Questions about our new Corn

[kmc5]

We picked up a butter corn snake a week ago Sunday. He was born in February 10. He came with a plastic tub like a rubber maid container with holes along the top edge. Looks like they bought it with the holes in it. Probably 2 1/2 feet long, 1 foot wide. There is a hide and water dish. The bedding is what I think they call forest bedding or something like that. It is brown shredded wood. I have a collection of aquarium type tanks, so putting him in a tank is not an issue. My question is, do I stick with the bedding or switch to something else?

I know to add an under the tank heater to the new tank, several hides, a climby one maybe, artificial leafy vines and water bowl. I was wondering about the bedding. He seems to like it and digs in it. But I know the dangers of the wrong type of bedding since I have a beardie and gecko. I will post a pic of his current home Monday night.

thanks
kathleen

 

[Rukii]

It's debatable, same as the bearded dragon substrate topic. Some say not to use any kind of loose bedding since if it dries out the dust could get in their eyes, and they could ingest it while eating, etc. I keep my corn on Repti-bark with no issues. She can burrow a little if she wants, it's easy to clean, just scoop the soiled pieces out. We of course supervise her to make sure she doesn't ingest any or in case it get's too dusty. I've had no issues. It's completely up to you what you want to use.

 

[Floof]

From what I've seen in the Corn Snake world, substrate actually isn't a heavily debated topic. You have the no-brainers... i.e. Sand, pine, and cedar are all bad and total "no-goes." Then you have stuff like the Repti-bark, which, though it works, has a bad habit of disguising poop and carrying mites. And then higher humidity substrates that aren't necessary unless your corn has a serious shedding issue... Then you come to the most highly recommended substrate for corn snakes, shredded Aspen bedding. It's not too dry, not too dusty, corn snakes don't need the damp conditions that might make it mold, it looks nice, it holds shape when the corns burrow (plus allowing them to burrow in the first place), and Aspen doesn't have any of the dangerous chemicals like pine, cedar, and other soft-wood beddings that will cause serious respiratory illness and death.

What you use is up to you. Paper towel works. So does newspaper. Other wood beddings that don't contain pine or cedar. Heck, I've used sterilized organic top soil with some success. Aspen is a common recommendation based on many breeders' and keepers' experiences. In my own experience, aspen seems to be the best for corns.

On a note of heating, yes, heat pads are good. Make sure it covers about 1/3rd of the enclosure, so he has room to escape the heat. Also, make sure you get a thermostat!!! I can't express enough the importance of a good thermostat to control your snake's heating element. I have personally witnessed unregulated heat pads, just plugged directly into the wall, get as high as 140*F. That's plenty high enough to kill your snake.

You can find thermostats for $30 and under if you're on a budget, or find really good ones for $100 or so. With thermostats, you get what you pay for. The cheap ones are... well... Cheap, and you can't know whether they'll fail in 6 months. The expensive ones are generally very high quality and will last a lifetime.

I recommend the Herpstat, in part because I can tell you from my own experience how fantastic they are (compared to the cheap stuff and the Rancos I've used in the past). I've had my Herpstat since I got my first snake 3 years ago. It's still going strong. I've also had several cheap thermostats (namely Zoomed Reptitemp 500R t-stats) that have failed within a year of my having them, and one Ranco that, though it worked and worked well, I was disappointed with the quality and not-so-precise temperature control after being "spoiled" by a good Herpstat. The manufacturer of Herpstat is http://spyderrobotics.com/. You can buy them (for a few dollars cheaper; Spyder Robotics must not enjoy the tediousness of filling individual orders) from other online stores, i.e. The Bean Farm (http://beanfarm.com/index.php?cPath=1238_1241). The Bean Farm also sells an Alife thermostat, which is one of the better "cheap" thermostats, if you're on a tight budget.

Also, it might not be a bad idea for you to do some extra reading on corn care if you haven't already. http://Cornsnakes.com is the BD.org of the corn snake world, and Kathy Love and Don Soderberg (two big, well-renowned corn snake breeders) both have excellent care books.

Good luck!

 

[kmc5]

Thank you both very much for the information. Having lizzard, the substrate is highly debated and I use paper towel for everyone. The couple I got the snake from were very knowlegable and wouldn't sell him to me if didn't have a good knowledge on corns. I read and read on housing for them and I read about dust in the wood chips and so on. A couple of people suggested sterilized top soil I believe. I do like the look of what is in there now. Just finding the poo is a little tricky, but I found it, lol.

I do have two thermostats that have probes and humidity on them, I will pick up another next weekend. I bookmarked the sites for the ones that you suggested and I will look at them in a couple of days. I will also work on cleaning a tank and getting it set up next week.

Also, thank you for the site on corns. I found a few that gave care sheets. I bookmarked and will look at it later. We are headed out camping this weekend and I have so much to do. I am srue I will have more questions, lol.

 

[Floof]

To be honest, I still don't know what either of you mean by substrates being so debatable with corn snakes.. In some snake species, yes, it is. For example, it's still incredibly debated as to whether sand is an appropriate, or even safe, substrate for "sand" boas (and similar species), or if something like aspen is okay for them, too... Or any other substrate.

With corn snakes, though, the subject is rather straight forward. They aren't desert animals, but they also don't need excess humidity. Aspen supplies a not-too-dry, and not sand-based, substrate that isn't too dusty (where many other substrates must be kept at least damp to keep down the dust). I've never had experience with Repti-bark or whatever substrate yours is on now (I've used paper towel, aspen, and potting soil), but it will probably work fine so long as it isn't exceptionally dusty and doesn't have any pine or cedar in it.

I do have two thermostats that have probes and humidity on them, I will pick up another next weekend. I bookmarked the sites for the ones that you suggested and I will look at them in a couple of days. I will also work on cleaning a tank and getting it set up next week.

Do you mean thermoMETERs, or thermoSTATs? It's an important difference.. Thermometers only read the temperature; thermostats actually control what temperature the heating element reaches. All a thermometer can do is tell you just how hot the heat pad is getting, it can't do anything to stop it at a certain point. That's why the difference is important, and thermoSTATs are so vital. The difference should be easy to tell, too. A thermostat has three cords: One plugs into the wall, one is to plug the heat pad/light/what-have-you into the thermostat, and the third is the probe that monitors the temperature so the thermostat knows when to turn on and off.

On that note, the probe of your thermostat (as well as the probe of your digital thermoMETER) needs to be on the glass above the heat pad, the closest your snake can get to it, so you know just how hot your snake can get. It doesn't matter that the top of the substrate is a perfect 85*F if the snake can burrow down to an area where it's going to exceed 100*F and potentially injure, make ill, or even kill the snake.

I'm glad the website is helpful to you, and I hope you are able to learn all you need to know from the wonderfully knowledgeable members there.

 

[Aleu]

I agree. Corn snake bedding is not at all debatable and it's nothing like bearded dragons because corn snakes never have the opportunity to ingest their bedding unless you feed the on it. Whatever you house your corns on is up to you. There are some basic "no brainers" as floof said, but that applies to most animals (rodents, birds, reptiles etc.).

If you feed them on any loose substrate, then there is a risk of them ingesting it and impacting them, but that is the only time that would happen.

Have you named it yet? Will you be posting any pictures?