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jenjen23
Hatchling
United Kingdom
157 Posts |
 Posted - 08/05/2014 : 22:16:30
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Hi,
If you didn't see my earlier thread, Basil escaped over Christmas, and I found him about a month ago under the bath. For info: He (not actually sure if male or female) is 2 years old. I brought him back up to temperature slowly and have gradually increased the size of his meals. He is feeding and pooing fine and has shed. Warm end of viv is 27, cool end 24, I don't know how to get the cool end down, it is a medium vivexotic viv and does have vents but not many. Heated with a 100W ceramic lamp controlled by a pulse stat and guarded of course. Repticard as substrate, plenty of hiding places throughout the viv.
I am worried about him though-he spends all his time trying to escape! He is continuously rubbing his nose against the joint in the viv doors, and along the edges of the doors. I fed him tonight and he was trying to escape the second I opened the door. Should I be worried? Am I doing something wrong? I'm concerned it is too warm for him but not sure what I can do to fix that? I'm worried he will hurt his nose or escape again. He was quite active before he escaped, but he never seemed quite as determined to escape as he does now. |
0.0.1 Normal Cornsnake, 2 years old - Basil
0.1.0 Crawl Cay Boa, 1.5 years - Luna |
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Kellog
the nice one
United Kingdom
7308 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2014 : 08:40:13
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His behaviour may be down to his hormones Julia. It is nearing the end of breeding season and he is old enough to be effected. The warm end temp isn't ideal but it's not massively high. I know some people have had this issue when using ceramic/heat bulbs, because they tend to heat the ambient temp of the whole viv rather than a specific area like a heatmat does. How are you measuring your temps?
Xxx
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jenjen23
Hatchling
United Kingdom
157 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2014 : 09:32:04
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Thanks, was thinking it might be something like that.
Measuring the temps with digital thermometers, I have one at the warm end under the bulb and one at the cool end. I could up the temp but was concerned that it might make the ambient temp too high? Is it better to have a hot spot at the correct temp, or a cooler ambient? I was considering going back to using a heat mat, what is the best way of using one in a viv? Can it go directly in the bottom or should it be covered with something? Should I secure it to the floor somehow? I decided to use ceramics once I moved them to vivs as my house gets really cold in the winter.
I'll be moving him in to a new bigger viv as soon as it is built so hopefully that will make the gradient better with a ceramic, there is definitely a better gradient in the bigger viv that my boa is now in (the one that Basil escaped from!). |
0.0.1 Normal Cornsnake, 2 years old - Basil
0.1.0 Crawl Cay Boa, 1.5 years - Luna |
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Razee
Fully Grown Corn
United Kingdom
2525 Posts |
Posted - 09/05/2014 : 12:28:48
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Just a quick question - ( because, most likely, it IS the time of the year, plus the fact he's had a spell of freedom and wants back out, to look for ladies :-) ) - but: is 27 C your highest - the warmest spot you offer? If it is, I'd suggest to try and up it to 28 - 29 C and see what happens. You could try it over the weekend, when you can monitor him throughout the day, and see how he reacts.
Apparently, corn snakes optimal body temperature is meant to be 28 - 29 C, at that temperature all the body functions work at best ( this is from books - but I just had an interesting experience... ). There are times, when they need to experience lower temps, and sometimes very slightly higher ( if ill ).
Here's what happened to me and Seb. I keep all my corn snakes heatmats at 28 - 29C. They are stated and monitored by digi thermometers. But, I had and kept having problems with Seb - he's much more active than my other two. I posted a long post, about finding that an artificial vine in his viv smelled weird, so took it out, and he was happy. But after a while, he started again. Only stopping to digest his food for 12 hours, then roaming again, thrashing the viv, attacking the vents, wanting out all the time.
Then, one day, I came back from work, and he was the happiest snake ever.
He had managed somehow not only to knock his stat probes out from under a very heavy hide, he'd also moved them a buried them in aspen, off the mat. The result was the mat running fully - and he was sat right on top of it, sprawled over, happy as Larry. The cold end temps had risen to 24 C, the heatmat was warm to touch ( but not hot ). Seb was warm to touch.
I've put the probes back. Later, he was roaming again, and trying to get out again. So, I upped the temperature to 30 C - and he seems much happier. He spends quite a lot of time on warm side, still, and I found him yesterday under the paper I have over the heatmat. He was wedged there quite tight, again, he felt warm to the touch, again, happy and settled. It hasn't stopped him roaming completely, but , again, he now actually takes rests, and sleeps :-). He really seems happier, and more content, when warmer than my other two.
I reckon individual snakes like to be warmer, or cooler than average - it's worth a try. |
0.1.0 late CB10 Carolina corn snake - Bazilishka
1.0.0 CB11 Abbots Okeetee- Little Twiddler
1.0.0 CB11 Hypo corn- Sebastianek
1.0.0. CB14 Butter Motley - Squidwood
0.0.2 CB18 normal/ Okeetee yearlings Bunny and Lalalishka
0.0.1 hognose
0.1.0 stable cat
0.1.0 house cat |
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Worried about Basil - Advice please!
