Got my Blizzard Corn baby today

[Snakefood]

Finally had everything set up so I could go get my little guy the breeder was holding for me. He is a male blizzard corn, hatched June 16, 2011. Mom is a lemon peel blizzard and dad is a whiteout blizzard with a possible het for blood blizzard (if any of you want to tell me what that means....)

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After the breeder gets home from the AB expo, she will send me pics of both parents to keep for myself!!

[NennaMeerkat]

Ha ha nice little rope you got there! Just remember to leave it alone for a week in its new home before attempting to feed.

[Snakefood]

alright.

On the way home he kept sticking his tongue out the holes in his tub, tasting the new air I guess. He sure looked interested in the new surroundings.

[NennaMeerkat]

Corns are active snakes and so will often try to find ways out of their home in order to explore. And when you get it out be ready for a "lunge" thing they do. Even if there is nothing below them they have no problem throwing themselves out of your hand. Its fun to try and keep up with them once they get larger!

[Gungirl]

Make sure the top of his viv is on tight. As soon as he can figure a way up there he will lay between to screen and the metal that holds it on. Mine and many others that I have heard about do this all the time. A few $$ in little clips that keep the top really tight are a great investment.

Very cute little guy!

[Snakefood]

Yes, I started a few threads in the enclosures section last week while setting up his home. After all the awesome advice Hubby built the lid with locks on it as everyone here said corns were escape artists!!

I took the pics of him as soon as I got home, before I transferred him into his tank. All of you guys say "don't feed him for a week" and the breeder said "don't touch him for 2 days after feeding" Which I guess means that I must leave him alone for about a week, so no more pics till then!!

The breeder sent his feeding schedule home with me and he is supposed to eat today, does this mean I am skipping a feeding or does your advice change with that nugget of info??

Do I try to feed today or wait the week anyways???

[Snakefood]

Breeder said he should be close to a shed too.

[Gungirl]

I would just let him wait out the week and Feed after that. Snakes can go an insane amount of time without eating so "missing" his feeding will do nothing. If you think he is going to go into shed try and watch his eyes they will get cloudy/milky for a few days then clear up and a few days after that he will shed. With your snake it's going to be really hard to tell though.

[Snakefood]

yes, breeder said you can't really see the "blue" of most snakes pre-sheds on these guys, so we'd have to go by the eyes. (which are still a sparkling pink right now!!)

[blindfireak40]

To answer the questions regarding the parents' "genetics":

As near as I can figure, Lemon Peel refers to a high(er) proportion of yellow in the adult snake, whereas "Whiteout" likely indicates a pure white snake. These "traits" are actually selectively bred as opposed to genetic; that is, there is no specific extra gene that makes a blizzard Lemon Peel, it's more just individual variation across the genetic morph, Blizzard. Some will have more yellow (Lemon Peel), some will have less (or none, Whiteout).

As for the "Blood Blizzard", I'm not entirely sure what that means. Since it says dad was "Het" for Blood Blizzard, that indicates that a 3rd gene is involved. The most likely (I think) third gene would be the Diffused (a.k.a Bloodred) gene, but it could also be one of the Hypomelanistic Genes (See the morph guide (http://iansvivarium.com/morphs/species/elaphe_guttata/))

Edit: After further exploration, it seems likely that Blood Blizzard refers to the additional gene of Diffused; another name for that 3-gene combo would be "Avalanche" (That's what it's listed as on the above link), and for whatever reason, those have prominent pink markings across the body...seems fairly likely :)

Hope this helped!! :)

[blindfireak40]

Also: Regardless of the genetics, that little guy (girl??) is going to be one stunner of a snake!! :D

[Snakefood]

Thanks for the explanation Blindfreak!! Khuno (that's what we named him) does have some pinkish tint to his whole body right now, I wonder how he'll come out!!

Khuno is male according to the breeder. and yes I think he will be gorgeous!! No matter which parent he takes after!!

He loves his new enclosure!! He hides during the heat of the day and then in the evening as it cools, he comes out to climb his ivy and branch. So I get to see him at least once every day. His eyes are still sparkling pink, so no shed yet!!

[blindfireak40]

Lucky you, getting an active corn! Vermicelli just kinda chills in his hides all day...he's perfectly "sociable" when I handle him, but he prefers to be undercover other than that lol

[Snakefood]

So far Khuno loves to climb, I have silk Ivy on his climbing stick, so I think he still feels, Hidden. But the ivy is green and he isn't, so he's more visible than he thinks;)

Fed him today, he's a super little eater!! Hubby asked why he didn't try to "restrict" the pinkie. I figured it's because he has been fed F/T since hatching and has never "had" to restrict.

What do you all think?

[blindfireak40]

It could be that, or it could be how you fed him. When I first got 'Celli, he wouldn't constrict either, he didn't even really strike at the mice. I also dangled them from the tail. After a few feeds, I got a little braver and started using the forceps to hold the mice by the scruff of the neck and make them "Run around". Now, 'Celli strikes and coils 9 times out of 10, and typically the tenth time he strikes at the very least.

So in conclusion, he either grew out of just gulping things down, or my presentation was the deciding factor. Either way, as long as you're not overfeeding Khuno, however he chooses to eat shouldn't make that huge a difference. I've read things about how it's good for exercise if they constrict, but I'm not sure how important that is.

[Snakefood]

Interesting! I just put the warmed pinkie in the feeding tub, added khuno and viola!! Pinkie went down instantatiously!!

[blindfireak40]

Interesting! I just put the warmed pinkie in the feeding tub, added khuno and viola!! Pinkie went down instantatiously!!

Ah yeah, what I typically do (taken from Rob) is superheat the prey's head (typically with as hot of water as will come out of the tap), and then parade it around in front of 'Celli. Gets a good feeding response most all the time.

[Snakefood]

Great thanks!! I may try that next time. Hubby sounds like he'd like to try that feeding method.

This time (as it was my first snake feeding EVER and he hadn't eaten in 2 weeks) I just wanted him to eat!! I did warm it to 96f in hot tap water and then put Khuno in the feeding tub.

[blindfireak40]

Fair enough, and good job getting him to eat!! Good luck with the next one :)