Stuart Milk snake advice

[DanCam13]

Brought home a Stuarts milk snake yesterday and it immediately burrowed under the substrate. It has came out once, other than that it stays buried. Heating and lighting are good. Is this normal? If not, what can I do about it? Any advice would be much appreciated!

[ClockwerkBonnet]

I think the snake is just settling into its new environment.

[DanCam13]

At what point do I need to start being concerned that something is wrong with either the snake or the enclosure?

[ReptiWorldWide]

Originally Posted by DanCam13

Brought home a Stuarts milk snake yesterday and it immediately burrowed under the substrate. It has came out once, other than that it stays buried. Heating and lighting are good. Is this normal? If not, what can I do about it? Any advice would be much appreciated!

I wouldn't worry about it. I know of snakes that have stayed under the substrate for weeks without coming out, and snakes can go months (not to say yours will do this) without food so it will be fine. Like the person above said, the snake is probably just getting adjusted to its new environment, and likely will be very timid at first. I personally would avoid handling it for a few weeks to let it get used to and more confident in its environment. hope this is helpful!

[toddnbecka]

I have a sub-adult Sinoloan milk snake. She stayed burrowed under her bedding nearly all the time for the first couple months. Eventually she learned that Sundays are feeding day, and started becoming more visible then. I always feed her from my hand, and she has gradually become less flighty on the rare occasions I handle her. I call that great progress, milk snakes in general tend to be quite secretive compared to some other colubrids. My Japanese and Russian rat snakes are usually visible, as are a few of my corns, while a couple others are almost never seen outside of their hides, even on feeding day.