| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| hillzi |
Posted - 18/01/2010 : 21:35:59
I am hopefully going to help you set up your snakes living quarters!
Size of enclosuer
You corn snake will require adequat room to move around, and do his thing. it is strongly recomended that you buy your set up BEFORE introducing snakey to sort out any heating or anything like that if any problems should arise.
The general rule is that X LENGTH + Y WIDTH = MAX LENGTH OF SNAKE whatever these values maybe. I have found younger corns are more active and adult corns are lazy sods!
If you buy a hatchling corn, a small glass tank or faunarium will do him fine. Glass tanks are refered to as terrariums and plastic are called faunariums or fauns. These are readily available and cheap but some have problems with heating, gettting the adequat temp.
These can be bought here; http://www.888reptiles.co.uk/productsubcategories.php?SubCategoryID=20 with you chosing the appropaite size!
Okay, next thing, your snakes going to need something to lay on! Aspen, beech chippings, newspaper, or kitchen roll are favourites, holding temperatures well, cheap and readily available. Many allow your snake to burrow but I recomend kitchen roll for starting out with a young hatchie as aspen and chippings can be rough on the soft belly scales!
Next, he's going to need some hides! These can be the exo terra caves or toilet rolls and cereal boxes. he will need a hide he can fit into and feel nice and cozy nothing stupidly oversized, a nice snug fit will help him feel nice and secure!
Now, this isn't ESSENTIAL but it may make your habitat nicer, and snakey will feel more secure with these, plastic or silk plants are fairly cheap and allow snakey to hide and climb in.
Next up is a a piece of wood. treated of course, stripped of bark, bathed in bleach for a day and thoroughly rinsed and dried (in the oven if it will fit) which will aid there shedding!
Also, a waterbowl is essential, big enough to have a dip in but not big enough as he can tip this over.
ESSENTIAL! YOUR SNAKE NEEDS THERMOSTATICALLY CONTROLLED HEAT OVERWISE HE CAN OVERHEAT AND BURN TO DEATH!
these can be bought here, http://www.888reptiles.co.uk/productdetails.php?ProductID=1830&ProductGroupID=931
also a heatmat that takes up about 1/3, or 1/2 of the floor will be ESSENTIAL too! Please size these appropiate to your enclouser however I have found that bigger heatmats acheive heat much better.
http://www.888reptiles.co.uk/productsubcategories.php?SubCategoryID=203
a thermometer! I personally think the dial ones are utter trash, get AT LEAST ONE digital LCD aquarium thermometer for the hot end, the cool end of the tank will be fine at room temp but it's still good practise to know the temp of this too!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aquarium-Fish-Tank-Water-LCD-Screen-Digital-Thermometer_W0QQitemZ130359421597QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Pet_Supplies_Fish?hash=item1e5a06ea9d
When your snake outgrows his faun eventually, many people tend to buy a three foot x two foot wooden tank, or vivarium. this will last your corn for life, as they will rarely get over 5ft, but if he gets to 5ft4 he will still be okay! when you buy this, your snake will be relatively small compared to the tank, so make sure you pack it out with silk/plastic plants, maybe some artifical vines if you feel the need to make it fancy, or you could just cut up some cereal boxes or toilet roll tubes for him to hide in!
Hope you learnt a thing from this, thought I might aswell start my time back off to an inventive post! Let me know what you think, feel free to add anything if I have missed it!
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| 11 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| hillzi |
Posted - 20/01/2010 : 16:16:20
thanks. I was gonna do a tighwad version and a big spender one, but cba..  |
| eeji |
Posted - 20/01/2010 : 00:08:49
nice job Hillzi mate :)
2 hides = barest minimum, the more the better ;) - the fake plants bit covers this nicely :)
if someone is using a light bulb for heat, firstly 'why???' and secondly where does night time warmth come from?
a small enclosure isn't really essential for small snakes so long as theres plenty of cover |
| elament |
Posted - 19/01/2010 : 21:32:49
Just thought I would add a viv lock is also a good idea to have especially if you have children in the house or cats that can open doors. Corns are brilliant escape artists so if you do go for a tank instead of a viv make sure it has a tight fitting lid that can be fastened down. Finally wether it be tank or viv make sure its well ventilated as the last thing you want is high humidity. |
| hillzi |
Posted - 19/01/2010 : 20:49:52
I did it in order I set mine up. Otherwise heat couldv'e been obstructed by a plant (you know what I mean)
@ the sticky comment ( ) Nope, had nothing else better to do...
thanks for the critism Kellog, prefered you to tell me what you think instead of lie about it |
| LittleMick |
Posted - 19/01/2010 : 19:22:25
quote:
Originally posted by Kellog
Big add for 888reps!!!! Is that allowed?!!
Hell yeah  |
| Kellog |
Posted - 19/01/2010 : 06:49:52
Are you hoping this may be put up as a sticky Hillzi?
Want me to correct your spelling and grammar??!!
You say about buying setup before snake, which is great, but would suggest a week at least to allow for time to spot trouble (otherwise newbies might feel days are enough).
Length of viv + width of viv = max length of snake....people may get confused with X and Y!!!
Big add for 888reps!!!! Is that allowed?!!
Could do with mentioning depth of substrate if using aspen or beech....
No mention of the need for 2 hides, one at each end.
Would have thought heating needs to be top of info as most important...not after hides and silk plants.
No mention of the need for a hot and cold end, which a newbie might not realise (know this is obvious but sometimes the obvious needs stating)
With lights you also need to mention that they need to be turned off at night to replicate day/night...so therefore there is a temp drop.
(You did ask us to let you know what we thought )
xxx |
| hillzi |
Posted - 18/01/2010 : 22:02:40
Mats are more common but if you do use lighting, the heatbulb will be installed, have a guard put over it, and use a dimming stat to controll and dim the light when too hot, and lighten up when too cool, and probe posistioned in the area your'e going to heating, like with the heatmat, on the surface where the snakes going to get his heat from.
heat lamps are good for heating, but since corn snakes get their heat mainly from their bellys and don't tend to bask in the sun they hide away, the mat will be more ideal. Lights are only used if you struggle to get the temps up.
THEY MUST MUST MUST BE GAURDED AND STATTED BEFORE YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT TURNING THEM ON!
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| matty18714 |
Posted - 18/01/2010 : 21:57:51
quote:
Originally posted by hillzi
also a heatmat that takes up about 1/3, or 1/2 of the floor will be ESSENTIAL too! Please size these appropiate to your enclouser however I have found that bigger heatmats acheive heat much better.
http://www.888reptiles.co.uk/productsubcategories.php?SubCategoryID=203
Not if you're using bulb heating |
| hillzi |
Posted - 18/01/2010 : 21:54:59
hehe same thing
I would like to highlight the following.
ESSENTIAL! YOUR SNAKE NEEDS THERMOSTATICALLY CONTROLLED HEAT OVERWISE HE CAN OVERHEAT AND BURN TO DEATH!
these can be bought here, http://www.888reptiles.co.uk/productdetails.php?ProductID=1830&ProductGroupID=931
You will need to place the sensor on the thermostat in one of two places, if the heatmat is OUTSIDE the viv, such as fauns or glass tanks, the probe will need to be taped to the mat and temperature taken from the digital thermometer and set accordingly. However when the heatmat is inside the viv, the probe will need to go on the substrate that covers the heatmat as this is where the snake will get his heat from!
also a heatmat that takes up about 1/3, or 1/2 of the floor will be ESSENTIAL too! Please size these appropiate to your enclouser however I have found that bigger heatmats acheive heat much better.
http://www.888reptiles.co.uk/productsubcategories.php?SubCategoryID=203
ALSO FINALLY THE LAST ESSENTIAL PIECE OF KIT;
a thermometer! I personally think the dial ones are utter trash, get AT LEAST ONE digital LCD aquarium thermometer for the hot end, the cool end of the tank will be fine at room temp but it's still good practise to know the temp of this too!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aquarium-Fish-Tank-Water-LCD-Screen-Digital-Thermometer_W0QQitemZ130359421597QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Pet_Supplies_Fish?hash=item1e5a06ea9d
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| matty18714 |
Posted - 18/01/2010 : 21:49:16
Not bad Tom
quote:
Originally posted by hillzi
IIf you buy a hatchling corn, a small glass tank or faunarium will do him fine. Glass tanks are refered to as terrariums and plastic are called faunariums or fauns. These are readily available and cheap but some have problems with heating, gettting the adequat temp.
A terrarium is anything that houses animals or plants, not just glass tanks. |
| hillzi |
Posted - 18/01/2010 : 21:36:30
d;oh! I forgot to add subtitles for decor, and heating..
whoopse and I can't edit it.. |
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