Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi
I posted here a while ago about one of my corn snakes that vomited constantly; and for the record, it died : (

My second snake on the other hand is showing all signs of being well (that I know of). He's flicking is tongue, moves around and eats about once every 1½ week and is about ½ a year. But he doesn't like being touched or seen.

During the whole day he's buried where I can't see him, but I know he's not over the hot place, which is 86.00°F. During the night he comes out, drinks and moves around, so if I want to feed him I have to do it either early in the morning or the night (I've been told not to feed him during the night so I don't), and he prefers to keep himself at highground where it's about 77.90°F (same as the rest of it, except the hot spot which is heated by a 'thing' which is 12x24 inches) When I do get to try and pick him up, since he's rather small, I take him with three fingers (thumb, point and long~), but he tries to run away and burry himself at the sight of me. I move my finger a bit in front of him before i touch him to make sure he knows I'm there, so I don't frighten him.

I would guess that it's rather normal for a snake to 'escape from it's predators'. But I can't be too sure after that I underestimated the problems with my other snake : (

I'm not sure if the heat is right either, so any tips there would be great!

Thanks in advance

It's fine to feed your snake at night & is a more natural time for it to eat. It's also normal for your snake to not be out during the day, they're nocturnal animals. Some snakes are just more timid than others, but consistent, gentle handling will calm them down. Just keep approaching it slowly & handling it several times a week. If it's not hissing/striking then it's not terrified of you, so just work with it a bit.
Also, if you have a snake regurg (I'm sorry, I don't remember who's post I read a few weeks ago about regurging, maybe it was yours), DON'T feed it again for at LEAST 8-10 days, then feed only 1/2 a pinkie or a pinkie head, wait a full week, feed another 1/2 a pinkie or pinkie head etc... Go very slowly. (This advice is from Kathy Love's regurg protocol, which she can email you). I'd highly advise getting Kathy's protocol if you're nursing a snake back from a regurg. This is such a critical time that you must be very careful or your snake could die.
Best of luck!
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1.3.0 leos, Yoda, Geo, Tang, Ginger
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink Indigo (Indy)
0.1.1 frogs Buffy the Cricket Slayer, Butrose Butrose Froggy
1.1.4 firebelly newts Wayne Newton, Isaac Newton, Fig Newton, Juice Newton, Olivia Newton John & Helmut Newton
1.1.0 cats Gus & Mena

I have 2 corn snakes and let me tell you when they were little they would hide 24/7. Now that they are both yearlings they do come out quite often. Mostly at dusk to see whats going on.
As far as handling...they will not get used to it unless you handle them. You don't want to handle them right after eating however. Should wait 48 hours.
What I do is handle them on a regular basis. Like 4-5 times a week for 15-20 minutes. They were scared to when they were little but with gentle handling they have become used to it.
Also I handle mine right before I feed them that way they are active and moving about. I used to feed them in a seperate container (one benifit to this is you make sure they eat and the meal isn't setting out all night getting rotten. I feed F/T) then gentle place them back into their enclosures. I have never had a problem with them regurging doing it that way. Now that they are a bit older and bigger I feed them sometimes in their tanks and sometimes in a seperate box.
My amel regurged once in her live and I think that was becasue I fed her to big a meal. I think you should be feeding yours more often..like every 6-7 days. Mine would be hungry again after 4-5 days so I upped their feedings to every 5-6 days when they were little. Now they do good on once a week feedings.
Again this is just my 2 cents. I was sorry to read you other corn had died. JP