Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am wanting to buy a corn snake but i want to make sure i will be able to keep it in a comfortable environment. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on a cage to use and the type of heating i would need. Is a 20 gal long aquarium good to use? How about a screened in cage? Would i need to worry about humidity? I planned on using some sort of sand or calcium based substrate, but im not sure that would be good for a corn snake. I am also worried about heating, it kinda sounds like hard work to set up ideal enviromental temperatures. Any help to shine light on this subject would be appreciated as well as any pics of cages. Thanks

A 20L is fine. I think a corn, or any snake for that matter, may be more prone to get nose-rub related injuries in a screen cage.

They need moderate humidity. I have not needed to take measures to increase the humidity - the natural humidity in their cage of 40% seems to work fine. If you live in a dry climate, you may need to adjust things.

I would not use a sand or desert-type substrate. Corns naturally live in wooded and other similar areas where the ground covering is predominantly dirt and plant matter. Sand isn't particularly natural, plus it can be drying. My corns like to burrow. I'm using aspen right now, but alternatives such as cypress mulch, repti-bark, or that coconut husk brick will all work well. I don't really like newspaper/paper towels, since my snakes get underneath it.

Heating isn't hard to accomplish at all, unless the ambient room temp is very warm or very cold. A heat pad or a heat lamp, or a combination thereof, is an ideal way of heating the cage. Common room temp on one end, about 82-90 on the other.
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-audri
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Thanks, that helped answer alot of my questions and makes me feel alot better. I do have a few more though. I was wondering if a 10 gal or even a 5 would do well to keep a baby snake until it grew in size. Also, about how long do you think it takes for them to reach full size? I have a 10 gal on hand and wish to use that until he gets bigger. One last question, is there any breed of cornsnake that is good, or will any do? I have my eye set on this kind. http://www.cornsnake.net/gallery/gallery.php3?id=32 I think that color is amazing.