| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| elament |
Posted - 21/11/2009 : 15:38:06
Hi all and thanks for looking.
Sorry its a long post but i am going to try to contain as much info in it as poss.
I got Colin about 12 weeks ago. He was a yearling when i got him and he came with full set up as follows. 36x15x15 Viv Thermostat, light fitting, std 40w spotlight bulb and a 11x7 heat mat. The substrate provided was orchid bark which I later found out was dried orchid bark.
I set up the Viv introduced him and all was fine. On the second week he took his first hopper and within about 3 weeks was readily exploring the viv at night. Every week he took a feed and after about 4 weeks I got him out of the viv one day and he had gone pale. Knowing he was in blue I put him back in and in due course he shed perfectly and even fed all the way through shedding. After about five weeks I decided it was time for a full viv clearout. I had read on here that orchid was no good for corns as the raised humidity could cause RI's so I opted for beech chippings. At the same time I upgraded the heat mat from a 11x7 to an 11x11 as I noticed the smaller mat was struggling to keep night time temps up.
After a week or so of being on the beech I learned his brothers and sisters had graduated onto medium mice so I fed him one which he took.
The following week I got him out and noticed some of the scales on his body had lost pigment and gone white in horizontal lines along his body. Its worth saying at this point that he is an orange corn with red diamonds and a white stiching pattern around the diamonds. It looks as though the white stitching has spread in horizontal blotches. I thought maybe some kind of skin reaction to the beech perhaps and cleared out the viv once more and replaced the substrate with aspen which he loves.
He went into shed again about a week ago blued cleared and produced a perfect skin this morning but the white blotches remain. Also last week he refused another medium mouse. Now I know some corns refuse a meal during shedding but he didnt before. Also I have noticed this last two weeks he has not been active at night like usual but again I put this down to the shedding or perhaps climate change with winter coming.
I have since been told not to feed colin during shed as it can damage the undeveloped epidermis of the snake but to be honest i havent heard that before maybe one of you can clear that up. All I can say is it was a big meal for him and I am wondering if I graduated him too fast to medium mice and somehow the swallowing of a large meal during shedding damaged his epidermis. He is due a feed tonight so I got some hoppers I thought I would try him on something smaller as maybe he just taking longer to digest the bigger meal.
Its also worth mentioning that since he shed last night the white markings have got less defined.
Viv temps have been constant although there has been a 2 degree drop of warm end night temp to 25 at night. Normally its 31 at warm end daytime and 27 at night.
Colin is active when you get him out with plenty of tongue flicking and clear eyes. His scales are also all perfectly aligned and there is no sign of parasites.
Any ideas anyone? BTW I got a pic of the white markings but have no idea how to put it on here
Cheers
Steve
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| 12 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| elament |
Posted - 22/11/2009 : 13:43:26
yep, he totally back to his old self spent most of last night out and about in his viv even after eating and seeing him take a hopper so readily even with the light on was a rarity. He normally wont even start to sniff round prey until the lights are off I think he is shy lol. I actually do think maybe those white marks are some kind of reaction to taking such a large meal during shed. Perhaps it caused some kind of scale seperation I dunno. I dont think he is fat as he is about 33" long and only bout 19-25mm diameter in the middle. I wont be feeding him now if I believe him to be coming up for shedding and I am now keeping a Colin Diary to fall back on for future reference.
But in the mean time thanks everyone for all your help, This is a great site a great service to members like me that are relatively new to snake keeping
cheers
steve
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| lmfastcars |
Posted - 22/11/2009 : 12:40:43
thats nice to know  its good to hear he is eating again , congratas |
| elament |
Posted - 21/11/2009 : 20:06:12
Thanks Guys, Good news is he took a hopper tonight no questions asked. I have been recommended to feed him every seven days as thats what he has previously been used to but i will stick with hoppers for now they seem to go down easier. He just let me watch the whole feeding process with the light on so he must have been hungry
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| Paulusworm |
Posted - 21/11/2009 : 19:28:41
Must admit that I agree with Kehhlyr on this one. Looks like scale seperation caused by being a fatty-fatty-boom-boom corn. Matilda was like that when I first got her. Easily sorted by reducing the size of prey and increasing the feeding frequency slightly. Every 10 days rather than 14 for example. Those figures are just to clarify what I mean rather than a recommendation. Get a clearer pic posted and we should be able to confirm one way or the other . |
| elament |
Posted - 21/11/2009 : 18:50:42
i will try tomorrow I just going to try him on a hopper tonight see if he will take it
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| Kehhlyr |
Posted - 21/11/2009 : 17:42:34
Has he got a small amount of white showing around each of his scales??
If so, then he might just be getting a bit chubby.
Can you try to get another pic or 2 from a little further away as well.
Cheers.
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| lmfastcars |
Posted - 21/11/2009 : 17:04:33
If his skin is dry, maybe he is not drinking enough water. maybe raise the humidity a bit, i hope everythings better soon |
| elament |
Posted - 21/11/2009 : 16:29:12
Thanks Matty for editting that.
I should add thats its not at all moist to the touch ie its not a sectretion of any kind and also he always feeds on a large plastic flat sheet so I dont think its ingestion.
Cheers
Steve
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| elament |
Posted - 21/11/2009 : 16:25:01
There, baring in mind the flash has made it look worse than it is you can see a kinda milkyness around the scales
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| elament |
Posted - 21/11/2009 : 16:18:39
Link edited |
| elament |
Posted - 21/11/2009 : 16:14:15
Er I think Photobucket has changed since that was produced couldnt follow it
Cheers
Steve
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| gmac |
Posted - 21/11/2009 : 15:56:58
May be best posting your pics to show what you mean about the pigment on the scales, this link will show you how to upload photos.
[http://www.thecornsnake.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14] |
