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FiestaSTLou
Yearling
United Kingdom
556 Posts |
 Posted - 03/08/2010 : 11:56:44
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Me and my partner rescued a amel albino cornsnake on sunday, It is a beautiful snake but the surroundings it was left in was not pleasant!
We dont have much backround on the previous owner, he just gave the snake to a friend of ours that already has a corn but cannot accomadate it and was then given to us as we already have a royal python and the space and time to look after it.
Our friend did as much as she could in the week before we picked it up, fed it and changed its water.. aparently when she got him he had no water or water bow!!, so she used the old small one that her corn had outgrown and apparently it just kept drinking and drinking the poor thing!
When we bought it home sunday night we let it settle for the night before attempting to clean and feed it, as i had asked my friend not to feed the snake before we bougth it home incase the journey home made it regurge the food.
Yesterday we cleaned out its home, when trying to get it out it was VERY timid and defensive, and went to strike for my fellas hand, i assume the old owner did not handle it at all! in the end we put in a small box which we used to put my royal in when it was a baby and it slowely crawled into the box so we cud put the lid on whilst we cleaned out its home..... it was disgusting!! Pieces of old shed skin! feaces! and it stank! after we emptied the old chippings into the bin it left a thick rim of dirt all round and at the bottom of the box! after a hour scrubbing, alot of reptile disinfectant and some nice clean news paper and aspen it was looking lots better!
my fella gave it a small mouse, at first it wouldnt come out its hide to take it so left it on the side of a rock in its tank, ten mins later it still hadnt clocked it was there so my fella removed its bark hide and it strike fed from his straight away no probs
We are worried tho about its size and temperment, I have been reading up best i can but i think its very small for its age, its 1 1/2 years old and the thickest part of its body is prob only the width of my thumb, i am not 100% on corns tho so this could be normal, if anyone could advise me on this it would be much appreciated, i will attach a pictire of syd below. Its temper tho is a big worry, its very timid and gittery, wont let my fella go near it as it will just go for him, we have said once its feed has settled we are going to try get it out for 5 minutes everyday even if it bites just to get it used to being handled, is this ok? and is there anything else we can do to get it settled?
any advice to help this little snakey and us give it a great life much appreciated
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HannahB
The Corn Snake Moderator
United Kingdom
5491 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2010 : 12:25:02
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first off well done for rescuing him (and to your friends aswell!) poor little fella!
he doesnt look in too bad condition considering what his viv was like - hes very pretty..
give him 2days to digest his food properly and then start with small but frequent handling - the temper is probably due to him not being used to human contact and general weariness - i think id be the same if id been kept in conditions like that!!
once he gets used to you and begins to tolerate handling then maybe start to increase the handling periods to 10mins but only when the snake is ready,
welcome to the forum  |
2.0 Normal Royal Pythons - Q and Little One
1.0 Chihauhaun Mountain Kingsnake - Simba
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FiestaSTLou
Yearling
United Kingdom
556 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2010 : 12:37:02
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thank you for the quick reply and advice, shall certainly do that :)
I have a suspision its going to go into shed soon, skins quite pale but the eyes have not misted over yet, so im debating whether its best leaving him for a week or until shed just incase it is in shed. Will also be misting down his tank ALOT as from the old scraps of skin left all over the place before i cleaned it out i think its had problems previously shedding, having no water prob didnt help!! but we have found a old plastic tub big enough for his to get his body in if needs be and replaced that with the small old one my friend put it, hopefully if he does shed he dosnt have any problems. |
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princessbroxy
Hatchling
United Kingdom
310 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2010 : 12:45:13
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| Awww poor we soul what size of food you feeding him as you can feed a corn one and a half times the thickest part of its body?? make sure to keep a note of his weight you will probably already know this as you own a royal...i hate hearing of people neglecting there pets it makes my blood bubble so it does...but good on you and your friend for rescuing him I'm sure he will be happier soon as he realizes your going to love and look after him...was his previous owner male?? just asking as I'm not sure if they can sense male from female have you tried handling him cos it could be males he doesn't like. |
0.0.2 Aneries: Dorito + Sparkles
1.1.0 Hypo Het Lavender Bloodreds: Chilli + Pepper
1.0.0 Motley Butter: Dave
0.1.0 Ghost stripe : Sssam
0.1.0 Lavender: Princesss Annie
0.1.0 Normal: Medusa (baby sitting for 3 years)
2.2.0 Royal Python: Rafiki , Zazu , Pumba + Timone
1.0.0 orange ghost Python:Buster
1.0.0 Pastel python: enygma
0.1.0 spider python:
Kendra
0.1.0 66% het pied: sally
1.0.0 red tail cat fish (Morph)R.I.P
7.2.0 cats (M.I.B.,Picasso,Dealy,Storm,Gokoo,Merc,Chaos,Stitch,Peanuts)
Welcome to my petting zoo lol
Have you ever noticed when you run into a spiders web you all of a sudden turn into a ninja |
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HannahB
The Corn Snake Moderator
United Kingdom
5491 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2010 : 12:55:50
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with amels its sometimes hard to tell - our lucien is often hard to notice but his general orange colour dulls down a lot to the point where he looks like someone has covered him in silver/grey dust!!
its up to you - personally id leave him for a week and then start the handling, the week of people free time will help him settle down a bit more and get used to the smells and sounds of his new home, then once hes used to them you can work on handling him,
with the misting just dont over do it when he doesnt necessarily need it - im sure you know about the risks that over misting can cause so i wont repeat them |
2.0 Normal Royal Pythons - Q and Little One
1.0 Chihauhaun Mountain Kingsnake - Simba
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elament
Yearling
United Kingdom
942 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2010 : 13:02:48
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Yeah I am with hannah on this I would leave it a week to settle in before you start handling him and certainly dont over do it with the misting. You may find with the right care and attention his sheds will get a lot better. Well done for rescuing him tho and if you need any help you know where to come.
Cheers
Steve
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1.1.0 Amel Corns Colin and Xena
1.0.0 Dog Talan
1.1.0 Cats Wotsit and Willow
1.0.0 Ferret Chaos
Location: Lowestoft Suffolk |
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FiestaSTLou
Yearling
United Kingdom
556 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2010 : 13:08:14
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Yes the old owner was male at the moment i am feeding him small or medium mice (not 100% which my bf deals with he feeding ;)lol) but i know they are the same size as the thickest part of his body, do you think its better to move up to something bigger?
We need to record his weight, its one thing we have not done yet but with his temperment atm im gna do as advised above and leave him a week or so to settle in and get used to surroundings and smells :)then see how much he is, we record everything with our royal and will be doing the same for Syd (short for sydney incase it turns out to be a girl) lol
What humidity is best for corns? im going to buy (raar cant remember the name of it?! thing that measires humidity)lol this week,last thing i want is to give the poor mite RI! :(
sorry for all the questions! we dont admititly have alot if any experience with corns but i couldnt bare to leave the poor thing homeless and un happy so willing to learn what ever it takes to geet it back in tip top shape :) |
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Edited by - FiestaSTLou on 03/08/2010 13:09:30 |
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HannahB
The Corn Snake Moderator
United Kingdom
5491 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2010 : 13:20:39
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keep him on the small/medium mice - dont want to feed him too much too soon, i know you can feed up to 1.5x the width but with him being possibly underweight id keep him on something that he can easily eat and then when hes doing ok with them then possibly move him up,
humidity for corns is generally room temp - they dont need any misting or anything except in the case of a bad shed - like elament says bad shedders do tend to improve over time
dont apolagise for the questions..if you dont ask you will never know  and we are all happy to help!! |
2.0 Normal Royal Pythons - Q and Little One
1.0 Chihauhaun Mountain Kingsnake - Simba
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elament
Yearling
United Kingdom
942 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2010 : 13:21:44
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Humdity is not an issue as corns will happily live in our humidity level so you are wasting your money on a meter. Do you have digital thermometers for both the cold and warm end these are a much better use of the money.
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1.1.0 Amel Corns Colin and Xena
1.0.0 Dog Talan
1.1.0 Cats Wotsit and Willow
1.0.0 Ferret Chaos
Location: Lowestoft Suffolk |
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FiestaSTLou
Yearling
United Kingdom
556 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2010 : 13:37:46
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Thanks everyone for all your help its very appreciated!
I wont get the humidity meter then, my fellas getting 2 thermometres today as we thought there would be atleast one! with the set up, but they didnt... i shoulnt be shocked really. We also use a thermostat for our royal, is this something we should get for the corn iswell? i read online that temp should be around 80 during the day and drop 5 at night? |
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DannyBrown91
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
3070 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2010 : 14:04:01
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Yes the corn will also need a thermostat. I'm afraid my brain dosn't funtion with fahranheit  but the temps should around 27-29 celsius in the warm end and there is no need for a drop in temp at night.
Well done for rescuing him, he certainly is a pretty snake. |
0.0.1 Ghost Corn - Casper
0.0.1 Diffused Corn - Reggie
0.0.1 Amel Corn - Candy A.K.A Baby
1.0 Commom BCI - Rocky
0.1 Japanese Akita - Sasha
Location: Liverpool |
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FiestaSTLou
Yearling
United Kingdom
556 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2010 : 14:16:11
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| lol dont worry mine never used to but the thermostat we use on our royal is in fahranheit so iv slowly grown used to it lol thanks to advising me! shall be sorting that all our shortly :) |
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kdlang
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
3556 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2010 : 16:58:26
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Well done on taking him on. He is a gorgeous snake. Don't worry about all the questions. Your on a bit of a learning curve but you already have the basics with keeping Royals. Questions just mean that you want to do your best for him and we like that lol.
I'm sure he will come on in leaps and bounds now that he is with people who genuinely care about him. Grrrrr the person who had him before. |
4.1.0 corns - Izzy (Carolina) Alice (Amel) Peanut (Butter Motley) Swayze (Ghost) Carmellia (Butter Motley)
0.1.0 cat - Kizzy
1.0.0 Dog - Dobbie
Location - Chesterfield, Derbyshire
www.support-dogs.org.uk |
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Sta~ple
qeeun speler
United Kingdom
6129 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2010 : 17:09:36
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| He's gorgeous! He doesn't look underweight to be but I am only looking at a photo, he might look skinny to you if you have a royal :) How long is s/he? |
  
A very special super, duper thanks for K :3 |
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eeji
The Morph Master
United Kingdom
4335 Posts |
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herriotfan
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
5853 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2010 : 21:37:40
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So pleased you rescued him, good for you.
One little tip for helping to settle him and help get him used to your smell...put an old sock or some piece of cloth inside your top for a day, so it has your smell on it, then pop it in one of his hides. Your smell will then be in the place he feels secure so he will get used to it and hopefully it will help him get used to you a bit quicker. I did this when I first got my Sidney and now when he wants to hide away he always chooses the hide with the old sock in and lays on it!!  |
Husband....Very Understanding!!! (Phil)
Son & Daughter (Kevin & Carol)
Granddaughter (Eva)
3.4.0 Cornsnakes Amel (Sidney) Caramel Stripe (Sultan) Amber (Cleo) Carolina (Phoebe) Anery Motley Stripe (Penny) Snow (Lily) Caramel (Holmes)
1.2.0 Royal Pythons(Peeps, Pandora & Pepsi)
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??? Foster animals
Location: Near Saffron Walden, Essex
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FiestaSTLou
Yearling
United Kingdom
556 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2010 : 21:47:12
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i think if i put one of mine or my fellas socks in it may be knocked out! :O haha! its a great bit of advice tho and i will do that tonight :)
Length wise i would say no longer than 2foot, again cant be 100% sure tho until i can get him out n have a proper look.
Its spend most of the day in his hide, popping his head out every now and again lol
sta~ple you could be right, our little (big) python cecils only a year and HUGE lol shes a little fatty haha and already reaching 3 foot! lol so compared to him syd is very tiny bless him lol
I found out earlier about the kempton show next week so iv booked up a travel lodge and shall be heading there for the weekend and hopefully get to learn alot more :)
Thanks everyone for all your help, its given us alot of help and reasurance that syd will be ok :) its been very much appreciated :) Ill keep u updated on how he gets on over the next few days. |
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Edited by - FiestaSTLou on 03/08/2010 21:48:21 |
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Mouse
Yearling
United Kingdom
958 Posts |
Posted - 04/08/2010 : 13:42:07
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Gorgeous snake! I'm glad you've got him. I can't fathom why people buy pets then neglect them like that 
I'm sure it'll settle in, and once it connects both your smells to feeding time and clean viv in a safe environment, he'll calm down! |
 
1.0.0 - Gobo - Snow Corn (RIP)
0.1.0 - Sprockett - Normal/hypo/het snow Corn
2.0.0 Anery Hatchlings
0.1.0 Amel Hatchling
0.1.0 Normal Hatchling
*Location - Southampton, UK*
http://www.weneedcake.co.uk |
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FiestaSTLou
Yearling
United Kingdom
556 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2010 : 11:51:30
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| so we have followed your advise and laid one of our socks over the top so it gets used to our smells, since feeding tho on monday evening it has stayed in its hide and only popped out its head everynow and again, is this normal? or is it just digesting its food? just worried as iv always assumed corns where quite active, anyone would think our pythons the corn atm, shes been hanging off trees going wild for the last few days haha! |
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kdlang
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
3556 Posts |
Posted - 05/08/2010 : 23:12:15
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| My 2 older corns I hardly see at all. They hide most of the time but I can see by the tracks left in the substrate that they have been out and about when I am not around. The 2 younger ones tend to come out quite a bit. All corns differ and some are more active than others. It's quite possible that it has just been hiding while it has been digestin its din dins tho. PLus it is still settling in so will hide. |
4.1.0 corns - Izzy (Carolina) Alice (Amel) Peanut (Butter Motley) Swayze (Ghost) Carmellia (Butter Motley)
0.1.0 cat - Kizzy
1.0.0 Dog - Dobbie
Location - Chesterfield, Derbyshire
www.support-dogs.org.uk |
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reggie_69
Egg
United Kingdom
93 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2010 : 12:44:07
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hey well done for rescueing him and i think i say on behalf of the entire forum! that you tell us where abouts you live and we will man hunt the previous owner down!! and stick him in a space with no water or flushing toilet!!!
but anyway!! hope everything goes ok! people that have already commented are awesome and have given you the best advice so i cant add anymore!
hope everything goes ok and keep us all updated!
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advice on rescued corn
