Me again, can anyone give me advice on how often a corn snake will shed its skin. I have got a new corn snake and i am trying to tame it by handling it daily, any advice on taming would be appreciated. Any other tips would be welcome. Im 11 years old.
Corns will shed as they grow. So a young snake can be expected to shed about once every 1-2 months. Before they shed, their skin will become dull looking and their eyes will cloud over. When the eyes clear up again, the humidity in the cage needs to be raised to around 70-80% either by misting the cage several times a day or using a humid hide box. A humid hide can be easy to make. Just take a small rubbermaid (big enough for your snake to fit into) and cut one end off (you won't need the lid). Turn the rubbermaid upside down and put some moss inside of it and met it down well, but not too wet. The plastic will trap the moisture and help keep the humidity high. How is your snake's cage set up? What are you using on the bottom (substrate)? Handling you snake is a good way to tame it. If it's a really new pet I wouldn't handle it for a couple of weeks while it gets used to it's new home. If you've had it for a while, then I'd only handle it once every few days. Then in a couple of weeks move to handling it every day but only for about 10 minutes or so. Then every week hold it a little longer. Just work with him slowly and be patient if he's jumpy at first. Corns usually calm down with regular handling. Has he eaten for you yet? What are you feeding him?
biochic, I am feeding her baby mice and she is a yearling so she is feeding and at the bottom of my tank are wood chips
What type of wood chips? Pine and cedar are very harmful to their lungs because of the oils in the woood. Make sure she's on cypress or aspen shavings. Glad to hear she's eating for you. A very good sign of a healthy snake!
I have Quality British Pine Bark in my tank please reply soon what should i do.The breeder supplied the reptile litter.
You can use aspen or cypress shavings in the cage. You could also use newspaper or reptile "carpet" that you can get at most pet stores. Pine and cedar have oils in them that can cause inflammation and infections in the lungs and can also cause sores on the stomach or around the mouth. So you definitely want to get him off that as soon as possible.
does the fact that im in england make a difference. I have asked a couple of reptile shops and they say its ok.
It makes no difference where you live. It's the same wood. Just try using newspaper or reptile carpet (it's that artificial grass looking carpet, about 1/2cm thick. You can also get it at home improvement stores but it comes in larger pieces.
There are most certainly better alternatives than pine. On top of the things biochic already mentioned, pine is also much more dusty than the others. Dust can be a real problem with RIs in snakes. I do not even like keeping my rat colony on pine.
