TLDR; new cornsnake, any tips on her enclosure or info would be helpful
hello! i recently adopted my first snake at a local reptile show, i was told she is a rootbeer corn snake and she was a year old. after posting a couple photos in a discord reptile server seeking positive criticism i was quickly informed that i was doing many things wrong and she (jane) was maybe 6 months old. (i will post current and old photos) she is currently living in a 20 gal short (not sure, was gifted second hand)
i just moved her to substrate from pine and added a couple isopods from my local petco… she has a large corner water dish, a humid hide, and a old pill bottle i recycled when i got her (i would remove it but she seems to prefer it over anything else i put in) i use a 55 watt blacklight heat bulb because i noticed she seemed to prefer it when the brighter lights were turned off… which is funny because my room is usually dark anyway and my main lightsource is also blacklight… she eats medium sized ft pinky babies and does very well, during her last feeding she ate very well. she poops well (i could tell from the aspen i used to keep her on) and i try to handle her daily because i was told corn snake babies can be very spicy. she has not shed yet. i wouldnt say her enclosure is bioactive because i haven’t added any living plants but i would like to soon.
recently her scales have looked very iridescent (?) i wouldnt say im concerned for her health, just curious. my goal is to make her as happy as possible and learn about her.
Rootbeers are not corn snakes, they are a corn/rat snake hybrid.
Wouldn’t really advise doing this, you’re not going to get the best advice for you specific situation. Not to mention there is no way to tell a snake’s age by their size, it’s entirely possible yours is indeed a year old. Many factors influence how big they get and how fast.
Yeah, pine is a no-no. Aspen is fine, however. Do be careful with the type of substrate you use, some can hold too much humidity and cause issues. You may want to get a hygrometer to keep an eye on that. Also I really wouldn’t suggest just adding isopods unless you know what you’re doing in regards to bioactive. Not all isopods are suited for all enclosures, they require care as well, and some species are known to bother/nibble snakes.
Black lights are not appropriate for corn/rat snakes, and can mess with their vision and disrupt their day/night cycles. I’d suggest something like a ceramic heat emitter or deep heat projector for heating. Corn/rat snakes are crepuscular, meaning they’re most active at dawn and dusk, so they don’t technically need additional lighting (though if the main light in your room is black light, that needs to change), but if you have it, 12 hours on/12 hours off is the suggested light cycle. Also, how are you monitoring your temperatures in the enclosure?
If you haven’t already, you need to get a scale that can measure in grams and weigh her. This will be important for knowing how she’s doing, and when to start sizing up her feeders.
Personally I’d suggest handling once every other day so you don’t stress her out too much, about 15 minutes at a time. Do remember, they’re not exactly social creatures and holding them is more for us than them. As for corn snakes being spicy, I’d say that’s dead wrong. Not sure if hybrids are any different, but any corn snake reared by a breeder that regularly handles them should not be “spicy” in the slightest. Now, there are the odd ones out that keep an attitude no matter what, but corns are actually known for how docile they are.
Welcome to snake keeping! Your snake is a cutie. It’s very cool that you want to be doing the right things to keep it happy and healthy. This is a wonderful community here, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. You’ve gotten solid advice and recommendations already. I’ve got only a couple things to add.
Not sure what substrate you’re currently using, but hopefully it’s something she can burrow into. They enjoy that. Many keepers do use aspen as it will hold the shape of the tunnels they make. Of course, fluffing the aspen during spot-cleaning means the snake now has something to do, so it’s easy enrichment.
Her enclosure looks like she’s got plenty to do and choices about where to go. No worries about letting her keep the bottle.
It’s unclear here so I’m adding that it’s important to leave her alone for at least 48 hours after feeding so that she can digest in peace. Barring digesting and shed time, if you’re snake is already calm with being handled, continuing to feed well, I don’t see an issue with handling daily. The key is monitoring them well. Corn snakes have a well-deserved reputation for having a fantastic disposition. Rat snakes can be a bit spicier than corns. Your Rootbeer may be anywhere along that spectrum, but if she’s calm now there’s no reason to expect that she’ll become challenging to handle.
Their color and their behavior changes as they go into a shed cycle. If she’s staying hidden more and her color/pattern are looking a bit cloudy, she’s likely going to shed soon. Hold off handling and feeding during this phase.
Thanks for your feedback!
I feed her on tuesdays before i go to work which is usually in the afternoon and dont handle her until saturday, and thats based on if i feel shes digested enough to be held.
Shes a bit squirmy when i do handle her right now and can be quite frightened when i grab from her enclosure but thats to be expected.
Im not sure what looking like shes going to shed. The first picture on the post is the most recent photo i have and the cloudyness on her scales is not flash glare… im going to attempt to get a photo of the iridescence i am talking about during feeding today
Not sure about the substrate currently because i already threw the packaging away but i know she can burrow in it
I since have stopped posting photos in said discord because the attitude and comments i got on her current enclosure were less than kind. But im not feeding based on age at this point im feeding based on weight.
I mainly raise live stock so i do have a grocery scale. I started off with the pine because it was what i had readily available. I am unsure on the current substrate because i already threw away the packaging but i have a layer of aspen bedding between the substrate and some paper towels, then glass… (subsrate → aspen → paper towels → glass )
I bought orange isopods and some food for them from the petstore aswell as added some leaf litter from outside (cleaned first ofc) Though I understand the problems with pet stores and their poor knowledge on some things.
I keep my bedroom at a steady 72° and use a no contact thermometer to monitor the warm side of her enclosure. Yes the heat lamp does stay on at all times, no my large black light in my room is rarely on and i use a warm light bar on her enclosure set to a 12hr timer. If you feel the ambient temp of my room is too cold i will invest in a ceramic bulb. I am however still intrigued by the fact you say they are typically active during dusk/dawn. Like i said, she seems happiest when its a dusk-ish/night time environment.
I started handling her every other day 2 weeks after i got her and after 2 weeks of that i attempt to handle her for 5 minutes or until she calms down daily.
I chose a cornsnake because i heard of how easy they are to care for (not to be confused with “just throw them in something and they will be fine” )
No shade to her breeder, and i will not be dropping names; but they werent very helpful and she didnt seem handled at all. I was able to see her mother and some others from a earlier hatch at the show and they all looked much more developed, aswell as she seems to appear like every other cornsnake baby i see. Hence the 6 month age treatment.
Should i be looking at ratsnake forums instead?
Thank you so much! Like i said, discord was less than kind with their suggestions so the understanding is greatly appreciated. Like i said in the top too, i have been raising livestock my whole life, reptiles are new to me so im still learning.
Yeah, a lot of those kinds of communities can be incredibly harsh and expect you to have the absolute perfect husbandry immediately. While it is ideal to be fully set and ready, the reality is there’s a lot of info out there, not all of it helpful, so even if you do go looking, it can be hard to know what is right.
Good, that’ll be great right there.
Understandable working with what you had. I will warn you, your current setup, depending on the moisture level, may cause some mold growth. I wouldn’t worry too much so long as you’re keeping an eye on things and cleaning regularly. If you do see mold, it’s perfectly fine to switch to straight aspen if that is easier for you, maintenance wise. Bioactive is great, but sometimes it can be hard to get the balances right.
I’m not the most knowledgeable about isopods, but this sounds alright to me.
72ºF sounds great, glad to know more about the lighting setup. I’d still consider switching out the black light for heating, but otherwise you’re fine with what you’ve got.
This is their peak activity period in the wild, when they’d be out hunting, so she’s likely quite comfortable being in the open/exploring around then. It’s a great time to just sit and observe her, if you’d like, familiarize yourself with what normal behavior is for her so if she ever starts acting differently, it’ll be more apparent. Plus who doesn’t just love watching animals in their element?
Sounds like you’re well ahead progress wise, you can ignore my previous suggestion as you’ve been handling her long/regularly enough where she’s likely not too bothered. If she’s still flighty when being picked up, try to scoop from underneath her. When you go in from the top, it can make them think you’re a predator.
Some are like this, usually the more snakes they produce, the less they’re handled. If it’s still a smaller breeder, then it could be more that they’re more into the business aspect than the animals.
You’re perfectly fine here, she’s part corn and they’re essentially the same, care wise.
We’re more than happy to help out, answer any questions you may have, etc. Everyone has to start somewhere and you’re obviously determined to give her a great life. Besides, we’re all still learning, can’t know everything in this hobby. Jane Margolis is lovely, I’m sure she’s quite content in her home.
Most pet-hobby spaces on social media are chock full of $&@%&!#!s. This place has nice people. My friend Rebecca in the UK runs a WhatsApp Cornsnake group that’s really friendly—mostly people sick of the jerks on Reddit.
Wow I honestly dont get the flak you recieved for the enclosure. I think it looks more superior to a lot of other people’s ideas of Corn (or Rat) Snake enclosures out there.
You came to the right place though for advice
You are on the right track. As mentioned for future reference Pine bedding is something you will want to avoid with reptiles, the resin and oils in Pine is harmful for them.
With feeding you’ll want to aim for something that will show a teeny bit of a bulge once eaten, but I think pinkies are good for now, I’d definitely still use the scale to monitor her weight.
Make sure to monitor the aspen bedding if you have damp/moist substrate with it as aspen will mold over pretty easily, even just a water bowl spill can trigger mold growth.
Its generally not advised to feed snakes during shed since they typically dont want to eat anyway but as a colubrid keeper myself I’ve noted that a lot of my colubrids will still readily take smaller meals even when deep in blue and have their zombie eyes. Its honestly up to you whether or not to feed her in shed, whatever you feel comfortable with after learning what she prefers.
Otherwise I think she looks great. I wish you luck on your journey with her
Actually, the corn snake subreddits are pretty good, run by folks who understand what the organized reptifiles cult is up to, and mostly thwarting their efforts to control narratives and content. But the other reptile spaces are mostly terrible.
Thank you! I definitely appreciate it.
I am going to attempt to look around in my barn for a heatlamp bulb (if they arent all being used by the sheep…) if i cant find one though i will have to wait for payday. I also forgot to mention her enclosure is by my bedroom window so she experiences normal daylight cycles that way too.
She doesnt appear to be in shed, but im still doing my best to refrain from messing with her. Today I offered her two small pinkies and she ate them both. (Surprising but i gave her the choice )
I will definitely keep a eye out for mold though! When i do need to clean her pen, would you recommend the layering system? I thought maybe the aspen would create humidity and some drainage if there was a spill but i honestly spaced on the mold aspect.
I totally appreciate the feedback on her enclosure though, i even made the lid myself
Just a note that any heat source you use will need to be attached to a thermostat, otherwise it will get dangerously hot. Heat bulbs generally require more expensive thermostats, since they need something with dimming capabilities. Something like a ceramic heat emitter, that doesn’t produce light, can be used with a simple on/off thermostat that will be much less expensive. Just something to consider.
Its not a bad idea! I’d reccomend using sphagnum moss instead of aspen if you’re aiming for a bit more humidity, I personally don’t work with Corn/Rat snakes though so I’m not entirely sure what the parameters are for humidity percentage. If you want a good bioactive substrate you can layer in twigs and leaves (make sure they are heat treated first, both boiling and baking at 210°F for an hour work well) along with the moss to give both structure to the substrate and food for isopods/springtails. You’ll definitely still want to make sure there is opportunity for burrowing though for your little Jane and the structure the twigs and leaves give allow for that.
If you want a drainage layer you can add crushed lava rock to the bottom of the enclosure seperated from the substrate with window screen. You’ll want to aim for around a 1" layer and you can buy it in bulk for real cheap at any landscape/hardware store (you’ll want to rinse it and then boil it first to get rid of pests/bacteria before adding it to the enclosure).
Just chipping in here with some cleanup crew tips (I’ll leave the corn tips to those with corns!) – if you’ve already tossed in some isos, try and get your hands on some springtails, too. They clean up after the cleanup crew (they eat isopod frass) and they actually keep mold down since they eat that too. They should be fine in even a non-bioactive enclosure so long as there’s some humidity and something to eat. (To get an idea for their care needs – my propagation colony for springtails is water, charcoal, and a couple grains uncooked rice every few weeks lol. They’re super forgiving.)
It’d be good to know what kind of isopods you have specifically. Do you know if they were “powder orange” or just “orange”?
Oh it’s wild that Josh’s Frogs of all places wouldn’t give you more info than just “isopods”!
So the reason I ask is that there are two main types of orange isopods you see – porcellio laevis, “orange”, or porcellionides pruinosus, “powder orange”. Laevis are the ones that you sometimes hear people talk about “nibbling on your animals”, which I’ve never seen happen with a snake but is a definite concern with more soft-bodied reptiles; still, a lot of snake keepers avoid laevis just in case. It probably won’t be a problem if you have laevis in your tank, but if you ever see your little guy’s been nibbled at, you’ll likely know the culprit. I’ve seen people use laevis with their ball pythons and be just fine (including myself so far), but I don’t know how they do with corns.
Either way, if you do have laevis, they’re protein-hungry little guys, so you might want to get some bloodworms or freezedried shrimp as snacks for them.
That said, I’ll usually suggest porcellionides pruinosus, “powder orange”, as clean-up crew for beginners. (Pruinosus also come in other colours – white-spotted, and “blue” which is a very pretty grey.) They’re smaller, hardy, pretty, and don’t have the same protein-hungry ways as laevis. If you plan on going full bioactive and are worried about the laevis nibbling your girl, I’d swap your pods out now. It’s easier than trying to do so when you have a planted tank.
Overall I suggest taking your time going full bioactive. Get to know your snake first so you’ll be able to tell if there are any behaviour shifts after you make the swap. Bioactive tanks are a lot of work to get set up on the front end, even if they’re a little less work once they’re set up – what we did was have our girl in a non-bioactive growout tank when she was little, and worked on her adult enclosure ahead of time so the plants could grow in and the mold/fungal blooms could happen and die off before we put her in. It’s really best practice to let a new bioactive tank cycle for weeks or months before you put an animal in.
Thank you! Good to know… her tank is currently not bioactive at all besides the isopods. But i just set it up, how could i go about removing them from the substrate without possibly dumping the whole thing?
Also, i found this image on google, im almost 100% sure these are what i bought
If those are what you bought, you’re good to go – powder oranges! So you shouldn’t have to swap out the pods even if you wanted to.
If you ever do want to swap your pods unfortunately it is a teardown/cleanout situation. They’re too small and numerous to pick out by hand; baby isopods are teeeeeeny tiny. But with pruinosus, nibbling is at a 0% chance, instead of the like, 5% chance laevis would have.
