Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My Girlfriend just bought me a Miami phase corn snake aprox. 2 months old. I have a 20gal long tank, artifical tree, heating lamp, and a large but shallow water dish. I have been feeding him pinkys once a week. I was just wondering if there is nething else that I should be doing for him and what to look out for as well as any suggestions on taking care of him. I am very new to snakes so any input would be very helpful. Thank you

Kevin

Sounds like you're doing okay so far!.....there are really too many things to be aware of.......this being said from decades of experience. Of course there are definitely some extremely important basics every snake keeper should know about his/her animal(s).
My advise would be to go to a local pet store(or on line) and get an inexpensive booklet on corns. Kathy Love(Cornutopia) has a good book on her website. Also, many others are offered, such as Don Soderberg's book, and countless others.
What makes these extremely handy, is the fact that you can ALWAYS refer to them anytime you want!!

Among other things, look at what other people are posting about their animals, but take some good advise and get a cheap booklet before you have to read other peoples posts about problems they too could have easily avoided with just some very basic knowledge and common sense...........what I keep seeing though, is that common sense doesn't seem to be all that common!!LOL

Hope you do well with you're snake!

best regards, ~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

You might want to put two snug hide boxes in there for him. Put one on the cool side and one on the warm side. Another item that you need is an accurate thermometer. You need to get good readings on how hot it is on the bottom under the heat lamp. What kind of substrate (stuff on the bottom of the tank) are you using? The last suggestion that I have is to make REALLY sure that the top is escape proof. You would be surprised at how good these guys are at escaping.
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phflame
kingsnake.com host

DITTO on all you're additional info to the new poster!!
You are correct on all counts, but to ALL "newbies" it is EXTREMELY important to get some literature on their animals,as all those points and many,many more are covered. That way, they don't have to get on the net EVERY SINGLE TIME they want to know something one question at a time,that just makes no sense to me at all!...I'm sure you would agree with me on that.

best regards, ~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I have been reading up on it for a while and the basic stuff is always the same. I do have thermometers on both the heated and cooled side. The heated side is normally about 82-86 F. and the cool side varies from 70-75 F. The heating and air in my building is very messed up so when im gone at classes and all the temp can reach up to about 90-95 in the heated and 80-85 in the cooled. I dont know what type of effect this will have on him with the variations in temp over such a short time. With the hiding boxes I have a fake bush/tree in the cooled part and half log in the heated part. He normally just takes to the tree and stays in there. Thank you for all who are helping it is greatly appreciated.

With you're air conditioning fluctuation being that unreliable, it's much better to err on the slightly cooler side(meaning low-mid 80's).........90-95 can be LETHAL!!. Do whatever it takes to see that temps don't get that high.

Everything else seems to be fine, but those high temps could cook some food, including your snake!,....otherwise it sounds like things are good.

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

that mentioned it was only on the hot side,......that being the case, I'm sure the snake hangs-out at the cooler side when that happens. But it is still a little too warm for my liking, and most other long-time breeders.
As mentioned before, if the animal can't find a spot in the 80's, and is forced to be in 90's it could kill it. Even in high eighties, many snakes seek their waterbowl for some relief.

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Thanks for the temp. help. I dont know if it is normal but I have never seen the snake go in the water bowl. The closest he gets to it is the tree that hangs over it. Is it normal for him to do just that?

That's a cornsnake's favorite environment in nature.....in trees and bushes. I caught this female across the street in an orange tree in the neighbors yard at the very end of the branch when she was a small juvenile. Now she's about 42" long.

Just remember, too much heat can easily kill the snake.
An optimum temp gradient is about mid seventies at cool end, and mid-upper 80's with some hide areas within those ranges, that way it can find it's optimum temp at any given time.

They especially need a certain amount of warmth to digest properly, otherwise the meal actually rots in the stomach, instead of being digested. That is VERY bad as well, and can kill the animal if not corrected, and is allowed to keep regurgitating meals.

best regards, ~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Thank you so much for the help.