Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello there, I just purchased my first baby corn snake today, and she is a beauty. I've already fed her, she ate the pinky right up, set up the cage and everything and she is now resting comfortably.

Now, I've been reading non-stop on them since I got home, I admit it was kind of an impulse buy even though I've been wanting a snake forever, so I think I got most of the bases covered. I bought a kit for it that the salesman recommended so I'm sure I have all the essentials.

My only concern is on the topic of mites and other parasites. The pet-store didn't have anything on preventing them so I was wondering what the best way to prevent them is? I live on the coast so there's a slight humidity which I think is a better breeding ground for mites as opposed to dry conditions. Any advice?

If the snake at this time does not have mites and you don't introduce any new snakes to yours you shopuld not have any problems. Also make sure you always wash you hand between handling other snakes.

Where do you live? what kind of kit did you buy?

I live in Long Beach in California and I bought everything at Petco. It was a 'deluxe snake-hit' from zoo-med. And no, the substrate isn't cedar I just want to keep my little snake as healthy and happy as possible.

if you got a hot rock cut the cord off and throw it as far as you can

for now i would use just paper towels as substrate easier to clean paper towel tubes work great for hides until they get to small for the snake to fit into

what kind did you get?

Oh it's not a hot rock

It's a little adhesive heating pad that only overs one side of the cage. And the substrate is fir bark from Repti-Bark. And I suspect I'll get tired of buying it and use paper-towels eventually. And she has a little hide-away log, in which she's under right now. Which is another concern, since it's all real wood. What's the chances of termites?

I would say very rare unless your house is severely infested

Right now she's a baby and is pink and red. Any ideas what type she is and what color she'll be when older? Oh, and how do I tell if she needs to eat more than once a week?

Hi. I bought my first corn from Petco too. Mine is a Amel with the red eyes. That was a year ago. Mine has done really well. I fed her, my friend says it's a female since she had a corn years ago, a pinky every 5 days or so. She just seemed hungry all the time. The meal should show a noticeable lump for 24-48 hours after eating. With mine she just looked skinny after 4-5 days and was very active 'looking' again for another meal. Now she is eating 2 fuzzies once a week and is in sheding mode right now.
That snake kit sounds like the same one I bought with the reptile bark, water bowl and heater. I have always used reptile bark and it's NOT a pain to use. I just spot clean and replace portions as needed.
As far as the mites. I never had a problem with my 2 corns or milk. When I bought a carpet python I noticed mites on her after a couple weeks. I think they came from the cork bark I bought for her to hide under. So I tore apart her entire cage and treated it with Prevent-o-mite. Haven't seen any since. I threw out the cork bark. She has boxes for hides now.
Enjoy your corn! If you havent' already buy "The Corn Snake Manuel". It has all the info in it you need.

here's a link to Don's post about it.
forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=356076,356336

Comming from a guy who breeds thousands of corns every year, I have to consider it pretty darn good advice.
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Dianne
AKA IcedGoddess
6.7 Cornsnakes
1.3 Cats
0.1 Child
IcedGoddess Creations
Castle Serpents

Stupid petco! Sorry, nothing towards you, but I do have a thing against petco. And repti-bark is not safe for hatchlings!

I was about to go out and get it myself when I read a post on here by Don S. of South Mountain (one of the sponsors of this forum) saying NEVER to use it. The bark of the fir trees contains the greatest ammount of toxins. Get that garbage out and either use paper towels or newspaper, or if you want the natural look, go with aspen shavings. I just got a gigantic bag of aspen at petsmart for 10$, so it's not only safer, but also cheaper than repti-bark.

Also, is the heating pad outside the cage? If it is on the inside, you may want to cover it so the snake can't lay directly on it, or move it to under the outside of the cage. I haven't used the pads, and don't know if they're as unreliable as the hot rocks, but better safe than sorry

Congrats on the new snake, and when do we get to see pics!!!??
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Dianne
AKA IcedGoddess
6.7 Cornsnakes
1.3 Cats
0.1 Child
IcedGoddess Creations
Castle Serpents

I've been using mostly Repti-Bark as well and will be switching to aspen for the price. Now that I think about, the Repti-Bark is very aromatic so maybe it isn't so healthy after all.
Your heater should be connected to a thermostat or rheostat. Get the cheapo model for the time being - it's better than nothing. I have an IR temp gun and have spot checked two brands of those sticky heat pads at over 120F.
The Cornsnake Manual - read it front to back.
Probably available on Amazon too.

OK I have used it all aspen, dirt, care-fresh, paper towels.
GO WITH PAPER TOWELS, they are cheep, you dont have to look to see if the snake is pooping. it is far faster to clean.

I had my snakes on aspen. and one got some stuck in her mouth I could not see it till she was not doing well and took her to the vet she saw the aspen piece took out and i had to wash the snakes mouth out for a week not fun,

Care fresh looks better then paper towels and works just as well as paper towels and they like to hide in it but is not as easy to clean have to keep a really good eye out for poop

the pad is a under tank heater (UTH) make sure it is under the tank and the tank is rasied off it about 1/8" if you use paper towels if you use care fresh or other bedding can place the tank on it BUT MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A THEMOMETER RIGHT OVER THE PAD you don't want above 90 F

You don't have to have lights yes it is better if you do but not needed your snake will do just fine with out them if you do have lights make sure they are on timmers to go off at night snakes need to sleep to

red and white snake most likely an AMEL or albino (same thing)

GET THE CORN SNAKE BOOK small black and white but the best buy you will every make

depending on how big your snake is you should feed a pinkie about every 5 to10 days Feed once a week makes it easy same day every week

KEEP RECORDS of what your sanke ate, when it ate pooped, shed, when you got, and how long was it. belive me it will pay off .

are the pinkies leaveing a lump if not try a fuzzie

you would not belive what they can eat

depending on how warm you keep the house you may not even need the UTH if the house is above 75 F

Good luck feel free to e-mail with any question
jsnake77@sbcglobal.net

i will be breeding my corn from petco finally this year
started out about 7 inches now 3 years later 38 inches man they grow fast

Okay, I think I'll take the bark out. I don't want to cause her any respiratory problems. What about astro-turf? I've heard that's okay for them, but I'll wait on your word for it.

As for the heating pad, it does go on the outside of the tank and comes with little foot pads to raise the tank off of the desk so it doesn't get overheated. I do have a thermometer over it, but I believe I'll put it down closer to it for a better reading. My snake is over on the cold side of the tank right now, so is that maybe cause for alarm? That it might be too hot?

Thanks again for all the advice, and I will definitely go out and get the book.

astro turf works well looks nice have at least three pieces that way while one is in there you can clean one and have a clean back up. once again paper towels are easier to clean.

how cool is the cool side if it is 70f or higher it should be just fine. mine after feed ing hunker down and never see them

is the hide on the cool side of the tank if so you might want to put one on the hot side just make sure tank temp over all is about 70 to 80 deg.

good questions keep asking

As for the repti bark or bark I really don't know how long it would take for a snake to get sick on it. I know people that have used aspen for years with no probelms

But you might find it's harder to keep clean. My corns have pretty much trained me to clean their boxes just before they decide to poo. CareFresh is good, but expensive, and maybe a little too dusty for a new baby. Paper towels are hands down the easiest to keep clean and monitor health, but not real appealing to look at, and not much fun to burrow in for the snake.

I use paper towels on all babies, until they're established and growing well, usually about 6-8 months. Then I moved them all to aspen. I'm sure you can go to aspen sooner than I do, even from the begining, but I didn't just because most of mine are babies, and I wanted to be able to monitor them quickly and easily, and paper towels makes that a much easier task. Plus on paper towels, or astro turf, you can feed in the cage.

You wouldn't want to go with real astroturf though, that Repti-Carpet I think is made so it doesn't have little threads and things that can get caught on a scale. I did use it for a few weeks when I first got Ruby, but ended up giving it to my dragon because he only pooped in his water, so the carpet stayed cleaner longer
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Dianne
AKA IcedGoddess
6.7 Cornsnakes
1.3 Cats
0.1 Child
IcedGoddess Creations
Castle Serpents

I have had my first corn on repti bark for a year now. I have seen no ill effects. How long do they have to be on it to get sick?? Also, sounds like I should switch over to aspen shavings... so can I just switch cold turkey or gradually mix the two for a while? Does the aspen have small partical of dust or anything like that that snakes can breath in and get resp. problems?

how long it would take, or even if your snake would get ill from it. But I do know that at least one of the corn royalty is STRONGLY against it, and that's enough for me. Also, it is a fact, that in all trees, the bark has the most toxins, as the bark is what protects the tree from parasites, it just makes sense that it should be "icky".

ReptiBark looks like it would be nice, and as I said, I almost switched to it myself, but it's not worth the risk just so I think the cage is "cooler looking". Aspen is cheaper, and the snakes love it. The pack I got for 10$ will last me 6 months probably with 13 snakes on it.

I would never say replace it or your snake will die, because I don't know that that's true. But I will say it is known to cause illness, so why risk it. Sort of like feeding live, why endanger them if you don't have to.

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Dianne
AKA IcedGoddess
6.7 Cornsnakes
1.3 Cats
0.1 Child
IcedGoddess Creations
Castle Serpents

Okay, about the repti-bark.

I went back to Petco and yelled at the guy for selling me toxic stuff. He said that that is what all the snakes there are caged in and is what the store recommends most. Also, when I brought up the subject of the Aspen shavings, they said repti-bark is better for absorbing the heat so the snake doesn't get burned.

So now I'm totally confused again. I have both now and am unsure of which to put back in. I would keep with paper towels but I'm worried that they're too thin and the heat from the bottom might burn the snake.

paper towels are fine I have 7 snakes on them. I have had them on them for 7 years with no burns.

If you don't trust the temps in your cage use care fresh will last forever and still paper and easy to clean. on my milk snakes I use paper towels on the bottom and care fresh on the top

I don't remember if you said that the "pad" or under tank heater(uth) is under the tank or not but most uth's don't get hot enough to case burns. hot rocks cause burns if you keep the tank
rasied off the uth the cage should not get to hot but keep checking temps all the time

if you are really good with electrical wiring you can make a dimmer switch to control the heat better I have not had to do this with my uths but a lot of people do

what are the temps in the cage

my grilfriend is a vet student 2 year and in her class the exotic teacher said "what ever petco says go home and do just the oppisite"

JUST MAKE SURE TEMPS ARE NOT OVER 90 degs on the bottom of the cage all ways check temps at the level snake is at

Don't yell at petco yet they are leaning just like you
at least you are here asking questions to find out what you should do.

snakes are very forgiving in the way they are cared for just keeping asking questions

feed frozen/thawed (f/t)

what size tank did you get is it glass?

I just want to say I know this is a lot of info and everyone has a different idea of what is best DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU as long as it does not put the snake in danger

I don't claim to know it all but I know what works for me I like to help any one who wants the help just think in a few months people will be asking you the same questions

Thanks for all the info.

As for the tank, I just got a ten gallon glass tank, like a fish tank. I have just paper towels in it for now, with lots of layers so I don't really have to worry about it getting too hot. I also just bought a new thermometer so it's a dial one instead of the strips that aren't very accurate. Right now it says the tank is 80 and the bottom is not overly hot when I touch it. I also got a humidity gauge and that's at about 65.

What is Care Fresh? And I didn't really yell at Petco, we were messing around with the poor worker that had to help us for like an hour yesterday But I was talking to one of the workers who has reptiles, though I don't think any snakes, and she mentioned that if I'm that paranoid about the uth pad I could just get a lamp that clamps onto the top. Any ideas if that's a good idea or not? I can't recall reading specifically about heat lamps. I also asked them how old my snake was since I had forgotten about it yesterday, and though they couldn't find the book to look it up they said the snake was under a year. Any ideas on measurements that would tell me how many months she is? She's eating pinkies fine and doesn't even look like she could handle a fuzzy yet if that helps.

I'm still not totally decided on what to do about the substrate, but I think I might do the Aspen with paper towels underneath it. That way if the snake burrows she never comes in direct contact with heated glass.

Thanks again to everybody for all the info, I don't want to harm my beautiful snake.

Yeah it's not worth argueing with them . I once had a battle with the Roseville, MN PetCo for months, because they had....now check this list here, in one large vivarium:
1 mature chinese water dragon (brown, thin, and wrinkly...sposed to be green and "plump"
4-5 leopard gecko's
4-5 Green day gecko's
2-3 bearded dragons
3-5 small lizards I didn't know the names of
20+ garter snakes

All in the same cage, on repti-bark. And EVERY lizard in there was partially shed with extremely dry pieces "stuck" to them. It doesn't take a genius to know that something is wrong here. The dragon was on his way out, he looked so pathetic and weak. I ended up taking him home and nursed him back to green and a nice weight, but one night he fell off his branch and must have broke something when he landed, or died on the branch and fell. I'm fairly positive that this was due to his weakened state at PetCo, because he was sooooo ill there, that I'm sure it had lasting effects internally that I just couldn't see. When I bought him, they told me all he would ever eat was crickets! By 2 months here he was eating mealworms, earthworms, wax worms, crickets, grasshoppers, and mice. Had I kept him on only crickets, he would have died in days rather than months.

I told them that they needed to put the dry animals in dry cages, and the humid ones in humid cages. That snakes and lizards should NEVER be kept in the same cage, as lizards (particularly smaller ones like gecko's) are inherantly afraid of snakes. "Dinner!" After a few weeks of complaining, someone finally took the multitude of garters out, but still kept beardies and gecko's in the same viv, then a week later, there was over 20 green snakes in there! Again, lizards and snakes together!

Take the advice of the pro's here, like Don S, Kathy L, and just about 1/2 the people posting in here, rather than PetCo advice. One or two may have a person who knows about herps, but what I saw at my local store was a bunch of high school kids in the "work-program". I doubt they were snake experts.

Sounds like you've got it set up nicely now. I don't use lights, just the UTH on tanks and heat tape in the rack. Corns snakes don't need special lighting, but a nice normal day/night light cycle is good, and that can be acomplished with the sun (not shining directly in the tank though, that'd heat it up in there fast!) Stick with the paper towels for a bit, then if you do switch, aspen is great, Carefresh is good also. CareFresh is usually in the small pet isle, it's recycled newspaper and comes in gray or bleached white. I used the gray for over a year and it is as easy as aspen, but probably 2 times the price. The one thing it has over aspen, is that it's paper, so should be digestable, but I still didn't feed on it.
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Dianne
AKA IcedGoddess
6.7 Cornsnakes
1.3 Cats
0.1 Child
IcedGoddess Creations
Castle Serpents

care fresh comes in 2 ways
1elleted
2:shreded

both work my snakes like the shreded kind better. they are able to hide in it better.

i get my care fresh throught the local herp socitey 13$ a bag lasts my 7 snakes about 4 to 5 months

check to see if you have one where you live and JOIN
you will learn a lot

as for lights you don't need them they are a pain in the ass they need to be turned off at night but the cage still needs to stay warm so you still need the uth or have 2 lights one that heats and one that is a black light that gives off heat but no light also you can use ceramic light bulbs but these GET VERY VERY HOT and it is a pain to try to open the lid if the light is clamped to it or you hang the lights.
But when I did that it never failed I would brush up aginst the light and burn my arm they were just always in the way

go with the under tank heaters

one other thing i was think about was when your snake gets ready to shed it goes cloudy then clear then sheds don't freak out when i got my first snake knew about the cloudy part but not them going clear I was looking all over the cage wondering where the shed was, called my friend up saying where is the shed it was pretty funny , also when you soak your snake make sure the water is not hot. Luke warm you want about the same temp as the cage.. water feels a lot colder then it really is.

Okay, my snake seems to really favor the cold side of the tank, and since she's a baby I thought it needed to be warmer for her. Is there a possibility that she's getting sick? Should I be worried that maybe she might not have enough sense to 'get in out of the cold'? What signs do I look for in a sick snake? I took her out for a bit today after she had managed to climb up and wedge herself between the top of the tank and lid, where I can't imagine it would be warm enough, and she seemed lively enough.

Also, I fed her on Sunday and as far as I can tell she hasn't pooped. Is that a problem as well? Like maybe it's not warm enough for her digestion and it's just rotting away in her stomach? If it helps, the room itself is always kept pretty room, I don't think it ever really falls below 70. So maybe she is warm enough then despite shunning the heat pad?

Thanks again for all the wonderful advice.

If the room is above 70 deg she/he should be fine give it a few more days maybe soak her/him for 10 min or so in lukewarm water some snakes like to poop when they soak but won't use their water bowl to soak in. I have one like this put her in water 30 sec and time to change the water. sounds like things are going fine. don't worry too much. A sick snake will not eat, not move around, may whistle when it breaths. The skin may look pinched and not smooth. If you are really woried it would not be a bad idea to have a vet look at it. most vets cost about 30 to 50 dollars for a exam and it is not a bad idea to have fecal done too to check for parasites but it hard to get the snake to poop when you want to. things sound ok to me but i am not a vet or can i see the snake to say if it is sick or not.

It sounds like you might have gotten a little freaked out by some of these posts. Don't try to read too much into all of this. Everyone is here to help but don't let it scare you. I am very new to this myself but I can see from your posts that you might be getting too scared. Snakes are smart and they know how to keep their temps OK. My snake hangs out on the cold end a lot during the day too and when he was real small he used to hang out along the top of the tank between the lid too. I don't think anything you have talked about are signs of anything wrong. I know what people are thinking when they say they aren't vets because they don't want anything bad to happen and be blamed for it but I don't want you to be scared something is wrong either. Just hang out on here and read other posts and you will learn a lot. I check it out everyday just so I can learn. But don't let yourself start to see things wrong with your snake if there isn't. $50 for a vet visit isn't a lot but it is $50 and if you don't see anything really wrong why spend it.

like others this is just my opinion but just trying to help calm another newbie like myself down.

That definitely makes me feel a bit better.

I just don't want anything to happen to her since I didn't think to research beforehand and listened to those at Petco who don't necessarily know the best thing for snakes.

But she is eating and made it all the way to the top of the tank on her own, so she can't be too sick if she is at all, lol.

hey so what that you didn't do your research beforehand but ALEAST YOU ARE NOW that is better then most I can't tell you how many times I have told people the same things we are all telling you now.

One time at a reptile show (just watched american pie)(one time at band camp) sorry I had to, I over hread a young kid with his parent talking about buying a snake and by the way they were talking I knew they had no idea what to do with the animal that they were buying it was just cool to have a snake.

I would like to ask how old you are? If you don't mind.

Also get the magazine REPTILES www.reptilesmagazine.com it is a great magazine less then 30 bucks a year and after a while if you are like me will want everything from frogs to lizards I guess it is too bad that I have a girlfriend that has said I have reached my limit. I would say she has to go but then she is going to be a vet from UCD in 2 years so.... well free vet care kinda makes me want to keep her LOL. Don't tell her I said that

so how long is the snake? I have not been to petco lately so I don't know what they have right now but if your snake is eating pinkies and showing a bump most likey not more then 2 to 3 months old.

Also keep things simple right now a 10 gal should keep your corn happy the rest of it's life 10-20 years. But a 50 gal with all the trimmings is so cool.

I am actually almost 20 years old. Sorry if that comes as a shock, as I generally do know a bit about animals and usually don't have to ask stupid questions I even entertained the idea of becoming a vet for quite some time but then decided against it, though I'm still not sure why. I've always wanted a snake, so it wasn't that much of an impulse buy, I knew the gist of what I was getting into and am just scrambling now to make sure everything's alright so I don't somehow end up killing the snake.

And I imagine the snake might be almost six months, as she is over a foot long but extremely skinny. And she eats the pinkies but it doesn't show much of a lump after she gets it down. Thanks again for the advice and I'm off to check out your links.

hey meb good age to get your first snake I was 20 to when I got my first one too. If she is over a foot long she is most likely last years hatchling so any where between 5 months and a year. You might want to see if she will eat a fuzzie mouse or a pinkie rat about the same size. you would not belive what they can eat.