used in college, and each one contradicted the other. One said they were very common and needed no treatments, and the other said that they were rare and most likely would end in death. WTF? In this instance, I received my most valuable data from friends and the internets.

I think that an active, user-populated and moderated wiki might just be the answer. Data could be stored, debated and verified by any user at any time. Better still, the data could be searched at any time, eliminating the down time between posting a question and awaiting (a potentially) inaccurate response via the forum.

Sorry for the long post, but this lack of info thing in regards to herps has really got me po'd.

>>Makes sense to me. Just one more fact to go into the never-ending knowldge base.
>>
>>I was contemplating creating a wiki of some sort where little blurbs of info like this can be stored and searched. Sure, most everything can be answered in the forum, but for one, you have to wait for a response, and most likely you end up with several conflicting answers. Secondly, as constant reader of the Kingsnake forum, I can attest that you must weed through the "my cornsnake just barfed-what do I do" posts 5x a week. I'm not complaining, but it seems that a centralized reference is called for that might make way on the forum for newer topics.
>>
>>I also realize that nearly everyone who sells corns has a care sheet available, but again you run into the missing data / conflicting data situation all over again. As a newbie, you tend to accept what you read as gospel, and as an educated newbie (the most dangerous kind) I can state as fact that everyone has both correct and startling incorrect information on their care sheets.
>>
>>Books are no better. I have no less than seven books dedicated to only cornsnakes. They are all along the lines of "Keeping a happy pet" and few have little usefull information once you get past the "set up your tank" phase. True they all go as far as getting you through such complicated processes as breeding corns, but how many newbies even have that in mind?
>>
>>I myself have recently gone through an ordeal of trying to figure out what to do about pinworms in an adult snow that I just got. Even my vet could come up with no definative answer. He pulled out two giant texts that he used in college, and each one contradicted the other. One said they were very common and needed no treatments, and the other said that they were rare and most likely would end in death. WTF? In this instance, I received my most valuable data from friends and the internets.
>>
>>I think that an active, user-populated and moderated wiki might just be the answer. Data could be stored, debated and verified by any user at any time. Better still, the data could be searched at any time, eliminating the down time between posting a question and awaiting (a potentially) inaccurate response via the forum.
>>
>>Sorry for the long post, but this lack of info thing in regards to herps has really got me po'd.

I must say I really admire your attitude and quest for knowledge.
I'm not sure I have ever heard of a wiki but the need for a central source of information or a FAQ forum or source would be useful.
Do you have Don and/or Kathy's books.
No book can have everything but they are by far the best books out there on corn snakes.
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

_____

Yes, I have both Don and Kathy's books, and every other commercial cornsnake book commercialy available. I even have a few out of print books that I got from Ebay and a great used book store here in the Bay Area. Most of the books are crap, but both Don and Kathy's books are valuable. Each has it's strong points but both are lacking in many respects.

A wiki is a form of weblog. Unlike a weblog, a wiki can be edited by and added to by anyone who cares to join. The most popular of these by far is the Wikipedia. While not totally accurate, I think in our case a wiki would provide an invaluable asset.

Being new to the hobby, it's just so dang frustrating to keep running into these walls when it comes to trying to find ANY information, let alone accurate information. I'd be willing to spend real money for a giant bok of all things herp, but this book just does not exist. Like I mentioned earlier, even teh expensive, professional college texts that my Herp Vet was taught out of are wrong 50% of the time.

I don't mind the fact that I have had a few problems when it comes to my new snake pets. In fact, I feel kind of proud of myself after having tracked down the cause of any particular problem, and then working with my pets to get them back into good health. Lucky for me, I have a friend who is an old-school expert in the field, and he answers hundreds of questions for me every week. But what about the teenage kind in podunk iowa who doen't know where to go? What if he believes what he reads on the Petco care sheet. (I did) What if he doesn't have the resources to buy every book available and deduce a logical conclusion for several obtuse opinions? I believe a wiki could solve that.

Like I said, the forums also go a long way to supplement any book that is available. The problem is, the forums doesn't always provide an accurate answer, or any anwer at all. And the lag time in getting a response doesn't make you feel all that comfortable after you find your first regurge from a baby corn and then have to wait for someone to answer your call for help!.

All I need now is to figure out how to build a wiki....

Most of the sources I've checked will add the caveat, 'don't feed or handle if you can see the lump', and that's what I go by.

as far as im concerned,the rattling of the tail is a completely normal defense mechanism.almost all snakes may do this.its just another way of saying"stay away."your snake may have not completely digested its meal as well so it could of been a little cranky.ive never heard of a snake rapidly swimming fast in its water bowl after trying to be picked up,but im sure its nothing to worry about.just wait at least a couple of days before you pick him up until he has digested his meal.your snake will probably be fine,and if im wrong,then someone else post a message to correct me.Thanks.

>>as far as im concerned,the rattling of the tail is a completely normal defense mechanism.almost all snakes may do this.its just another way of saying"stay away."your snake may have not completely digested its meal as well so it could of been a little cranky.ive never heard of a snake rapidly swimming fast in its water bowl after trying to be picked up,but im sure its nothing to worry about.just wait at least a couple of days before you pick him up until he has digested his meal.your snake will probably be fine,and if im wrong,then someone else post a message to correct me.Thanks.

The water bowl was probably just where it ended up while trying to escape.
All and all sounds normal. They are more vulnerable after a meal.
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

_____

I would wait a day longer than suggested from others, just to be on the safe side, since I have seen some puke from 2 days prior. I always stick with a 3 day rule.

Billy
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Genesis 1:1