Solana - Our Scaleless Sunglow Motley Corn

[dakski]

I didn't want to bother her and lift the warm hide today (she was clearly in it). However, I am 99% sure the pinkie is gone and she ate happily.

I will advise tomorrow night, after she's (presumably) digested, if that is not the case. However, everything looks good and I am ecstatic.

Here temps are totally dialed in and I am happy she is in her warm hide both hiding and digesting.

[richardhind1972]

That’s really good,I think you will smell it tomorrow if not anyway


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[dakski]

That’s really good,I think you will smell it tomorrow if not anyway


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Thank you Richardhind1972. I would imagine I would, but it was all of 1G! Might take a few days .

Anyway, pretty sure it is gone.

[dakski]

A bunch of great news!

1. Solana definitely ate the pinkie - all gone today when I checked!

2. Solana passed urine and urate and maybe a tiny bit of poop.

3. She drank in front of me tonight. Between that and the urine and urate I know she's hydrating and eating.

4. Katie and I took her out tonight and she was totally chill. She let us pick her right up. No tail rattling, no fake strike pose, no running away, just scooped her right up. While being handled, she was completely chill and calm, and Katie even boinked her in the head with her pinkie finger. Solana just went the other way calmly. We are very impressed with her demeanor and chill attitude, especially at this size, and know she will grow into a beautiful and calm adult corn.

Additionally, she was 8G when I bought her from Don about 2 weeks ago. She hadn't eaten for ten days when I fed on Sunday (she arrived on feeding day) and I fed an extra small pinkie, just to get her going.

She weighed in tonight at a whopping 9G! Good to know she will only grow from here and that with the settling in, eating, and drinking, she will be big and strong in no time!

BTW - Katie adores her. She couldn't wait until I came home tonight so she could pester me to take her out. Katie wanted to take her out, but got a little nervous, so I picked her up and handed her to Katie, who had to be convinced to give her to me to weigh and put back!

Some pictures from tonight below:

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[Charis]

Looking good! Glad she's settling in well!

[richardhind1972]

Really glad she ate it and it wasn't rottinging in her hide
Really glad Katie's taking such a liking to her, it's quite nervy when there that small and your not over confident with snakes,. As your too scared of crushing them especially if they start to move a bit fast and you have to hold them a little tighter to stop them going in daft places,
If she's this friendly now as you say should be great as an adult


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[dakski]

Solana still freaks out a little when I got to pick her. She hid in between her printless newspaper tonight. However, after her whole run and hide routine, and she realizes it's me and I am not going to eat her, she lets me pick her right up.

She is calmer every day during the brief handling sessions. I feed Sunday, so Saturday and Sunday she will be left alone. She will eat and then be left alone for another two days to digest.

We love her. Behira is my therapy snake, but Solana is definitely Katie's. Katie had a rough day and a few minutes into holding Solana, things were looking up!

Here are some pictures and a video link. She's really getting quite chill and even holding still for pictures! Now, if I could only get Figment to sit still for 2 seconds so I could get some good shots of him!

Link to a 20 second video of Solana being calm as can be in my hand.

https://imgur.com/yUonbRu

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[dakski]

Katie had my (more like her ) baby out tonight! Got some good shots with the real camera, including a few shots with the macro lens.

Don't be afraid to enlarge the pictures - the macro shots go down to every wrinkle of her skin and even show the scales around her mouth.

Enjoy!

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[dakski]

Great news! Solana ate her second meal for us tonight!

She ate a small pinkie (maybe 1-1.5G). Last week she ate the tiniest pinkie I could find. I am pretty sure it was less than 1G as I wanted a really small first meal. She seemed to digest it well and has been drinking too. She left us urate and urine on Tuesday, and poop on Wednesday (she ate Sunday night).

Tonight, she had burrowed under the printless newspaper and was not in a hide. So, I had to lift the paper to get the pinkie to her. I put it down and seemed to scare her a little, even though I didn't put it super close. I left her alone for about 45 minutes, but the pinkie was still there. So, I lifted the paper, even more gently this time, and moved the pinkie closer to her head. I gently put the paper down and left her alone for a bit. She seemed super interested, but didn't eat after 1/2 in hour.

We have a finished basement and keep the reptiles in the far corner of the basement (the basement living area is like an "L" with the "l" being the living space and the "_" being the reptile area. It gets pretty dark there for everyone, but being on quarantine, and being short on space, her temporary tank faces the main living area. We were watching TV and it was probably a little bright for her.

After a little bit, it was time to go upstairs anyway, so we turned out all the lights and turned off the TV and went upstairs. About 1 1/2 hours later, I went downstairs and took a quick peek. The pinkie was gone! The paper was pushed up and I saw a nice lump in Solana's little belly.

Yay Solana! You go girl!

I am pretty sure she's still in survival first, food second, mode. Figment was like that until about 13-15G. Then he realized I wasn't a threat and went from, "leave it here and I'll eat when you leave and it's safe," to, "Is that food? Give it to me now!"

She will get there. After all, she's a corn snake!

She just knows she's super tiny right now and needs to look out for herself.

We had her out a few times this week (not the past two days and not until Tuesday night at the earliest) and she's getting calmer every time we go to pick her up. She gets really chill as soon as she's picked up and is very calm and predictable when being handled.

Most of the time, we just pick her right up now. She's really turning into a lovely little snake. Very relieved we've got two meals in her now (and two successive feedings). She is well on her way!

[dakski]

I made a few minor modifications to Solana's tank tonight.

She doesn't seem to go in the hides much and likes to burrow under the paper. I don't want her choosing safety over proper temp ((there are three hides going from warm (83F), to medium (80F), to cool (77-78F) - note the lower temps are up a little as it's been triple digits here in CT the past few days and although I've adjusted the thermostat, have AC in the finished basement, and check regularly, it would be difficult to get it much lower without risking it being too cool in there if temps drop quickly)). So, on Don Soderberg's recommendation (BTW - he has continued to be super helpful and communicative) I put a small piece of paper towel in each "mini" plastic hide. They are the black rectangular ones that go from mini to jumbo and are easy to clean and the reptiles love them (offset door, etc). The paper towel makes it more snug in each hide and allows even less light to get in.

She was under the paper, of course, so I quickly and gently addressed the hides, and then gently showed her the warm hide. She went right in and hasn't come out. She's still digesting her meal from last night and I did not handle her, just gently moved her from A to B. I like to give two days for digestion and she's tiny and also still settling in.

I guess I should mention, she definitely ate last nights F/T pinkie! Still had a little bulge and no pinkie to be found!