| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| twistedmonkey |
Posted - 10/05/2013 : 11:40:41
Just recently bought my first corn snake on Monday a lovely motley, I've had a garter snakes in the past.
Still unsure of the sex of the snake but I'm thinking male as he has quite a long tale which I've read can be a sign but since he's only 6 months old its a long shot.
He's settling in nicely and over the past few days has been getting used to the new surroundings, first day he spent most of his time in his coconut hidey hole but now he's out a lot and comes up to the glass if I get close.
Still to weigh him properly which ill wait till next week after the first feed due on Sunday, he's quite long judging by the viv length, he seems about 16-17 inches but quite slender.
He has been on a feeding regime of once a week every Sunday for the past six months planning on sticking to this unless advised otherwise as I wouldn't want to interrupt his normal habits. He's still on one pinky and ill stay with this till I weigh him as I don't want to overfeed him or disrupt him till he's settled in the fed for the first time.
Any advise on the setup you can see in the pics below or any other general information please advise as I want him to be happy and comfortable. The viv has the coconut shell and water bowl atm, thinking about putting another coconut shell over the heat mat.
Temps seem ok ranging from 23 cold end to 29 on the mat. drops to about 20-21 at night on the cold end and humidity ranges between 40 and 52%. It was high before I got him when testing the setup going up to 85% so I drilled a couple more holes and made a little fan with a 5v psu from a computer fan to go outside and circulate the air as the desktop fan tended to lower the temps too much.
Couple of pics below taking last night, thanks for reading
Kev
Edited to remove code by Kellog
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| 20 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Kellog |
Posted - 30/05/2013 : 11:02:52
It really is a lovely set-up  . I'm glad the pulse stat is working better for you than the on/off.
Xxx
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| twistedmonkey |
Posted - 30/05/2013 : 09:54:38
I'm the lucky one to have such a nice little snake
Pets at home told me the same! lucky I joined here and got advice from the people who know  he's been on 5 day feeds ever since he settled in nicely.
He seems to love his new setup, and he loves burrowing in the aspen. He was exploring all last night a new pic of his setup below, its amazing the difference the pulse stat makes the variation in temps is only 1 degree sitting nicely between 26.9 and 28.1 compared to he on/off stat varying up to 6 degrees!
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| Slinkey23 |
Posted - 29/05/2013 : 20:21:52
Hi and welcome to the forum :) like you i was feeding every 7 days ( advised by pets at home) to be honest i think this is more of a maintenance diet as my corn wernt really gaining much weight, i would say every 5 days would be better. Check out The munson plan on our good old friend google. Lovely snake by the way,
Joel :) |
| Kellog |
Posted - 29/05/2013 : 20:02:03
It all sounds perfect Kev  ....Midas really is a lucky snake .
Xxx
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| twistedmonkey |
Posted - 29/05/2013 : 12:09:16
My new goods arrived today
Little ornamental rock in boiling water at work so its ready to go in later,set the mat and pulse stat on test as well to make sure all is working before I set it up in the viv later.
Good service from Swell reptiles, emails on tracking the order every step of the way, goods arrived packaged well, I would recommend them for future use.
I got a smaller mat 6 x 11" and the viv 18x12 so it will cover exactly one third, the other mat was a bit big in my opinion it was 12x12 which didn't leave much area for Midas to hide in a cooler area, I ended up putting only a proportion of the mat in going on past readings covering about a third to half the viv is ideal.
Hopefully this should balance my temps out and make the environment a bit more pleasant for little Midas.
Any thoughts you have would be appreciated, if you think the new mat is too small etc ill keep it as a spare like the on/off stat, always good to be prepared just in case 
He's still eating and pooping well, fed him two days ago and had the pinkie in his feeding tub, when placing him in he practically jumped out my hand with a mini strike on it . |
| Kellog |
Posted - 26/05/2013 : 21:59:40
So glad that you've got it ordered and coming soon . It certainly sounds as though you got a good deal! I know you'll be relieved when you've got it all set up and running smoothly. Good idea about keeping the on/off stat as an emergency spare.
Why doesn't your 'day of Scottish weather' surprise me   .
Xxx
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| twistedmonkey |
Posted - 26/05/2013 : 20:35:44
Scottish weather is amazing! its been rainy, sunny, rainy, windy, freezing cold and then sunny and that was all in one morning lol
Humidity can be a problem in the summer months here so ill keep reading up on methods to reduce it, I did look at getting a dehumidifier, atm its stabilized more or less over the last couple of weeks.
I've ordered a pulse stat, habistat heat mat, a small ornamental rock (to keep the stat and thermometer in place) and some more aspen All for £51.48 delivered
Got it all from Swell Reptiles and should be here Tuesday/Wednesday I was looking at 888 but with swell having a sale on and an extra 7% off due to it being there birthday I got a good deal, 888 were £46 for the pulse stat alone.
Ill bookmark all the sites, as Ill be looking to order a bigger viv at some point in the future, I've been using the local pets at home for bits but looking at those sites they are half the price
Ill also keep the other mat and on/off stat as spares so at least if something goes faulty ill have something on hand I can use straight away. Good to have a backup
My thermometer is an exo terra one :-
http://www.reptiles.swelluk.com/reptile-supplies/reptile-heating-equipment-414/thermometers-501/exo-terra-digital-thermometer-26138.html?ref=shopping&utm_source=product-search&utm_medium=googlebase&gclid=CJfUwq6_tLcCFXIPtAodGEQADQ
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| Kellog |
Posted - 26/05/2013 : 08:35:55
Sorry for the late reply. Don't worry about being a protective parent, it's how you should be .
I've had dealings with 888reptiles and found them good and I've also seen Swell Reptiles recommended. Another is http://www.bluelizardreptiles.co.uk
It does sound as though you have a problem with humidity....but then you do live in Scotland . It also sounds as though you are doing everything you can to combat it .
Thanks for explaining about your thermometer....mine is your bulk standard cheap one that just tells you what the temperature is. I didn't even know there was one that does what yours does  !
Xxx
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| twistedmonkey |
Posted - 24/05/2013 : 12:40:26
Yeah the stat is a Microclimate on/off one, I have the stat probe and thermometer probe together, in the mean time ill try and place something heavy on top of them in case he is moving it at times, and ill invest in a pulse stat, any suggestions where best to buy one from? I live in the Edinburgh area and can't find anyone close so looks like ill have to mail order
Couple of sites I found on google are :-
www.reptiles.swelluk.com
www.888reptiles.co.uk
With having no experience with either company your help recommending a good mail order site would be appreciated
My thermometer is always on, its a digital one that shows the current temp and the min/max its reached over a time period so I reset the min/max in the morning in the morning so I can check the variation every day so I can keep a record.
I bought a digital hydrometer to check the humidity when I first got the viv before I put Midas in and it was up to 90% then I drilled a few holes in the viv near the vents five at each end and it lowered to 80% (prob just the settling in period for the viv. It was a particularly humid day even the room humidity was at 58%, I put the fan on the outside and it dropped it to 55%. The fan sits outside the viv and runs really slow as its 5v passing through it, I can position it about 3-7 inches from the vent and you cant feel much air coming through the vent, it was primarily to circulate the air round the viv and the surrounding area, I read some people used desk top fans for the same problem so I tried this and it lowered the viv temps dramatically so I came up with the pc fan solution, I tried all these before getting little Midas on the initial setting up and testing phase. I've only used it if I notice the humidity going over the 60% mark is peaked at 64% on two occasions since I've had Midas. Its just a precaution to try and keep the optimal humidity, maybe I'm being too much of a protective parent again . Generally the humidity in the viv sits between 48 - 54% without the fan
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| Kellog |
Posted - 24/05/2013 : 11:38:13
So glad his feed in the separate tub went so well . You did exactly the right thing, waiting until the pinkie had moved all the way down and Midas was moving around. You can then just carefully lift him, supporting the portion of his body where the pinkie is, and place him back in his viv.
As for your temperature problems....I'm assuming the stat you've got is a microclimate on/off one. A lot of us have had issues with them, I know I have. I wasn't happy with how large the temperature difference was between it turning on and off  ....it was dropping to 25oC before it turned on and was not turning off until it hit 30oC. I changed to a Habistat pulse thermostat and am very happy with them . I don't have any experience with the mat you have so can't help there.
The main issue though, is the probe positioning. I walked past Kellog's viv one day and noticed that the thermometer was showing 31oC  ! I immediately checked the probes and found that he had moved the stat probe  so it was pointing up, therefore reading the air temp rather than the heatmat. Luckily I noticed....and it proves how necessary thermometers are to monitor what's going on.
What do you mean when you say you 'reset the thermometers'? Mine are on continually. I'm not sure whether you would have an issue with humidity, most of us don't even monitor it as corns are fine with normal house humidity. I'm wondering whether the fan is necessary....have you measured the humidity to see whether it is necessary?
It may be worthwhile moving the probes for the stat and thermometer, which should be together, if you think the fan is effecting the working of the stat. I wouldn't advise putting them under the warm hide, because then they are effected by the heat of Midas' body when he's in it. Mine are under a pile of rocks/stones, to stop the snakes moving them.
Hope that's been of some sort of help....bad brain fog today so I hope I've made sense .
Xxx
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| twistedmonkey |
Posted - 24/05/2013 : 09:52:48
Well I fed him in a separate tub on Wednesday and it went really well, he ate as soon as I put the pinkie in the tub with him
One question I forgot to ask was how long in your opinions would generally keep him in the tub before moving back to the viv?
I waited till he had ate and once the pinkie was all the way down his body and he started to move about I placed the tub into the viv so he could get back in and hide for a bit.
I've also noticed the temps in my Viv are varying more than usual, I reset the thermometer every day before I goto work. I use a little pc fan running at 5v to keep the humidity down but it could be hitting the Stat probe and causing he stat to read half air temp and half mat temp.
It generally varies between 25 and 29 but with the weather changing from hot to rainy, cloudy to rainy, cloudy sunny all in one day (Scottish weather) the humidity changes quite a lot hence the fan, I noticed the temp peaked one day at 31! thats too hot for little Midas so I had a couple of ideas and wondering your thoughts. One was to change from the stripey microclimate mat to a pro rep or habistat solid one, I also thought of covering the stat prob with more aspen, the warm hide or putting a smaller cover over it to isolate the heat from the surrounding air temp more so that it only reads what the mat is and last was to look into a Pulse stat as I've heard these are more stable and reliable, can you advise any thoughts you might have on this please
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| twistedmonkey |
Posted - 20/05/2013 : 10:15:47
Yeah he seems to be settling in very nicely, he comes up to the glass when I'm near the viv now and doesn't instantly hide. He's also extremely friendly when being taken out, he flickers his tongue has a smell at me and slithers towards my hand, he's never hissed or rattled his tail as yet, he's still a baby though and I'm sure he will change at some point when he's about to shed or gets older but so far he's an absolute delight
I've had that many different baits in the freezer for fishing myself, I normally only do sea fishing now but the lug worms are a great one for kids to find lol
Ill see how it feels on Wednesday on the next feed, if he's active ill try and feed him in a different tub, if he's a bit shy ill do it again in the viv, I'm sure he will let me know how he's feeling and once I learn his temperament it will make future feeds easier, its all about Midas and making him feel safe and relaxed
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| Kellog |
Posted - 20/05/2013 : 07:56:45
That's actually a really positive reaction Kev, that he responded when you moved the pinkie about . I'm glad he ate well for you and was settled enough to not hide straight away.
My mice are in an open top plastic box....you couldn't do that with ones bought from anywhere other than Pets at Home! My problem is when I pull out the ice cream tub, I'm allergic so for the kids I hasten to add , and find I've got a tub of 'bollies' I think they're called, that my son goes fishing with. One of my daughter's friends won't eat anything that's come from our freezer after she found out we kept mice in there. It didn't help that my daughter told her that when the mice defrost they come alive !! She was about 13yrs old then and 7yrs on she STILL won't eat anything that she knows has come from that freezer.
It is up to you but personally, because he responded slightly differently this time, I might do one more feed in his viv....just to establish that feeding response. Just a suggestion though....you know Midas better than I do .
Xxx
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| smart bunny |
Posted - 18/05/2013 : 14:04:09
Sounds like things are going really well :D |
| twistedmonkey |
Posted - 18/05/2013 : 12:13:21
Second feed down
He wasn't as active when I put the pinkie in on the kitchen roll and after 10 mins of it being in the viv he was still hiding under his fern.
Didn't want to leave it in the viv, just in case he knocked it into the substrate so I picked it up using the feeding tongs to try and entice him, he was poking his head through the fern and came towards the pinkie immediately, I slowly moved it away towards the kitchen roll with him following and placed it down and he ate it straight away.
He seems to be settling down, the first feed he went and hid straight away for two days after, this time he was quite active for a couple of hours and then went to hide under his fern .
Next time ill try feeding him in a separate tub.
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| twistedmonkey |
Posted - 17/05/2013 : 18:16:46
Mice lollies lol think ill put that on the tub  |
| smart bunny |
Posted - 17/05/2013 : 13:39:53
If it's just a pinky it will only take about 5 mins to defrost from frozen if you put it in a jug of warm water ;)
Poor nephews - they might enjoy mice lollies.... :P |
| twistedmonkey |
Posted - 17/05/2013 : 12:15:10
That's my thoughts, the last time I was about so defrosted it at room temp for a couple of hours before heating in water. First time doing it in the fridge before coming to work and was unsure how long a standard pinkie would take on average. But even fridges are set to different temps so many variables to think of, Ill get there eventually
I buy mine from pets a home too, I was thankful of the bags too when reading up on feeding, I put them in a tub in the freezer with a sticker saying snake food, saves my nephews from thinking they might be some sort of new ice cream treat I've bought as they never read packets |
| Kellog |
Posted - 17/05/2013 : 11:01:17
I would have thought that's a good idea, otherwise there might still be a chill in the middle from being in the fridge. I defrost all of mine at room temperature for a couple of hours and they defrost fine. Then warm them by dipping them in water. It's the good thing about getting the food from Pets at Home, they each come in their own little bags .
Hope the feed goes well.
Xxx
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| twistedmonkey |
Posted - 17/05/2013 : 10:36:56
Cheers, Ill feed Midas on kitchen roll later in the viv again .
I took the pinkie out this morning at 8a.m and put it in the fridge still in the bag to defrost, and plan to heat it up in some warm water from the tap before feeding (still in the bag of course). Seems to be safer than defrosting in the bag before a feed so I can make sure its defrosted properly inside.
Would you recommend leaving out at room temp for 30 - 60 mins prior to heating in water?
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