Reptile & Amphibian Forums

After a long time of wanting, I'm finally going to get a corn . I just have a few questions so I can get set up right.

1) I have a 15 gallon long tank thats free, is that too big for a baby corn?

2) What is better for heat, an overhead light or an undertank heater?

3) Substrate. Is aspen the best?

4) Does anyone have a good site for ordering frozen mice? If I ordered from a site where you can only buy like 100 mice, would they stay good enough in the freezer long enough to feed most of them out?

I guess thats it for now, I do have a book, but I always like to hear from people on here to find out they're opinion. Thanks
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Nick
0.1.0 Leo (Aeris)

AIM:bigdog18msu

A 15 gal. should be fine for a young corn. It's a little big but I wouldn't worry. As for substrate I use newspaper or paper towels. Clean, cheep & efficient. Aspen bedding in my opinion is a little too dusty. Some people use it I prefer not to. As for heating, a good under tank heater is fine. Place it at one end of the tank so your snake can thermoregulate. Snakes don't need light per se (although the issue is open to debate) so a basking light isn't required. just make sure you have an appropriate tem gradient, a few hidespots ans fresh water. Good luck with your new addition I hope this helps.
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0.1.0 argentine horn
0.0.2 pixie
1.1.0 fire salamanders
0.0.1 axolotl
1.1.0 golden treefrogs
0.0.1 green treefrog
0.1.0 golden gecko
0.1.0 skunk gecko
0.0.1 cali king
0.1.0 sumatran blood python
0.1.0 ball python
0.0.1 argentine B&W tegu
0.0.2 giant black millipdes
0.0.2 dumpys

First...Good for you! A good choice and 100 points for doing your research first. The above answers are good ones. I personally prefer aspen. You can feed directly on newspaper, however, without fear of ingesting substrate. I like how aspen looks, and corns enjoy burrowing in it. Best of luck. Duffy

be sure you have a couple hiding places for your new corn. i use paper towel rolls and little boxes cut down to size if it's a baby snake. they will hide alot at first so don't get to worried. mine hide all the time when they were little. now they are yearlings and come out often.
best to let the new comer settle in for 3-4 days before handling/feeding.

The tank will be fine for normal housing but a tank that size may not be great to feed him in. I would use a rubbermaid shoe box to feed your snake in for the first year or so.
I also prefer newspaper to any wood substrate, but it is not much for show, Aspen or Cypress Mulch should be fine if you are looking for a more natural setting.
Good Luck on the baby and remember to mist a cage that big often (several time per week) to keep the humidity high.
Good Luck
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

>>After a long time of wanting, I'm finally going to get a corn . I just have a few questions so I can get set up right.
>>
>>1) I have a 15 gallon long tank thats free, is that too big for a baby corn?

A 15 gallon tank will be fine. If you are getting a hatchling provide small hides so it will feel more secure and move to larger hides as it grows.
The 15 gallon tank will easily work for a couple of years. I am not sure of the dimensions but it may work as a permanent home for your corn snake.
>>

>>2) What is better for heat, an overhead light or an undertank heater?

I would lean towards undertank as opposed to overhead for heating. They both work but with an undertank heater it is easier for the snake to move to different temperature ranges.
An overhead light can sometimes over heart a small to medium sized tank. If you use an overhead light just experiment with bulb wattages until you find one that does what you want it to do.

>>
>>3) Substrate. Is aspen the best?

I don't know if it is truly the "best" but I prefer it.
It is easy to spot clean, it isn't very dusty if you get the right stuff, it looks pretty good as opposed to newspaper or paper towels and it isn't very expensive.

>>
>>4) Does anyone have a good site for ordering frozen mice? If I ordered from a site where you can only buy like 100 mice, would they stay good enough in the freezer long enough to feed most of them out?

There are several:
RodentPro
Big Cheese
and a few others.
Depending on the size snake you are getting you might want see if one of the companies will send you a split order. Maybe 50 pinkies and 50 fuzzies.
YES they will keep in the freezer long enough to use.

Good luck
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Remember, My posts are MY opinion only!
Jimmy (draybar)