Advice needed urgently...

[Logan1981]

Hi :D

My pet corn snake is approximately 20 months old. He's reached a size of about 4ft now. His enclosure is about 3ft - 4ft in size.

Lately he's been really active - more active then usual. He's been 'nosing' around the glass and where the two halves of glass meet, he's been rubbing his nose up against it. I'm concerned that if he continues he'll damage his nose.

I'm left wondering what the problem is.

Is the enclosure too small for him? The guy in the shop back when I bought him, said the enclosure would be more then adequate for the life of the snake. Maybe its more to do with the hot and cold areas? Perhaps he needs larger hides?

Am I not feeding him enough? He always seems to be out on the hunt for food - perhaps that is it? I'm currently feeding him about twice a week, one medium sized mouse - should I be feeding him larger prey once a week? I must admit, I've been thinking about changing the size of his food for a few weeks now.

Is the temperature the problem? Between night and day the temp can be anything from 65'F to 95'F - is this too cold/hot?

At present I'm using a heat mat on one side of the tank regulated by a thermostat with a light bulb (enclosed so won't do damage to snake) in the heat mat end. The other side of the vivarium I've got sheltered and a large enough hide for him to fit into.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am at a bit of a loss as to why he's started rubbing his nose on the glass.

Thanks for your help in advance ;)

[Invictus]

There are several reasons why this is likely occuring, but I'd say yes, he's not comfortable in there.

Ok, for starters your temps are WAY off. They should never go as low as 65 or as high as 95. No less than 75 during the day with a hot spot of 82-85 for this species, and a nighttime drop around 70. The heat mat plus the bulb is total overkill - just use the heat mat.

Secondly, you're feeding too often. If he really is 4 feet (which is unusually large for 20 months in my opinion), he should only be eating once a week, but on fully grown adult mice.

Thirdly, he's reaching adulthood, and it's breeding season. He's probably a little pent up and looking for a mate. :)

His enclosure size should be ok.

[Logan1981]

Originally posted by Invictus
Ok, for starters your temps are WAY off. They should never go as low as 65 or as high as 95. No less than 75 during the day with a hot spot of 82-85 for this species, and a nighttime drop around 70. The heat mat plus the bulb is total overkill - just use the heat mat.

Just the mat? But what about light - or is that not an issue? I mean, without the bulb he'll just get natural daylight - is this ok? My room isn't the brightest in the house, but its not the darkest either - it does get a fair bit of light during the day I suppose.

Any other methods of heating recommended?

Originally posted by Invictus
Secondly, you're feeding too often. If he really is 4 feet (which is unusually large for 20 months in my opinion), he should only be eating once a week, but on fully grown adult mice.

To be completely honest, he may not yet be 4ft, I'm not good at guesstimating size and I've not measured him 'officially' - but he certainly isn't far off 4ft thats for sure. I think I'll limit feeding to once a week but perhaps up the size of his food.

Originally posted by Invictus
Thirdly, he's reaching adulthood, and it's breeding season. He's probably a little pent up and looking for a mate. :)

lol :D True, didn't think about that!

Originally posted by Invictus
His enclosure size should be ok.

That's good to know.

Well I'm gonna take a trek up the local reptile centre this afternoon and get some bits and pieces for him. The thermostat died on me the other day so need to replace that today.

Thanks for the help, much appreciated ;)

[Invictus]

Light is definitely a non-issue. It's simply not required for ANY snake. For the prey size, you'll hear a lot that you should feed according to the widest girth of the snake. I think this is utter nonsense, especially with a snake that has as high a metabolism as a corn snake. I'm sure by now you've noticed this though. :) My fully grown adult corns eat small rats - up to 100g - and we're talking like, twice their girth... and they still poop once a week and start looking for more. All I'm saying is, don't worry about the prey being too big for a corn - worry more about it being too small.

[madcow]

ya i think feeding once a week is the best way that is what i do with my snakes.
and the size of the cage you have should fine but the temps you have to work on

[vanderkm]

Just basically add another opinion to what has been said - cage size is fine, once a week feeding is desirable for corn of this age. Prey size can be increased - adult mouse weekly will give good growth. Light is not required, but make sure the temps on the heat pad are controlled with thermostat between 75 and highest of 90 - we keep ours at about 85 daytime, but you may want a hottest spot to be higher so they can choose their ideal temp.

Most likely cause of the cruising around is breeding season - especially if it is a male. Our females are even out and active this time of year, but the boys spend almost all their time cruising for girls.

mary v.

[Logan1981]

Thanks a ton for all your replies ;)

I've got a better thermostat for the mat (cost a pretty penny too! :S) now and I'm removing the light. I'll let you know how I get on.

If it is just down to breeding season, the changes won't have been a waste of time anyway. Its important that I sort the temp issue out.

Thanks again ;)

[Logan1981]

Ok well sorted his viv out yesterday.

Good news and bad news really. I think he feels better in the changed habitat, as always when I move stuff around he likes to explore! He was still quite active, which is good, and he wasn't too bothered about rubbing up against the glass - which is also good.

The thermostat I bought is a 'dimmer' wherby it will heat the mat to set level and then try to maintain that level - if the temp drops, it'll increase, if the temp rises, it'll decrease etc. I've set that to about 84'F last night, the thermometer I placed on the mat was reading between 80-82'F. This morning the thermometer was reading just below 80'F - which is what it must have been around through the night. It was a considerably warm night for us humans too!

I placed the thermometer back on the wall in the hot end. Ambient temp this morning it was reading around 70'F - this should rise during the day as it gets warmer again.

I removed the light bulb.

Only problem I'm having now is the humidity. Woke up this morning to misted glass on the cold side (and a little on the hot). The new substrate I put in came in a plastic bag and was 'damp'. Its caused the humidity to rise to above 90% now. This is far too humid for the corn snake. In the short term, I'm hoping it'll dry out and the humidity will return to normal, if it hasn't dispersed within a few days, I'll have to buy some better dried substrate and replace it. I didn't think it'd be a problem, but my snake has been so healthy to date - I don't want to ruin that by giving him a humid environment for too long.

I'll see what happens throughout the day today.

Cheers ;)

[Invictus]

Yes, dry substrate is a must. I recommend Aspen shavings if you can find them.

[ccarr1]

I have found that cyprus mulch is the best for corns.My corn loves the stuff!!4' for a 20 month is about right.Mine is 2 yrs old and he just hit 4ft.