"Babysitting" A Snake

[kitty_b]

so, a guy i know is in the military. he's being shipped off this week for 6 months. he needed someone to care for his corn snake, and i ended up being his last resort.

so now she's with me, but i'm not satisfied with her set-up, and i wonder if it's caused problems for her.

she's on a shallow layer of repti-bark, which she does burrow under, but she has no hide. her "water dish" is about 2.5" x 2.5" (obviously not enough to soak in). she also has no heat source, and apparently never has.

despite being about 3 years old, she is only about 2.5' long (maybe somewhere near 3'). is it possible that the lack of heat has stunted her growth? he said he feeds her an adult mouse relatively regularly (every 2 weeks or so).

no worries about her set-up, though. i'm going to take the initiative and make the changes that are needed. she may not be mine, but she is in my care for 6 months and i plan on caring for her as if she were my own.

 

[K-TRAIN]

as far as i know, corn snakes shouldnt need heat in certain areas, except during the winter. if your temperatures are pretty high or are close to the temps in there natural habitat, you really dont need to use one. cornsnakes are native to the areas around me, give or take a few miles, and i know quite a few keepers who only use a heat source over the winter with no ill effects.

but if it was housed in a cold area that could stunt its growth.

 

[JohnEDove]

2.5 feet at 3 years is a bit small for most locality corns in captivity but I suspect the feeding schedule or the genetics rather than the lack of heat.
Corns can do quite well at 75F – 85F. Constant temps less than 75 they have slower digestion and more regurge problems, over 85 they start to suffer from heat stress, sterility in males and again regurge problems.
Of course it could also just be the genetics of the line as well. I am presently working on a reduced size line of Corns, through selective breeding, that I hope will one day provide Corns that max out at about 3 feet for people who like smaller snakes.

 

[arachyd]

They like a hide and something to climb on or drape their bodies over. The water dish could be bigger. I wouldn't worry about the heat. They are natives and can live in normal outdoor temps but like already mentioned, if it gets cold their digestion will suffer and they won't want to eat but rather go into brumation (not sure of spelling) for the cold season. Since it's a pet keep it in normal room temps and it should be fine.

 

[kitty_b]

awesome. i've had snakes before (including corns), but i've always provided a heat source.

it may be her genetics. he doesn't know anything about her history though, since she was wild caught as a hatchling.

 

[bigdog999]

I've kept one for about eleven years. I kept a heat lamp in one corner to allow the snake to thermo-regulate. I notice that the snake normally hybernates for aproximately 3-4 months during the winter. My snake drinks from the water dish, but never on purpose ever bathes or soaks in the water.

 

[pitbulllady]

I've kept and successfully bred Corns since I was a kid, and I've never put a heat source on them. They do well at normal room temperature, somewhat cooler during "brumation" if you are going to breed them. They DO need a water bowl large enough to soak in though, and some seem to enjoy doing this, although attention must be given to make sure they don't become obsessive about it. Other Corns could care less about soaking, but it's always a good idea to have a large enough bowl available, especially if you live where the humidity is rather low, if for no other reason than to facilitate skin shedding. Some Corns like hides, while others don't. You can make a simple hide by taking a margarine or whip cream tub, washing it out, cutting a small hole at the rim, and simply overturning it. I use hard plastic dog bowls for snake water bowls. I feed adult Corns once a week, one or two adult mice, depending on size of the snake and breeding situation. Obviously a female I'm going to breed will be fed more. I am a bit concerned about her size, and it's more likely to be due to being fed only once every two weeks, especially while she was younger and needed more nutrition during a rapid growth phase. I don't "power feed", but 2 1/2 feet is more appropriate for a Corn about 18 months old than three years. It's possible, though, that she could be genetically small, from one of the Florida Key populations, that tend to be smaller, like island subspecies of Reticulated Pythons.

pitbulllady

 

[kitty_b]

well, she now has a hide and a large dish. she explored for a while, then found a cozy spot in the molding of the water dish.

i also did a quick measurement and found her to be about 31-32".

the next step will be a nice meal. i don't think she's been fed in about 3 weeks.

 

[pitbulllady]

She looks a lot like a "Miami Phase" or Upper Keys Corn, aka "Rosy Rat Snake". She's a really pretty girl.

pitbulllady

 

[GailC]

I'd ditch the wood chunks and get some aspen shavings. They are toxin free and allow for burrowing.

 

[kitty_b]

I'd ditch the wood chunks and get some aspen shavings. They are toxin free and allow for burrowing.

she burrows in those chips right now.

i'll change the bedding eventually (i already have a big bag of aspen i use for my blue tongue skink), but i didn't want to overwhelm her by changing everything at once.

 

[JohnEDove]

I agree with pitbulllady that she looks to be a Miami local. My wife's is the same local and Corns from that local tend to run a little smaller than what is considered the normal wild type.
Personally I'd get her on a one prey every 7 days feeding schedule were she mine. That is if you are not breeding her or bruminating her. If you are going to breed or bruminate I'd say one prey every 5 days for a couple of months to help her build up some reserves.

 

[kitty_b]

picked up some frozen mice today. when they said "small mouse" they meant "barely above a hopper." oh well. she'll get a "small mouse" every week for the next 6 weeks (it was a pack of 6). then i'll move her up to medium mice, then maybe large if they get them in stock again. the meals may be smaller than she's used to, but they'll be a LOT more frequent than before.

 

[arachyd]

Ours love to tunnel through their bedding. They are in sphagnum moss so we feed in a dish to avoid them getting the bedding stuck in their mouths when they eat.

 

[kitty_b]

i tried to take her out to feed her in a separate container, but she wouldn't have it. so she got the mouse in her cage. i don't like the idea, but it's what she's done for the last 3 years so i can understand why changing it would freak her out. at least i was able to make sure that she didn't ingest any bedding.

 

[bigdog999]

I don't think that corns are normally fed in a separate container. That's more for snakes like balls. I've always fed my corn in its normal enclosure.

 

[Mina]

We have 3 cornsnakes and we don't use extra heating for them. The room they are in always stays around 75 or a little above.
We do feed all of our snakes in separate containers, we started doing it with our ball python and when the corns came along we just did it with them too.

 

[arachyd]

We don't move the snakes for feeding, we simply put the food in a small dish and remove the dish when the snake is done.

 

[JohnEDove]

We feed all of our 40+ terrestrial snakes, save one Rhinocheilus lecontei, in separate enclosures. Personally I feel that it not only prevents any chance of accidental substrate ingestion, which could result in intestinal impaction, but also gets them used to the idea that handling is a good thing.