Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi! My amel corn is starting to get kind of flabby as she gets older. I've noticed she doesn't grip as well as she used to when handled, and she just isn't as active. I've tried sprucing up her tank with new things to climb on, etc, but all she seems to want to do is eat and hide in her logs. Is there anything I can do to get her more active and less flabby?

Background: she's 9 years old, eats a large mouse once a week, lives in a 20 gallon long, temps are 80-85 on the warm side, 70-80 on the cool side. She mostly hangs out on the warm side but occasionally ventures over to the cool side.

Even though I've had her for 8 years, she was my first snake ever, so I'm still learning a lot.
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1 amel corn - Geislandi
1 okeetee corn - Valis
1 snow corn - Orlando
2 fire skinks - Loki and Prometheus
2 Chinese tree dragons - Creature and Algo
2 cats - Lucky and Moony
7 betta fish

If you handle her more often, that will provide excercise.
Also, if she's placed in any small bushes or trees outside, it will force her to move.
She may need a larger enclosure with more choices of hides.
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Austin Herp. Soc.

-Changing her substrate more frequently - you don't mention what type of substrate you are using but changing substrate often encouranges a snake to explore more.

-Vary her feeding schedule - a 9 year old corn probably does not need to eat every week unless in a breeding situation. You could wait until she starts searching for food to offer it or offer it on a varying schedule (every week for a couple of weeks then wait 2 or 3 weeks until the next meal) which may encourage her to explore.

-Swap substrate with one of your other corn snakes - I know, this technically increases the chances of cross contamination of some illness. However, if you have healthy snakes and a relatively closed collection, this risk is really minimal. Obviously, if you have a sick snake, don't use that animals substrate.

-Use cheap/disposable hides and change them frequently - cereal boxes are great for this as most cereals have some sort of smell to them and new scents often encourage exploration. Imagine you're a corn snake and all of the sudden you get a whiff of some Fruit Loops!

-Put a few drops of various extracts (vanilla, etc.) around her enclosure - take her out of her enclosure and put a few drops of extract around at various places and then put her back in. Again, new scents often encourage exploration.

These are just some ideas off the top of my head. I have not necessarily tried all of these (but some I have) so I would be interested in the outcome. Just remember, new scents or the scent of a prey item (especially if the snake is hungry) are often a very powerful stimulus to get a snake out to explore/exercise.

I hope this helps.

Rob

Thanks for all the suggestions! Now I'll just figure out what works for her.
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1 amel corn - Geislandi
1 okeetee corn - Valis
1 snow corn - Orlando
2 fire skinks - Loki and Prometheus
2 Chinese tree dragons - Creature and Algo
2 cats - Lucky and Moony
7 betta fish

/snip
Imagine you're a corn snake and all of the sudden you get a whiff of some Fruit Loops!
/snip
Man, that's some funny stuff.
Good thing I use a z-board to type on, as I can take off the keyset and clean off the fruit smoothie that came out of my nose onto the keyboard.
I should know better by now than to drink and read forum posts.
Funny stuff, though.