Enclosure questions for new corn snake…

I put the two pieces of driftwood, various fake plants/vines, a water dish, and two digital thermometer/hygrometers in the terrarium with my daughter tonight. I also installed child locks on the two sliding doors. I think it is coming together pretty well!

Right now, there are only two hides, the half log on the warm side and a smaller plastic hide on the opposite side under the hammock. I was thinking about adding a humidity hide on the warm side. I have some sphagnum moss ordered for that. Is there anything I’m forgetting?

Here are a few pictures:




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I think he is going to love it i love how the blankets color matches to only suggestion i have is to have the water on the cool side but thats just my preferance i dont know if the snakes care probly just depends on the snake and i dont know if my thinking is right that it warms the bowl to thats just how i do it and i dont know what side u have the heat on

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The water bowl is on the right side, which is going to be the cool side. I haven’t installed the heating mats under the left side yet. I’ve got a stand for the terrarium coming in this weekend, so I’ll put them on after the stand is assembled. The stand I bought is basically an open metal frame so there will be plenty of air flow under the tank where the heating mats will be. Here’s the one I got:

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Looking good. The blanket is a nice touch. You might consider adding a fake plant on the surface level in the open area near/beneath the hammock. It might feel too open to her there. Not sure, but maybe.

She’s totally going to love exploring in her new home!

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We have plenty of leafy vines leftover, so we’ll put something on that side tonight. Thanks for the tip!

I turned on those thermometers/hygrometers and was surprised to see the humidity level in my house was hovering around 60%. I assume this is ok for a corn snake. I thought I would be trying to raise the humidity level in the tank, but now it looks like it is already on the high side of the range recommended for this type of snake. It has rained a lot recently here in Alabama, so I’m sure that is affecting the humidity inside my house. What humidity level do y’all aim for with your corns?

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You should put the humidity hide at least in the middle. Otherwise it’s going to dry out too quickly. I really don’t think you are going to need one though……

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Are you saying my indoor humidity is already high enough that a humidity hide will be unnecessary? Does that include when the snake is shedding? I saw some people let the moss dry out in the humidity hide until the snake looks like it’s about to shed, and then they add water to the moss.

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Wow, this thread is really long. I didn’t read all of it, so forgive me if I repeat anything.

I would say don’t do anything special to boost the humidity right off the bat, including a humidity hide. Let your snake have a couple shed cycles first. If the sheds are coming off basically in one piece, then the humidity is fine. When the humidity it too low, the shed comes off in tons of tiny, shredded pieces and there are lots of stuck shed on the snake.

In most situations, those half logs are total junk for the purposes of a hide. They are fine for enrichment and a nice rough material to shed against. For your hides you’re going to want something with totally enclosed sides and top, with a small opening for access. Hides should be appropriately sized. Snakes love to cram into them, virtually filling the entire volume of the hide. They feel most secure with their body pressed up against the inner sides and ceiling of the hide. So don’t use a gigantic hide with lots of space. You can use disposable hides too. Think a Kraft mac & cheese box with a hole cut in the end. If it get’s pooped in, just toss it out. I just scrolled back to see your enclosure pics. Very nice. Love the clutter. You might have enough clutter for that half log to qualify as a hide to your snake. But you might want to use a second one of that same purple hide, one on the warm end and one on the cool end of the enclosure. Sometimes a snake will exclusively prefer one hide over all others even if it doesn’t provide the desired temperature it needs at that moment. Using two identical hides, one on the cool end and one on the warm end, should eliminate it using just one hide because it’s the favorite.

Check that enclosure REALLY thoroughly for escape points. A corn that small in an enclosure that large might find a gap you didn’t account for. And check the gap between the two sliding glass doors. Snakes can squeeze through some pretty tight openings. And if you put fancy decorations in the enclosure, like a giant castle intended for aquarium decor, keep in mind that those kinds of things often have tiny, crammed innards that corns love to hide in. I’m not saying not to use them, just don’t freak out when you can’t find your corn anywhere without first checking those tiny nook-and-crannies.

Lighting the enclosure is more of a thing for us than them. They don’t need lights. As long as the room has a window there will be enough ambient light in the room to provide a day/night cycle.

With any heating element, you definitely need a thermostat. And an infrared laser thermometer is quite handy to check temps in different locations quickly.

I would not bother getting a temporary smaller enclosure. Use the big one you already bought. Just use lots of clutter to provide plenty of cover. With ball pythons they value security above everything else. If they don’t feel secure, they will be stressed and that will lead to appetite loss. I believe corns are not nearly as sensitive to security as BPs.

Try not to handle the little guy for the first week to ten days. Give him time to acclimate. Handling will add stress and she’s already going to be stressed enough with his new environment. She really doesn’t need to feed that first week. This is pretty important for BPs, but probably less so for corns. I know it’s going to be damn near impossible for a 9-year old not to want to hold the new corn for 7-10 days, so maybe give it at least three days without handling to acclimate.

Do NOT EVER use any kind of tape on the inside of the enclosure. They will find it and it will not be a fun day.

Corns are extremely tolerant and well adapted to a variety of living conditions, so yeah, try not to overthink too much. I know that’s tough with your first snake as you don’t want to screw it up.

The hammock will not be used in the traditional sense, but it is another climbing surface that will be appreciated.

There’s more than one way to skin a cat and each snake is an individual, so your milage may vary. Take all this advice and tips with a grain of salt. Figure out what works best for you and your particular snake.

As I’m sure you know by now, there are TONS of helpful, non-judgmental folks on this board more than willing to help and there are (almost) no stupid questions. So just fire away!

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Ah, the joys of living in the South. Yeah, that’s fine for a corn snake. A humid hide when they’re in shed is a nice option, but isn’t necessarily something the snake will use. Don’t worry if she doesn’t unless she starts having bad sheds. And don’t worry about ambient humidity getting too high unless you start seeing or smelling mold in the enclosure. They do live naturally outdoors here, where the air is so often quite soupy.

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Very true mine have even hid under their water dishes before

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Thank you @halfmoonlakeherps for all the info! I’m going hold off setting up a humidity hide for now like you recommend. I’m going to buy another small hide to put on the same side as the half log so the snake will have multiple options on the warm side of the tank.

I’ve done my best to ensure there are no escape points in the enclosure. The glass sliding doors are very close-fitting, so they are secure. I installed a child lock on each sliding glass door so the snake can’t open it. I filled in a few tiny openings on the front of the enclosure below the doors with black silicone sealant.

My only concern now is my duct tape fix of the sagging plastic center divider that separates the two locking screen lids. I covered the tape with black paper on the inner side exposed to the snake, but I still worry about the snake managing to come in contact with the tape one way or another.

My only solution that seems to make sense is to buy a replacement screen cover for the tank and some heavy duty screen clips to lock the lid in place. If I replaced the two-piece screen covers with one large one like this, I can just take all the tape off the cracked and sagging center divider. It would ease me mind to take the tape out of the enclosure.

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That would work then u dont have to worry about the tape at all

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20250425_165850~2

I just use regular 1s and i have to pry them off i cant remember the brand though i picked them up at petsmart i think

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I put together my tank stand today, and luckily it is a perfect fit for my 75-gal enclosure. It feels very solid, it’s got a nice shelf, and there’s plenty of breathing room for the heat mats under the tank. The adhesive on the child locks I put on the sliding doors was fully set, so I tested them out. They work perfectly at preventing the doors from being opened inadvertently.


I also picked up a 7 cu. ft. bag of aspen bedding from Tractor Supply that I had shipped to the store. The bag was WAY bigger and heavier than I expected. I’m pretty sure I just got a couple years worth of substrate for less than $9!

If any of you use aspen bedding, I don’t think you can beat the deal on this “American Excelsior Company Premium Aspen Fiber Horse Bedding” they sell at Tractor Supply. If they don’t stock it at your local store, you can go in and order it at their in-store kiosk, and choose “ship to store,” and it won’t charge for shipping. If you order online, it will try to charge you $20+ to have it shipped to the store or to your home. To whoever suggested this stuff, thank you!

The last thing I needed to do before the snake arrives was install the heat pads and thermostats. My thermostats and heat pads I ordered haven’t arrived yet, but the used tank I bought came with an 8x18 Zoo Med heating mat that was stuck to the side of the glass. I peeled it off the side and stuck it to to the bottom of the tank. It kept falling off, so I bought some HVAC aluminum tape. That seems to be working, so I just need to wait for the thermostats to arrive so I can put the temperature probe between the heat mat and the glass.

Just to test out the heat mat I’ve got, I plugged it straight into the wall and let it heat up for about a half hour with no thermostat. The heating mat definitely works, but it did not affect the ambient temperature on that side of the enclosure at all. It was exactly the same on both thermometers, 70.8 degrees. I assume that down in the substrate it was much warmer. Is it ok that the ambient temperature isn’t warmer on one side of the enclosure?

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Absolutely! We’ve mentioned that before. It’s sold as horse bedding, which is kind of baffling since it’s finely textured. It’s perfect for snakes. I think it would flatten out too much for horses.

Looks like everything is coming together wonderfully. With, of course, a lot of solid work from you. :+1:

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Any thoughts on the lack of temperature gradient in my enclosure? If I use the heating mat as the only heat source, won’t the lack of gradient be an issue?

I’m considering buying two Arcadia 75W halogen basking flood bulbs and a dimmable thermostat to put in my two-socket dome fixture. I feel like the snake may need a good source of infrared-A that won’t be available if I only use UTH. What do y’all think?

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I know people get varying results in varying climates and varying seasons. I always had to have both UTH and overhead heating in my area. Summer not so much, but winter for sure.

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I was thinking I could keep the heat mat on at a low level (say 80F on the thermostat) in addition to the halogen flood lights above to create a basking zone and a nice temperature gradient across the enclosure.

There are so many conflicting opinion on all this stuff on the internet! It makes my head spin a lot of the time. Some people say you absolutely need an overhead heat source to mimic the sun and to never use UTH. Some say it’s cruel to the snake if you don’t have a linear UVB light source in addition to an overhead heat bulb. And here, many say UTH is fine as my only heat source. I just wish there was more of a consensus on all this! I guess there is always going to be a huge range of opinions on everything.

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Yes, one of the best words of advice I received when getting into corns was, “Everyone has an opinion. Many will be critical of whatever choice to make. So figure out what you personally think is best, do it, and don’t look back.”

They are an amazingly hardy, forgiving species. I’m sure your little one will have a great new home and love living with you regardless of what you decide is best.

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Lots of varying opinions on corn care because they can thrive in a variety of set ups! Personally I think as long as you have a warm spot for digestion, you don’t have to worry too much about making a perfect gradient. Corns are mostly fine at room temp, but will sometimes seek out heat for digestion. During the summer, mine basically never use their heat since my house is in the upper 70s.

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