The first week

Ok, I got my Snow Corn snake on December 5th, 2006. He is in a 20g long glass tank with newspaper substrate, one water dish, and two hides. It has a screen top held down with two screen clamps. The heating element is a 50watt basking bulb. Additional heat is coming from a space heater. I checked the thermometer's max temperature for yesterday and the temperature on the warm side reached 86.5. This is with the space heater and the basking lamp. Humidity stays around 37-40.

He mostly hides under the newspaper during the day. He ate one fuzzy on December 5th, 2006. I'm not sure how long he is or his girth, or if he is male or female. I would guesstimate that he is anywhere from 12-16 inches long. I'm horrible at guessing things. At his widest, he is probably around 1 inch in diameter, but this is just a guess, which I am horrible at.

I am keeping a record of his humidity levels, and Min and Max temps in his tank. I will add to this record everyday. As of yet this snake has no name, though my friends insist on calling him either Rock Lobster or Chicken Sammich.

Anything I should be doing? Anything I've missed for his tank? How long should I wait before feeding him again (I have two frozen fuzzies in the freezer)? How long should I wait before handling him?

Only thing that's coming to mind is you may want to secure your lid better. Those screen clamps (at least that I've seen) are not very secure, and corns are great escape artists. Even just setting a heavy book or something on top of the lid in addition to the clamps is a good idea. And I'd have at least 4 of the clamps anyways..

Don't handle the snake for at least one week after you brought it home.. and feed once a week.

I will get another set of clamps tomorrow after class lets out. (the petstore is right down the street from my college) and set some books on top of the screen. The store owner said a 50w bulb would be enough to heat the tank but its not doing its job. I have to use the space heater. Would a 75w do the trick?

I'm going to start the feeding schedule on Sundays. Once every sunday, that way I'll always remember when to feed the snake. I have handled him very little (once) since bringing him home. I will leave him alone for the next few days.

i prefer heat pads personally. I've heard bulbs tend to dry the air out. I can speak from first hand experience the clips are not at all secure. I have a corn missing right now because of trusting those clips. If your screen top is a metal frame you're alot better off than if its a plastic one (cause the plastic ones flex more in the middle. I would put a clip on each end and in the middle of each side and still put some book or rocks or something on top if its a plastic frame. If its metal i'd say you'd be ok with the clips you have and then the books, but still yet better safe than sorry and clips are cheap :P.

I'm getting the extra clips tomorrow and yes, the frame is metal. I'll put some books on top before I go to bed tonight. I must talk to my grandmother tomorrow before going to class because she keeps turning the space heater down. She didn't turn it off this time, but instead turned it down on its lowest level. MY SNAKE NEEDS HEAT. The space heater provides air temps perfect for my snake if she'll let it heat up enough. Arg!

Also, I was wondering if Corn Snakes liked to climb. When I put the snake into the cage when I brought it home, it climbed up onto the digital thermometer and was intent on climbing higher only it had nothing to hold onto. Should I provide a branch or something like that for it to climb on?

Oy, one more question because I'm full of them. When I went to get my snow corn snake, my friend fell in love with a candy cane corn snake that is about half the size of the snow corn snake. I'd say less than 12 inches long. She wants it really badly, but can't get it due to the fact she lives with her parents and they hate snakes. So here is my question or rather questions...

Can two corn snakes live together in one 20g long tank. The tank includes two hides (neither of which my corn uses. He just goes under the newspaper.)

If not, can a snake that small live in a 10g until I get the 32qt rack in a few months?

No, they cant be housed together. The ONLY time snakes should be housed together is whlie breeding. I would think the 10 gallon would be fine for the other snake if the snake is that small.

At what length does it have to move up to a 20g? I just wondering because I might get the snake for her and house it here with me until she can move out on her own.

Really depends on it's growth but a baby corn will do fine in a 10 gallon for quite some time. We don't have a corn but we do have another colubrid, an albino Nelson's milksnake. Emi the milk enjoys a bit of climbing but not really all that much but it's fine to offer that option and see if the snake likes it. You can also put in some decorative plastic vines (just check them for any wires sticking through). Personally I like having our milksnake on a fairly deep layer of aspen. She really seems to enjoy tunnelling and my friends with corns tell me there corns often seem to do that too, especially as young snakes. Once a week feeding is fine and I agree that one snake per enclosure is always the way to go.

In my experience corns do quite like to climb.. more than the other colubrids I keep.

You might want to consider getting an under tank heater.. bulbs do dry out the air, and in the winter time this can become an issue. Just know that you must have a thermostat on the UTH or it will get too hot and burn your snake.

That's why I'm not using the heating pad just yet because I don't have the thermostat and won't be able to get one till next month most likely.

Well I'm considering getting the snake for my friend. I'll only have to hold it a month and then she will take it with her.

We are throwing around some names for my snow corn. Haven't decided on one yet. We've got some cool ones. Yuki, Mazzaroth, Orion, Maize, Naga, Kaa, and a few others I can't remember. If you want to shout out a few, I'll add them to the list.

well...if you cant get a real thermostat, an inline lamp dimmer will work you just have to be a little more careful. They only cost about 10 bucks best i remember. As far as names go, im sure there are probably some cool names from different cultures/civilizations for the Yettie that would be interesting. Actually (haha) it just now hit me i have a snow corn i havent named yet. I may use that idea too. I'll probably be back in touch with you in a day or two with a list of those names if i can find some.

Well I fed the snake on Sunday. He ate one f/t fuzzy. I had soaked the fuzzy in a bowl of warm water and waited until the belly was squishy and I didn't feel any cold coming from it. I then soaked it in some warm water to heat it up a bit and then dried it off and dangled it above the snake. The first time he didn't latch on and the second time he got it. He then proceded to eat it hindlegs first. Next feeding is on Sunday.

good to hear it ate. Kinda funny to watch them take it wrong end first isnt it:P

It was kind of funny. He sat there forever trying to figure out which end to eat first. I was rather amused. I'm not sure if I want to keep him on f/t. He doesn't seem to like it. At first, he didn't even pay attention to it. I had to run it under really really hot water before he'd even come near it. The petstore fed him live. While he did attack the fuzzy, it took him a really long time to actually start eating it. I think he was confuzed because it wasn't warm like a live fuzzy. (The fuzzy cooled off very quickly)

I've also noticed that my little corn likes to hide...all the time. He goes under the newspaper (doesn't even use the nice hides I got for him) and stays there. The temps in the tank are a little below normal because my grandmother keeps the house freezing most of the time. Cool side stays at around 70-72 while the warm side stays around 78. I'll be getting a higher watt bulb (going from a 50 to a 75) to boost up the heat. Using the 75 watt on another tank I had (used for a beardie) kept the warm side temperature at around 85-87. No other heat sources were needed.

If it had been eating live it may just take a while to get it used to the frozen. We have some rat snakes that were a little slow to start on frozen much the way you describe, now they often have latched on and started to swallow before i get the lid shut back. I havent got around to that name list yet, and this is finals week, so i probably wont get to it until next week.

Well, he's been named. His name is Zim. I might just keep him on live, but I'm not sure. We are going today to get my friend her candy cane corn snake. Its name is GIR. She will be feeding hers live. Here's a question. How do you keep fuzzies or pinkies alive at home?

You can't really keep pinkies/fuzzies alive without their mother.. I don't think you want to feed it every couple of hours from an eye dropper.. lol

I actually did that once with a fuzzy mouse - fed it with milk off of a piece of sphagetti and got it to full sized. One of my friends kept it as a pet as he didn't want me feeding it to the snake after it had such "a hard life". Didn't seem that hard to me I spent hours every day raising the little sausage.:)


still it lived for yonks and was a complete sook - used to hide in my hair at every available oportunity.


dr del