Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My boyfriend and I just picked up our first corn snake from Bayou Reptiles at the Northshore show in LA. We are so excited! She is four weeks old, and a beautiful sunglow motley. She is also het for butter.
Right now we have her in a 29 gallon tall tank. I realize they need the long ones, but this will have to do for now. How long do you guys think she will be able to comfortably stay in there? My main question is what wattage of lights should we put in there to maintain the right temp? We keep our house really cold, and right now we have a 40 watt. The temp is a little low, so we're going to have to adjust it. We want to keep her in the 80's, and 90 for her basking spot. Is this a good range?
Does anyone have any good tips for keeping corns, and/or dealing with babies? So far she seems fairly calm, and appears to like to slither around in our hands. It's a bit of a challenge to catch her in the tank, but after that she seems fine. Do you guys use branches or vines for them to climb on, or something else?
For future reference, what morphs can be produced with a sunglow motley. Any cool mixes with other morphs that you know of?
Any info would be EXTREMELY appreciated. Thanks in advance to those who respond, and we'll post pics when we get access to a digital camera.
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~Brian and Kerri~

hey, another corn snake fan!!

they are real easy to care for. this is MY experience with them.....babies don't like or need such a big enclosure at first. you can start them off in a 5-10 gallon tank. i housed mine in a 5 gallon at first. (kritter keepers are good, too) i just set the tank on a human heat pad...only about 1/3 of the tank...set the temp on low. you want to creat a thermal gradant.
need to provide hiding places, water bowl. i use that green turf stuff with paper towels over that for the bottom of the tank. paper towels rolls work great for hiding places or little band aid boxes. they don't need all the fancy stuff. you can buy that later if you want when they get bigger.

my temps are in the 70's cooler side to 80 or so warmer side. 90 is to hot in my opinion. i have UTH on 2 of my tanks. one of my tanks has a light for heat...BUT we don't keep our house cold. here in the Arizona deserts it don't get that cold. if your using a light you want to provide some other form of heat as well because a snake doesn't want a light shining at his face 24/7. they need a day/night cycle.

its recommended to use some sort of temp control with the UTH's. feeding should be fine. most folks use frozen/thawed prey. esp when the prey will be big enough to eat your snake. kathy loves book on corn snakes is great for anyone who has corns. enjoy!

another thought is where are you measuring temperatures? need to be measuring the temps on the bottom where the snake is. not ambient air temps. they go with belly heat more then air temps. that is why i mentioned another heat sorce other then the light if your keeping your house cold. plus a 29 gallon tank is a bit tall so the heat from the light might not be reaching the bottom anyways.
just my 2 cents....

Congratulations!

I agree, a 29 gallon tank is way too big for a new baby corn. A 10 gallon tank or even smaller would be much better to start off with. Make sure no matter what that the lid is secure.

I use under tank heat for mine, no lights. low to mid 70's at one end, mid 80's at the other

the best advice is to get the book "Corn Snakes: The Comprehensive Owner's Guide" by Kathy Love. It is a must have.

if I only had a few corns and was displaying them, I would use sandlbasted grapevine for them to climb on, I really like that stuff!

Try not to handle her very much in the beginning, if she eats/poops regularly for a few weeks in her new home then she'll be settled in and ready for more frequent handling. And always remember not to handle for at least a couple days after she eats each time.

Looking forward to seeing a picture!

Traci