New To Snakes

[golfsk8er]

Hi i have never owned a snake, I have 5 lizards (so im not to dumb about this stuff) but i was just wondering what do i all need for a corn snake? (set up wise) and what type of care do they need? Also do any of you guys keep your corns on play sand? (if i feed it in a different place) if you could help me out that would be great!!!!!
thanks
matt

[Dani33]

I have my girl in a 30 gallon tank w. sliding glass front doors. Many use rubber maids. I don't believe that sand is ever a good substrate. I use orchid bark, you can buy it in the gardening section at home depot or other similar places. You can buy it at pet stores as repti bark. Many use newspaper and paper towel.

I use a infra red bulb - 50 watts whichs give approx 90 degree hot spot with an ambient temp of 85. The cool side is 75-80 degrees. Many use under the tak heating pads.

I use a ceramic plant base for water which is in the middle of the tank and hides on both the warm and cool sides. For hides I use cork bark. I also have drift wood and fake vines for climbing.

The ambient humidity is approx. 50%. I mist twice a day to bring it up while in shed.

Hope this answeres you questions. You can do a google search - corn snake care. You will find all the info. you need. Just make sure to read allot before you buy.

[JD@reptiles]

DONT keep a corn snake on play sand. use anything else, paper towel, Echo earth, aspen, cypress. feed it every week, make sure it has water and a place to hide and a branch or somthing, and a rock. for corn snakes you can use a heating pad or light. as a baby house it in a 10 gallon. and when it grows out of its cage, get it a 20-30 gallon thank. pretty simple stuff.

Have fun

Jordan

[sapphire_moon]

Don't keep it on sand (any kind) or pine or cedar. It's supposed to be toxic to them. I use a UTH on a lamp dimmer to keep it from getting to hot. We use a lamp for the daytime/night time cycle. And carefresh litter or aspen shavings. we keep the hot side 80-85 cool side 70-75 (degrees) and the humidity what ever is in the house and mist her once a day when in shed (and get perfect sheds!) 10 gallon for babys, make sure it is escape proof, if not they will find the littlest spot and get out.....
Do LOTS of research. Maybe even find a breeder and ask to hold a baby corn.
And they are addicting!

[Frithrah82]

between my boyfriend and I we have 4 corns which we house in various locking sweaterbox type things. We decided to go that route when we realized (after a lot of monitoring with just us and with cameras) that none of them ever climbed when given the opportunity. We had one in a 45 gallon tank with branches and everything, and all he did was hide under the water bowl and move around on the ground at night. We love them all to death when they're out and we plan on getting a set up where all 4 are stacked in relatively short display cases when we get a new apartment. For substrate we usually use either aspen shavings or rabbit food pellets (cheaper than the kaytee reptile alfalfa pellets and exactly the same thing...) and for the big male who makes tunnels and burows under stuff we use a mix of potting soil with no chemical additives (with light vermiculite content) and reptile bark, the combination allows for the tunnels he makes to keep their form. Everything else we do has been covered...
But I can't agree enough with sapphire moon, they are definitely addicting!

[jim mcallister]

good choice, corns are the easiest to care for and simply are beautiful...

[golfsk8er]

Thanks guys, any suggestions for colour/phases whats your fav?

[ChristinaM]

My first and only corn is a sweet lil Amel named Kaspar. He is such a sweetie.



Thats our setup, not the best pic but......
It's a 10g tank, with aspen shavings....water bowl. Coco-hide homemade....and the tree thingy is homemade as well (he loves it btw) ( pic of it at http://www.linkd.net/~cmarvin/public/snake/decor.jpg I added leaves to it to make it look like.... )

heat is a human heating pad on low (temp of 30C at the warmest side)
lighting by an aquarium striplight (2 x 15w bulbs, which create a basking spot on the top of the tree decor )


What colour you get is solely based upon personal preference It's a very tough choice tho, sooooo many nice ones.

[Frithrah82]

I love my amel! and my little snow girlie, but my absolute favorite is lavender! My next corn will definitely be a lavender, but not for a while, because one I don't have space yet, and two I need to prove to my boyfriend that I can go more than a week without getting a new animal... hehehe (j/k, its not quite that bad...)

[Dani33]

I have an amel as well, she's awesome. She was my first CB snake(when I was little, I used to collect garters and such, only kept them for short amount of time for observation). If I were to get another corn, it would be a ghost or normal motley!

[Bighead]

My favorites are the motley sunglow and the bloodred (pewter) at south mountain reptiles. They have a good list with pictures and a reasonable pricelist. You should check them out: http://www.cornsnake.net/new/cornprice.php3

[golfsk8er]

Thanks! that was great site! How much should i pay for an anerythristic corn?
thanks again bighead.!
matt

[sapphire_moon]

and he is awesome to work with! we got our motley amel from him. But he won't ship when it's cold. He will also probably refer you to someone there in Canada, he is from like Texas or something.

[Dragon_Slave]

I thought about ordering from South Mountain as well but decided to go with ''Home Grown Herps'' instead. http://www.homegrownherps.com I have heard great reviews about HGH and they have the most gorgeous female striped amelanistic! ;-) I'm gonna get her. Yay!

[Weather1]

http://serpwidgets.com/cornsnakes/Morphs/morphs.html

You will find many morphs here. You are sure to find one you like there.


My favorites are Snow and Creamsicles.