[royalpython]

That was me just up at my mums celebrating x,mas with the family.

My gran knows i have 24 snakes at the moment and bought me a corn snake.. one that i'm not familiar with.

Obviously i now have some questions! lol

The snake came with a tank (2 x 2 x 3 ft), at the bottom back left there is a radiator sort of thing, and at the front right (az little off the bottom) where the perspex is, is the themostat probe. The stat is set at 82F, which is how it was found at my mums... but as you can imagine, it's really warm near the heater end, although there's no hides on top of the heater. I've done some checks and the air temp is 85F near the bottom, with some 78F area's, but near the top of the tank it's about 90F.. there is a hide up there, not sure if this is good or bad.

Here's a pic of the tank.. tank looks brilliant. There's no underground heat mats though..

I'm not familiar with these sort of set ups.

Any advice would be appreciated... oh and also... the snake diamter would suggest it can eat rat weaners or small rats? does this sound right? She's about 3-4ft.

 

[royalpython]

sorry, puting this back to the top, just in case nobody notices.. i do want advice

 

[jncg]

Sounds like theres not much of a temp gradient,,,,looks nice but you gotta get a warm n cool side,,,,good luck with your little dude.

 

[jncg]

And one more point,,the bulb dont look like its guarded,,,not good,,,,i think aheat mat for one third of tank is allways a good idea for corns,,,but in a wood viv,,thats never easy,im sure your experience with other snakes will be of help and youll get it right.

 

[royalpython]

yeah, i'd love to throw in a heat mat.. you've no idea!! lol.

The gradient seems a little high to me (i'm guessing with this sort of set up, it would always be too high in one end.. i'll never understand why people use these radiators, because the gradiant is always going to be higher as far as i'm concenred).. and i'm with you on the light bulb.. to be honest, i don't even know why it's there! The radiator seems to have enough power in it.

The ambient temp on top did come down a little, so i'm thinking of leaving it a little just now... i only just got her, and she's feeding right now... i'm guessing things are okish at the moment... i really believe she's big enough for some weaners, or small rats.. this said.. i've never owned one.. she's had a rat pup, away to give her one more and a 25g weaner. (much smaller than her diameter, plus she looks like she wants more)

 

[royalpython]

ok that surprised me! She can gobble down these rodents fast! she had the weaner and two pups, now seems happy and retreated.

I've turned it down a touch for now.. will continually measure these temps.

 

[Ceiron]

take out bulb and see how it goes

as for food, dont over feed or will get fat

 

[royalpython]

haha, ok, fair one, i'm guessing i never went OTT with food.. going by length etc... if wrong please correct me.

i think the bulb has to go, i'm positive it serve's no purpose.. it's about half the length of one of my fingers, and surely cant produce much heat

Whats been said so far has been the sort of advice i expected... lastly though..

should i get a heat mat in there?

 

[Ceiron]

no avoid heatmats inside vivs, the microclimate heater should suffice

 

[mark67123]

Is it a microclimate heater? Or a tubular? Can't see it in the pic - might be my eyes!

Feeding wise - just one rodent that's roughly the same width as the body, once a week, is plenty. Any more than that could cause it to become overweight. They will eat more, but they don't need it.
If it starts to look a bit fat, then cut it down to once every 10 days.

Temps sound ok - as long as the warmest spot isn't over 90F or so, and the snake always has access to temps in the 70's it'll be ok. You can switch the heat off at night as long as the room doesn't get freezing, although you may want to leave it on for the night after a feed.

BTW - like the suspended drainpipe!

 

[Ceiron]

microclimates are tubular so same differance really.lol

 

[cornmorphs]

dont think you would get much else in that one lol

 

[mark67123]

microclimates are tubular so same differance really.lol

I though the microclimates (as in the AHS) has some kind of ceramic in them?

Anyway - I reckon the main concern is that the "radiator" isn't something that has exposed electrical terminals - like trough ceramic or something.

As it's mounted near the floor, with just mesh covering it, it's a sitting duck to get cr*pped on - and if the electrical terminals are exposed, a runny corn snake poo could spell disaster!

Have you got any better pics of it?

 

[royalpython]

Ok, the temp's did creep up during the night, and warmed all the 78F spots up to 80-85F.. i've now turned down the stat to 78F, guessing this is where the coolest area should be (considering the probe is as far away from the heater), and hopefully the temp's will stay about 85F in the warmest parts, and where the probe is.. 78F.

i have had a look (it's difficult, lol.. so much stuff in there!!), and i cant see any exposed wiring.

Edited: I've cracked it! set the stat at 80F, and now there's a better gradient.

 

[royalpython]

Instead of making up another thread thought i'd stick with the same one.

After weighing our corn she appears to be 750g, and i'm guessing ~4ft.

I've got a pic of her.... I am sure she's a pretty normal corn

If anyone thinks she should weigh more etc for length.. do tell, this is how we got her, she seems fine with me anyway

 

[serpentkid100]

well, i wouldn feed her rats, adult mice should do...jus make sure u have a hot an cold side to the viv, and make sure u cover the lamp....a shop sold my dads girlfriend a lamp an set up stuff for my corn after tellin her it was diformed...however it is not deformed and the best snake in the world, anyway soon after my dad installed the lamp while i was away...my snake ended up with a scared nose...i sorted this by removing the lamp as it wasnt needed and the snakes nose is all back to norm nows

hope this helps

 

[royalpython]

The rat weaners i have can weigh smaller than an adult mouse.. i thought she'd be able to have some bigger weaners...

The lamp has been taken out. The heater seems to be doing just fine.

 

[serpentkid100]

weaners will do fine, if my local stockist couldn give me mice i gets rat weaners.

 

[royalpython]

thats good, so would you say her weight is fine?

750g ~ 4ft?

 

[mark67123]

Still not sure what type of heater that is! :? Looks a bit like a 1960's electric fire! But as long as you're sure it's safe and it's doing it's job then should be ok.

She doesn't look overweight at all in the pic but 750g sounds a lot for a 4ft corn - I have a 3.5ft plains rat snake that's about 550g and she's a bit on the plump side.

Is she definitely only 4ft? Are the scales accurate?

Have you got any other pics?