View Full Version : okay, you got me
lilyskip
09-29-03, 10:43 AM
Well, I've been thinking of a second reptile to get, and I think it may end up being a corn (it was almost a leo, but I prefer snakes to lizards...) It will be at *least* a few months before I actually buy it (maybe until May) but since I'm not sure yet, I wanted to ask you guys some questions...(sorry if this is online somewhere; i haven't found it)
* Do corns musk? I didn't think so, but since kings do...
* How often do they poop/pee? I remember reading that it was way more/way messier than a bp. Is this a problem for anyone?
* Do baby hatchlings have a high mortality rate? (they are less expensive that juvies...is that just because the bigger size is more desireable?)
Thanks :D
tai_pan1
09-29-03, 12:09 PM
My corns have never musked. I don't think they do, but some may. How often they poop depends on how often you feed them. Mine generally go about 3 or 4 days after eating. If They don't eat again for awhile, they may have another runny/watery one a week or so later. They're pretty regular after eating. It may stink just after they've gone, but I've never really found it to be too offensive. They generally cost more cause it cost the breeder more, more food, more time, more space etcetera.
mark129er
09-29-03, 12:45 PM
Its quite the addiction, as soon as I get the space I'm definitely getting more snakes.
BoidKeeper
09-29-03, 12:50 PM
Do corns musk? I didn't think so, but since kings do...
Hatchlings can but they grow out of it fast.
* How often do they poop/pee? I remember reading that it was way more/way messier than a bp. Is this a problem for anyone?
It's like they have crones or something. I swear that sometimes they crap more then they eat. I know I made it sound bad but its not that bad really. Nothing you can't live with that's for sure.
* Do baby hatchlings have a high mortality rate? (they are less expensive that juvies...is that just because the bigger size is
more desireable?)
No as long as they are eating then they are fine. Corns are really hardy animals that's one of the reasons why they are so popular as a first reptile. The older/larger the snake to more expensive it is. I think that this is a general rule. Take for example the price of a young adult breedable ball compared to a hatchling. The adult is ready for a project and therefore will comand a higher price.
Cheers,
Trevor
Invictus
09-29-03, 01:18 PM
We have 8 corns, including neonates, and have never been musked by a single one of them. I honestly don't think they are capable of it. I do know a lot of people who have been shat upon though, including myself. :)
They poop often. When they do, it's runny and smells absolutely awful. But it's no worse than cleaning a cat's litter box. Scoop it out, throw it away, no more smell. In my opinion, the rewards of having corn snakes FAR outweigh the drawbacks of their smelly poop. :D
BoidKeeper
09-29-03, 01:19 PM
I honestly don't think they are capable of it.
Some of the hatchlings I produced this year would tend to disagree with you:p
Cheers,
Trevor
sapphire_moon
09-29-03, 02:19 PM
We just got a corn baby about 1 month ago. Ours has not musked. But have heard about them musking. So not to sure about that. They do poop alot. For about the first week after getting ours, she pooped about once a day, now it's more about once or twice a week. I don't know why juvies are more expensive, probably because they are more desired for breeding.
If you want to go through a breeder try............
http://www.cornsnake.net/
We went through him and he was really nice, and patient.
lilyskip
09-29-03, 02:27 PM
thanks for your answers so far :D I do enjoy easy-to-manage (almost typed 'handle' there...) poop, but that is a pretty small issue compared to temperment, eating habits, etc. hehe. The corns sold by the snake store up here run about $50 for a normal, so if I do decide to get a second snake this year, I would definitely be getting it at some kind of show in FL when I'm on vacation there (either a reptile show in december or the F.I.R.E. show in may).
* Do corns musk? I didn't think so, but since kings do...
Oh yeah...some of them must like there is no tomorrow..I currently have around 800 corns around my house...and some of these musk a lot....but I would say around 10-15 of the corns that I have do that. So that is quite a good ratio I mean say 15 out of 800 musk? And the thing is that they are hatchlings...so what do you expect right? And the ones that musk tend to be the ones that are the most aggressive...(bites, strikes, hiss, rattle tail...etc etc....but at the same time....they are the most prettiest of all....sigh...)
* How often do they poop/pee? I remember reading that it was
way more/way messier than a bp. Is this a problem for anyone?
I'd have to agree with everyone...man...these guys poop more than they eat....and the smell is horrible....(well maybe just in my house..since I have so many of them...lol) But if you compare to the bp's poop they are much messier and much smellier...lol....
* Do baby hatchlings have a high mortality rate? (they are less expensive that juvies...is that just because the bigger size is more desireable?)
well....I would say bigger snakes are more expensive because of a few things:
1) if you are wanting to breed them you are saving yourself some time and money in raising the hatchling
2) yearlings tend to be eating already...not like hatchlings...some hatchlings are so stubborn to eat....I still can't get most of my upper keys to eat...they so want the lizards...which I hate so much....so bigger snakes are more desired since they have less problems in feeding
3) most of the yearlings plus have developed most or some of it's colors already. So buyers will know what the animal would look like as adults more than a hatchling....hatchling changes too much in color when they grow....so that is why the adults are more expensive than the hatchlings
lilyskip
09-29-03, 05:55 PM
Originally posted by Simon
* Do baby hatchlings have a high mortality rate? (they are less expensive that juvies...is that just because the bigger size is more desireable?)
well....I would say bigger snakes are more expensive because of a few things:
1) if you are wanting to breed them you are saving yourself some time and money in raising the hatchling
2) yearlings tend to be eating already...not like hatchlings...some hatchlings are so stubborn to eat....I still can't get most of my upper keys to eat...they so want the lizards...which I hate so much....so bigger snakes are more desired since they have less problems in feeding
3) most of the yearlings plus have developed most or some of it's colors already. So buyers will know what the animal would look like as adults more than a hatchling....hatchling changes too much in color when they grow....so that is why the adults are more expensive than the hatchlings
Ah, that makes a lot of sense.
Geez...800 corns? I can tell already that you're a legend...haha.
The biggest problem I see so far is the smelly poop--I live with five other girls (one of whom I share a room with) and they might not be cool with anything they can smell. Well, nothing a little convincing can't fix... ;)
sapphire_moon
09-29-03, 08:09 PM
Ou corn doesn't smell at all...........As soon as one of us finds poop we just clean it out...:)
I've only got one, and it's not an adult yet, but I can tell you that she poops once per feeding, and it doesn't smell particularily bad. In fact I cant smell it at all over the smell of the substrate. Maybe if you're keeping it on newspaper you might notice it, but on any kind of wood, I doubt you'll smell it. Now, that's just my (limited) experience.
rg
vanderkm
09-30-03, 08:27 AM
Great to hear you are considering a corn - I have to agree with most of what everyone has said so far - and while baby corns don't smell much because the poops are so small, they are still much more frequent and messier than pythons or boas. By the time the corn is full grown, they produce quite a smelly quantity - but as long as you clean it up right a way - no problem. Also helps to convince roomates about it if you get a baby - the poop won't be noticable and by the time it is full grown - everyone will like the snake so much, they won't care.
good luck in your choice,
mary v.
I agree with everyone, they poop a lot. Mine poops twice after I feed him, once in three days, and once at six. It is smelly, but you can't smell it when it's in it's enclosure because the snake is less than four feet so the poop isn't big. I have been pooped on a lot, but no big deal plus you learn to see that it's going to poop before it does it and put it back, or put it over something that is ok to be pooped upon.
Corns are awesome snakes, I definetly recomend them. They are just so nice.
sapphire_moon
09-30-03, 09:46 PM
And as everyone said.......becarefull......or you might be joining the CSAA soon! (Corn Snake Addictions Annonomous).......but it is a wonderful little club!
KingFfaj
10-01-03, 08:52 AM
hey if its just a poo issue then, make sure you get the snake that u like the look of, i personally much prefere kings having kept both, and musking isnt a problem at all, just dont grab the bung hole and you wont get musked (which they only do when first lifted) having kept both, i've much more enjoyed kings, and besides, there natural history is far more interesting:p
tai_pan1
10-01-03, 10:13 AM
Simon, 800! Wow, I'm jealous. It must take you forever to feed them all. Do you keep records on all of them?
lilyskip
10-01-03, 10:29 AM
hmmm...a king, eh? i think i might get to them eventually, but I think I only want to deal with one smelly excretion at a time...after I advance from smelly poop, I might be ready for smelly musk... :D
KingFfaj
10-01-03, 11:03 AM
seriously, the fresh poo smells way more then musk(unless you get it on your nose), and as some corns do it to (and most kings dont) your probably gonna have to get a tissue to hold any way and let the snake glide over it;) so in which case you may as well get a king- go on you know you want to:D
Musk doesn't really smell all that bad compared to ball python poo, and aside from the most nervous snakes, musking is outgrown very quickly. Both corns and kings are awesome and get one of each when you can ;).
Corns most certainly CAN musk! It just doesn't happen a lot, they seem to prefer to crap on you, rattle tail or just bite. haha but even those things don't happen often.
Kings are a bigger fan of musking, and biting....LOL.
It's really not that big of a deal though. its not like a gallon of musk gets squirted all over your house. Just a small amount that is easily washed off. Don't let the thought of musking deter you. Its not a big deal.
Marisa
KingFfaj
10-02-03, 08:13 AM
yer the word musk sounds to me like a kind of mist or spray, when its normally just a droplet of piss on the bunghole:D
lilyskip
10-02-03, 12:36 PM
yeah, i was kind of imagining it as this big messy spray :D
Well, my original plan was to get a corn in december or so, but I am adopting jncoclub's two year-old female ball python, Pliskin, so I don't think I'll be buying another snake for quite a while! Between space constraints and parents that are freaking out, the corn snake will have to wait a little. But one day! hehe.
hahaha yeah its totally not like a spray at all LOL. In fact I usually don't even notice they have musked on me until I smell it.
:D
Marisa
Invictus
10-02-03, 01:20 PM
Evidently none of you have been musked then. Erin and I got BADLY musked by our Albino CalKing the ther day, and minor muskings a few other times. It most certainly IS a spray, with the consistency of baby pablum, and similarly colored as well (Well, more yellowish, but still...)
Our baby Lavender king musked us as well, and he sprayed it across the whole room with a nice tail whip.
If you have never seen liquid on you, you were not musked. You were probably pi$$ed on.
And KingFfaj, if you think poo smells more than musk, I can tell you've never been musked either. The rubbermaid our albino calking is in STILL smells like musk, even after thorough scrubbing. The poo smell can usually be taken away with just soap and water.
Now granted, I only keep CalKings at the moment, so I can't comment on other locales/varieties, but with both of ours, the musk is most definitely a spray, and smells about 200 times worse than their poo.
I don't agree with you. I have kept california kings almost all my life for times here and there and you do NOT have to be "sprayed" for it to be musk. That maybe your experiences but that doesn't mean thats how it HAS TO HAPPEN everytime. After years of catching them in the wild in California were I was born and raised, and almost four years of keeping various colubrids up here in Canada I think I can tell the differance between musk and urates.
I agree that musk smells far worse than poo or pee though. But as for the musking, that's whats happened to you so far, but my cal king has most certainly musked me before without a "spray" as well as my corns and milksnake.
Marisa
I would also like to add...just because one persons snakes don't musk or do something the way most do, doesn't mean everyone else is out of their minds. Not saying you said that, but its GREAT your corns don't musk...does that mean cornsnakes as a species cannot? Of course not. Its kinda crappy that yours literally SPRAY musk, but does that mean thats how it happens each and every time for kings as a species? Of course not! Mine have done it, but when they musk me its not normally a spray and sometimes I don't even notice it. Does that mean its not musk? No it means its happened so many times I would notice it in the first place, and I am used to the smell so its not THAT big a deal. Really, its not. But it certainly is happening.
There are different levels of everything. I am sure lots of people mistake pee for musk and vice versa, but I certainly have been musked before and just because it didn't and doesn't happen the way it does for you, doesn't mean its not musking! lol
Anyways good luck with your new purcahse in the future lilyskip.
Marisa
Invictus
10-02-03, 02:32 PM
Originally posted by marisa
hahaha yeah its totally not like a spray at all LOL.
Ok, read what you said in this quote, then read what you just rambled off to me, Marisa. You stated your experience just as matter-of-factly as I did. Practice what you preach.
For one, you are claiming that if its not spray then its not musk. And i am disagreeing with that.
O.k. so you happen to have a spray, I have had less spray then I have just regular musking on me. I am trying to let her know its not a big deal and they arent always spraying across the room.
I am sorry you feel I am wrong I guess I have never been musked!
LOL :)
Marisa
And I always appreciate someone calling my experience "rambling" thats certainly nice.
Marisa
You know what? I suppose well will agree to disagree.
My main point was this, musk is not a horrible experience. Can it be? Sure. Does it HAVE to be to be musk? No. Is it as bad as some people think it is? No, not at all. My other point was that I most certainly can tell musk from pee. If you have never seen a musk other than spraying, o.k. thats great. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen though. I see your point about what I said but I am trying to get across that it doesnt' HAVE to be spray to be musk and frankly I have hardly ever seen it "shooting across the room" does that mean I think you are wrong? Of course not! That means to me that normally a person can assume the experience will be slightly disagreeable, no big deal, and that's it.
There is no reason to tell people that their cal king will be shooting musk all over them every single time. That's just silly, I am sure you agree. And thats why I said its hardly ever a big deal.
Marisa
tai_pan1,
yes...it basically takes forever to feed them all...so basically think of me as feeding every day and night....which sucks..and then after that it's cleanging every day and night.....plus one more thing...they might regurgitate after a while...which would make another cleaning day....lol...
and yes I do keep records on all of them...the only thing right now is that I am starting to lose it...I keep forgetting to put down when I fed them.....geeze.....(Cause I usually feed them at night and if some of them wont just grab it off the tweezer I'll just leave it there for the night and supposingly to write down who ate and who didn't eat but I always forget since it's usually time for feeding another section....)
lol
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