Reptile & Amphibian Forums

After weeks of looking out and about for snakes I have decided to get a corn mainly because there cool and easy to take care of and the other snakes didnt look as appealing as I thought they would..., the one at my local reptie store has some sick and awesome coloring. Im Going to pick him up after school, My set up is, 2 rock hides (snake can go in them, its pretty cool.) on 2 ends of the 10GL tank,Paper towel substrate to start, 2 themometers and 1 hydrometer,Spot lamp with day and night light cycle,sturdy branch. My first snake so I wanted to know is everything right? Also Which snake out of the 2 corns in the tank should I get? becaue the guy picked up one of them but he was a little bit small but the colors are really insane, the other corn that the guy picked up was bigger but went crazy in his hand for awhile, I think that one was a normal though. Both were hatchlings so why was one bigger? a head start in growth?Should I get the easy going or crazy one? Sorry for this being so long just excited and nervous.

First off, when you say rock hide... do you mean store bought hide that they get nto, or do you mean a rock from the yard that they crawl under? Setting a rock on paper towel doesn't make it a hide (they can't get under them usually). Also, you didn't say anything about a water bowl in your list of supplies. I recomend you switch to aspen or reptibark after a bit. It looks nicer (imo) and you will have to change it out a lot less. Last but probably most important, Which should you get? THE ONE YOU WANT! I have heard that question before and don't understand it...... If you don't particularly like a corn when you see it the first time what makes you think you will like it in 5 years? Personally attitude doesn't particularly matter... The spastic one will calm down within a month size doesn't matter because they will both grow. And they can BOTH be hatchlings.... hatchling just means very young snake. I stop concidering them hatchlings at around 12". Just curious, what morphs are they? and the thing first timers NEVER ask..."IS IT FEEDING?"

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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
0.0.1 Butter Corn "Butters" (South Park)
1.0 Redtail "Kilo"
1.0 Ball Python "Wilson" (Castaway)
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"

get rid of the spot lamp, get a ceramic heat emmiting bulb on a thermostat.
corns dont realy need a daylight cycle, the window does good enough for that.
the che doesnt make light but lots of heat and on a thermostat can be left on longer.
a corn doesnt need much heat so you can even just go with an under tank heat pad
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jake

my addiction:
2 normal ball pythons (lazlo and izzy)
1 amelenistic corn snake (mazy)
0.1 blizzard corn (blizz)

The one could be smaller because it's not eating.

I'd skip the pet store and go to a local reptile show. They come around all the time. It's worth the $4-6 admission fee because of the insane selection. There are about a jillion snakes at those things. Pet stores rarely know anything about the snakes they sell. I'd go with an established breeder.

Also, I'd get one that's alert, active, and goes into an "S" when startled. Also, they shouldn't bite you or strike at ALL if they're baby corns. If it does, pick another one.

Also, depending on the show, RodentPro might be there with their frozen rodents. Nothing beats not having to pay that shipping charge!

Good luck!

Walt

Hey everyone,got me a sunglow motley a few hours ago and I've been observing him for the last 2. I logged everything In a personal notebook of mine, about a page worth of stuff from scheduled feedings to day time temps. I skipped out on the little one because he didnt look all that healthy, maybe thats why he was so small. The nice size one I got is VERY active, I mean about 20 minutes after he got in the tank he was looking for escape routes lol. He did something weird that I thought snakes couldnt do, He went in to corner of the tank and kept going up the corner and after awhile looked like he was standing on his tail! Then he went onto the thermometer and then just hung out on the thermometer for awhile before decending down. The guy said he feeds him pinks every tuesday but im going to go buy a pack tomorrow from the store. The only thing Im worried about is the guy said he's been eating LIVE pinkys, I hope this isn't a problem switching from live to dead, but if I can aquire live ones I will.

OH yeah Also, I have a water bowl in there obviously lol I just forgot to post it. I have a day and night lamp, I would go with a ceramic heater but I already bought the lamps Even though they probably dont need a day/night cycle I would like to have it. And I also bought an undertank heater for winter I'll post picks soon but my camera is producing really weird picks, maybe because flash is boucing off the glass, creating a distorted image but I'll still have picks soon enough. Please answer my above question about the live and dead feeding thing though.

has been good with f/t. personally i dont like the idea of feeding live. all my snakes eat them. just make sure they are thawed out thouroghly and completely.a pinkie will take no time at all to thaw. if your new snake doesn't show interest just wiggle it a bit, i use tongs, and most will accept them. i would wait a few days till he gets a little used to his new home before feeding him/her.
f/t is also very convienient if you stock up on them you don't have to worry about running to the store for a live ones.

Dont get the live pinks unless you really have to, Go down the pre killed frozen road, try and feed your new snake at night for the first few feedings, in a small container like a deli-cup. if your useing aspen for bedding i would always feed in a seperate container, aspen can stick to the pinky and cause impaction.
your snake already takes live pinks so there should be no problem with the pre killed defrosted.

Good luck with your new corn..

Paul..

50%Corn 50%Pueblan

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Pinky's taste nice,only if there fresh..

Thanks I didn't know what I was going to do. I'll probably feed him saturdays and tuesdays since theres three days in between to heat up and digest it, or maybe a single once per week. Im surprised he is doing so good, I was thinking a few minutes after I got home everything will collapse lol. But thankyou to everyone for replying.

I agree totally on reptile shows. I do not trust most pet shop, especially chain-pet stores.

I pick up to corn snakes today at reptile show. Got both for $50. one is a blood red phase female corn and the other is amelanistic male corn. They had normal phase corn for $10 to $15. I know local pet store wants $40 regular phase and $100 for any other phases.