New Het Terrazzo Corn

[IKhaos]

I just ordered her from BHB reptiles and completely forgot to ask them when the last time she fed was she was shipped Friday 06/16/2017 and arrived 06/17/2017 Today she was a hatchling in 2016 the lady who called me told me shes more than likely around 10 months old so at the local store today i got 2 frozen pinkies using the rule that the fattest part of the snake cant be any smaller than the width of the food so my question is when do i feed her next? do i assume they fed her before shipping or do i just try to introduce food to her? I'm new to this so any and all help is appreciated thanks

Also she keeps getting aspen in her water bowl I'm trying to keep it clean but its seeming like a giant chore lol is it ok to leave it in there or should i remove the aspen every time it gets in her water bowl?

And so far so good she seems kind of skiddish (sp?) but while handling her to put her into her cage she seemed to enjoy being held twirling between my fingers and only really getting scared when touching her nose but never reared back to tag me

[EL Ziggy]

Congrats on the new corn! My advice would be to let her settle in for a few days before attempting to feed her and don't handle her until she's eaten at least twice. Just change the water every couple of days and make sure your temps are dialed in.

[IKhaos]

temps? i got a under tank heater i was told by alot of people that that in itself is more than enough was i informed wrong?

[Scubadiver59]

You need a thermostat to regulate the UTH temperature between80-85F. The otter side of the tank should be around 75F. No thermostat and the UTH will just run full power and get WAY TOO HOT!!!

temps? i got a under tank heater i was told by alot of people that that in itself is more than enough was i informed wrong?

[EL Ziggy]

Scuba's right. You need to regulate those temps or it'll get way too hot. That could seriously injure your snake. If you don't have a thermostat I'd unplug the uth until you get one.

[IKhaos]

Went right out and got a ceramic bulb heater instead a friend of mine has multiple snakes and says he swears them and he's had thermostats fail on him but the distance away vs the wattage of the bulb was right so his snakes are just fine so after some math I got a 40w ceramic bulb and now all the themes are good!!! Thanks for looking out and warning me though guys you saved my butt and my snakes tail!

[IKhaos]

And could you guys possibly answer my other question in the post about her water or her eating habits or schedul?

[Scubadiver59]

Since most snakes roam the enclosure along the outer edge, put a water dish in the way so they find it....change the water once a week, or when empty (but it should never get empty!). Put it somewhere in the middle, between the two zones against the front or back of enclosure.

Eating? A lot of folks go by weight of food vs. snake, there are charts available on the Internet; some just give them something the same size of the snake (width of the thickest part of the snake), or 1.5x the width of the snake. Never mind thinking that the head can't get around the prey...it will. For my young snakes, I go with once a week, then every ten days as the snake gets bigger, then I either keep it there or increase it to every two weeks as the snake matures. Some snakes will eat themselves into obesity, but you don't want to let that happen. If they don't accept food, leave it overnight in front one of the hides, but pick it up the next morning (throw it away) and then feed again at the normal interval the next week. It will probably get hungry and be ready in a week.

Feed in the enclosure, don't stress the snake out by pulling it out to feed. If you're worried about substrate sticking to the snake, use either Reptibark or Cypress...it isn't as fine or as sticky as Aspen. I feed at night, when the snake's active, others might feed at other times.

Snakes go off food during shed, look for the blue eyes and dull scales, and during mating season, so don't worry if your snake doesn't eat for a few cycles.

Switch to Rats when you can...when the snake gets big enough to eat a Rat Pinky. Some will take time to adjust to the Rats, so you might have to scent with mice for a feeding or two (or more), but stick with Rats.

Ask more questions if you need to, someone will answer.

And could you guys possibly answer my other question in the post about her water or her eating habits or schedul?

[EL Ziggy]

Scuba is right again. Don't worry too much about the bedding in the water. Just change it every couple of days. I really don't mind feeding mice to corns and other small colubrids. I had a couple of kings that would eat mice religiously but were real finicky when it came to rats. I got tired of fighting with them and finally let them have their way. They don't get big enough for it to make a real difference. I don't have any issues with aspen bedding either. I've been using it for years. Keep offering food every 7-10 days until she's eating consistently. Ceramic bulbs are cool but even they should be regulated with a thermostat or dimmer.

[SerpentineDream]

None of my corn snakes have ever gotten big enough to eat anything larger than a medium adult mouse. If you had a larger snake that was big enough to eat rats you would want to eventually switch over when the snake got to that size. But it shouldn't be an issue for your corn and pinkies (rat or mouse) are fattier and less nutritious than adult animals. The prey item should leave a slight but noticeable lump in your snake that is gone in 24 hours. When it doesn't leave a lump anymore it's time to step up to the next size. Once a week should suffice.

Do make sure you have a thermometer to monitor both the hot and cool side of the tank (at the bottom where your snake actually is most of the time) so you can watch temps. An UTH is just fine, but you do want to hook it up to a thermostat. You can get a JumpStart digital for about $25 on Amazon and it'll keep your snake warm without drying the air like a CHE or heat bulb can. You'll need a thermostat for those too. I keep my corns at 76F - 77F on the cool side, 82F - 83F on the warm side. Keep a hide on both sides so the snake doesn't have to choose between thermoregulation and security.

[IKhaos]

Is there any way to effectively hide the thermometer probe cord it is all over the place and definitely doesn't look nice it looks messy and silly anyone here have any tips or know what I should do

[IKhaos]

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