1st Newbie Questions

[Batdad]

OK so this is the first of what I assume will be alot of seemly stupid question but, "The only truely stupid question is the one not asked that should have been"

I went to the breeders looking for geckos, held a beautiful albino corn for about a half hour to an hour. I was scr#%^d.:grab:. Went out and got an 8 month old natural that the wife and daughter have decided will be called Eleanor. So I am scrambling to get her home set up properly, hence the questions. Right now she is in a plastic shoe box container and is eating quite well on small fuzzies. I am going to put her in a 20 gal. aquarium with a substrate of a coconut fibre (recommended by the pet store guy, most of whom appear to be circumspect :dumb: by most breeders:) ). I am planning on using a 50w spot on one side for both light and heat (is this enough?), a 5"x5"x1.5" container for water on the cool side, and some sticks interwoven on both side for somthing to climb on (cooked sticks for 1/2 hour at 300 degrees, enough?). Should I provide hides on 1 or both sides or will she just borrow under the substrate to hide? Also I see alot of posts about humidity for Corns but I can't seem to find that humitity level should be either % wise or as a relative thing(you know sealed like a tupperware container with water dripping off the lid), what is a good way of measuring it? The top is a 1/4" square mesh that is clipped on. I think as she gets bigger I will have to move her up to something bigger but I will have some time to design and build something by then.

Thanks for any advice and/or help in advance. I read through the care sheets but, want to perfectly clear.

PS I also got the geckos as well :)

[Invictus]

Congrats on the corn snake. They are among my favorites, and I'm sure you'll see why in upcoming months.

For humidity, don't worry about it too much. Corns are very forgiving with hummidity levels, as they are found in the eastern US in places dry as a bone all the way up to marshes. They're pretty diverse, but providing extra humidity during shedding will make for a happy corn.

Hides on both the cool and warm sides are highly recommended. They will burrow, but a hide will eliminate the need for them to do so.

I'd switch the substrate to Aspen though. I don't think coconut bark is very good for a young corn.

[vanderkm]

Congrats on the new corn - they are wonderful and you will likely end up with more! I would also recommend aspen over the coconut bark - it dries out and gets dusty and if you keep it moist, it may be too damp for corns. Shredded aspen shavings work great and are much cheaper.

The 20 gallon tank will be fine for a while as far as size, but the lid kept on by clips could be a problem for escapes - corns can squeeze through very small openings and the clips tend to not hold the entire surface of the lid down. The rubbermaid would be much more secure, or if you want to keep her in the tank, then invest in one of the clip-over lids - and the doors on these still need to be weighted down. They really can push out of almost anything!

As far as humidity, they don't need much additional - ours shed fine with 30-40% year round, but you can provide a rubbermaid hide box with damp vermiculite once their eyes cloud over if you have a snake that has problems shedding. Use of a heat lamp will tend to dry out your environment somewhat compared with an undertank heater.

As far as heat lights - really hard to guess on light wattage and tank size whether you will get good temp ranges because of variation in room temp. It is worth it to pick up an indoor outdoor digital thermometer - they have a wire with a sensor on it that you can place on the heat source and the cool side of the tank to get readings - then regulate heat source from that.

Good luck with the new corn,

mary v.