Just got a corn, barely any knowledge of what I'm doing.

[Oxylepy]

Went to the reptile show in PA and picked up a baby Snow and an Emperor Scorpion. The Snow just ate a f/t pinky and is exploring the 20 gallon I gave him/her. Yes the size is fairly large for it, but it has a bunch of balled up newspaper in there to hide in. Treated the tank with PAM last night in case I got a snake. I saw that the hot side temp should be ~90, so I'll dig up my rheostat and set that up. I'll have to get an appropriate hide since... well I have a Cool Whip container and that dwarfs him.

[Shenzi Sixaxis]

Uhh, corns aren't BPs. Hot side should be NO HIGHER than 85F. Just 5F higher at 90F can cause neurological issues in young ones and cause them to go off feed.

I'd pick up Kathy and Bill Love's Corn Snake Manual, which I think you should have done before buying it. You can get the book for 5 USD plus shipping from Amazon.com.

This FAQ should suffice for now.


EDIT: It's nice that it ate for you though. That can be a problem with babies.

[mainbutter]

Even a baby corn will be fine in a 20g long. They handle space much better than BPs and other snakes that spend their lives in burrows.

Corns are fairly bullet-proof. Give 'em aspen bedding, some items for clutter if you want, and 75-85 temps (70-80 is fine as well) and you've got a great setup to make any corn snake happy.

[Blue Apple Herps]

90º is way too hot! 80-82 is plenty warm for a corn.

[HERETiC]

All solid advice above, good luck with your new corn! They're a fun snake to keep.

[Oxylepy]

Provide your corn with a basking spot of 88-90° F and an ambient (background) temperature of 70 - 75° F. The ambient temperature should not fall below 70° F. It is vitally important to KNOW the temperatures at which you are keeping your snake(s). DO NOT GUESS!! A great way to monitor temps is to use a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer with a probe. Stick the thermometer to the inside of the cage on the cool end and place the probe on the warm end, and you'll have both sides covered at once.

Sorry, the guide is wrong then, hence me thinking it was 90. I barely needed to change anything since I am not running a thermostat and am running a rheostat (I work up, not down, to reduce risk of burns) and it was having the heat mat at around 80 when I saw this.

Thanks, guys.

[PyramidPythons]

Good luck with your new little friend. Looking forward to seeing pictures after it has had time to settle!

[Shenzi Sixaxis]

That's why I don't really like care guides. Always either buy a book or ask on a forum for the animal and then you're probably in the clear.