When to Feed? & Other Questions.

So I brought Calcifer (corn snake, about one year old) home on Thursday and he's been settling in since then. He was very active the first night, zipping around and inspecting every inch of his new tank. Since then he's been hiding and hasn't really come out of his hide on the cool side. Yesterday he didn't come out at all while I was in the room, but today he poked his head out every so often to see what was going on, so he is making some progress. Hopefully it's normal for corns to be shy at first! I've taken the temps several times throughout the day both yesterday and today and everything's perfect, and I have seen him over on the warm side once or twice so he is thermoregulating.

My main question though, was when should I feed him for the first time? The people at the shop I got him from told me he was fed every Monday and is a great eater. I read on several care sheets that you shouldn't feed for the first week the snake is home. I got him on Thursday, so if I feed him Monday, that'll only have been four days. I really don't want to stress him by feeding too early, but I don't want him to get hungry, either! Sorry if it's kind of a silly question, but this is my first snake so I'm worried about getting things right.

The only other question I had is where can I find good hides for corns... it seems all the ones I've found are a bit too big. I want him to be able to feel snug and secure. He has a little fallen log hide on the cool side and he seems to prefer this one as it's smaller inside than the warm side hide. I'd like to replace that one with something he'll feel safer in... I think it's too open.

Hello and congrats! I left my corn alone for a few days before feeding him. =] So you should be able to feed him Monday with no problems!

As for hides, I used old flower pots for Percival's hides. He loved them, just when you break a hole in it for an entranve make sure you sand down the edges so he won't cut himself!

I wait 7 days too feed my newbies. If there is a day that you would like to feed, like saturday or something he will be find waiting until then
I like the fish tank ornaments as corn hides, as long as they don't have any place they can sneak in and get stuck he'll be fine!
I like the skulls So does Lyra : How the Heck??? I can't resist not sharing that! Love that girl!

Even plastic pots make good hides, I have some $0.38 plastic plant saucers from Walmart that I cut doors into, my babies love those ones

Thank you so much for the advice guys! I think I will give him a few more days to settle in, since he is still pretty wary of me and I don't want to terrify him. Lol glad to know he'll be fine waiting.

Tori - I see your leo is named Calcifer too! I love Howl's Moving Castle. My boyfriend's sister actually thought of the name, and I felt like it fit my little guy well, since he's red and orange and all. Lol we're not so creative.

Wyldrose - I love that picture! And I'll have to check out the plant saucers. That seems like it would be cozy for him. He's still nervous so I want him to be as secure as possible.

Hey! Congrats on the new corn snake. Can you show us some pics of him?

Here is what I have learned with my new corns so far.

Hides: If the hide you have seems big, stuff it with rocks, and your snake will use it and grow into it. The largeness of the hide is not an issue, the issue is providing a place where the snake can "feel" the walls of his hide. When your little guy can make contact with the walls of his hide he will feel "locked in" and secure. The most popular hide I have (my snakes love it) is a $3 bird house from wallmart. I knocked the bottom off and stuck it in the enclosure. Corn snakes like hides that are slightly off the surface of the ground.
like so:


As far as activity goes snakes are generally secretive by nature, corns less so than others. I replaced all of the aspen shavings with eco earth. (Disclaimer: DO NOT FEED ON ECO EARTH) It is lighter and my snakes can move at full speed under it witout being seen, popping up where they like.

As you can see in the picture, I covered my substrate with very thin strips of baked bark. You can use moss or bark, or fake vines, it does not really matter as long as you can create an enviornment that allows your snake to feel like he could move around safely and in cover.

I use an Under Tank Heater, but keep it very low and rely on a low wattage basking lamp for most of my heat. My goal is to draw the snake out to bask and get his heat, while providing mid range heat in one of his hides, and a cool zone in the other. Most snakes are active at dusk and night, so through timers, and natural heat, I allow my enclosure to heat up during the day, then I cool in stages (through dimmers and rhetosthats in the evening. As soon as the light dims and the tank cools slightly they come buzzing out like seagulls being fed chips. It is fun tinkering with and learning their behaviors. Hope I was able to give you soemthing to start with. The enjoyment of learning and tailor-making and enviornment for them is a fluid process and is different for each person with each individual snake. Good luck.

One more thing. Buy clips or stack rocks on your enclosure screen. You will be suprised (as i was suprised) what they can escape from.

Thanks for the detailed reply! I appreciate all the advice. I made a thread the day I brought him home with a few low quality pics, I haven't taken any more because I don't want to stress him, but I'll get some clearer ones soon (can't wait, haha). Here's the thread. First Snake!

I love your little birdhouse hide, I may have to try something like that. As far as substrate goes I will probably keep him on aspen for now, it seems like he's enjoying it. He slithers around underneath it. It kind of freaked me out the first time I saw his little head pop up out of nowhere. Lol

As far as heat, right now I just have a Under Tank Heater on a rheostat. I've been taking the temps throughout the day/night for three days now, and I've found that once I got it on the right setting the temp in the tank rises and falls with the temp of the house but stays slightly above it (enough to give him a warm side temp of around 87 during the day and 80 or so at night). I haven't had to do much fiddling with the heater, aside from keeping it on a very low setting. We don't have air conditioning so our house temps right now aren't falling much below 70-80 at any point during the day or night, but once it gets cooler I'm going to try to give him a more natural cool down period at night. I'll keep everything you said in mind.

And I have a tank with a sliding screen top, so he can't push it up. That was one of the first things I thought of. I love him, but I don't want him loose in my apartment. Lol

Oh, and one more thing - your disclaimer reminded me - I was planning on feeding him in a separate enclosure, is this the best way to go? I wasn't sure if it was okay to feed on aspen, and I'd always heard that feeding snakes in their enclosure can cause them to associate hands with food. Is there any truth to this? If I'm feeding him out of his tank, what should I feed him in that he can't escape from?

There are two schools of thought with this:

Feeding in enclosure: You need to have a sperate feeding area (maybe a piece of slate) that would minimize the risk of impaction. If you open the enclosure to thrust food into it and feed your snake, obviously your snake will expect food when he sees you and could react with a feeding response. It depends on the aggressiveness of the snake. This is why some people:

Feed in a seperate enclosure: This prevents your snake from expecting food when you are in his enclosure. The problem with this is once you feed your snake in a seperate enclosure, he will be in full feeding mode and you have to get him back. I use a tupperware or plastic shoe boax for this.

I do it on a snake by snake basis. I feed my corns in a seperate enclosure. They are so laid back and chill i do not think it matters much. I had to start feeding my rosy boa in her enclosure just because she gets so aggressive after eating. If you do feed in the enclosure, use a snake hook before handling so your snake can learn to understand that hook = not food time.

Honestly, with a corn snake it is not that big of a deal. Unless in shed, they are rarely aggressive.

Thank you for the info. Glad to know that it's not too big of a deal with these guys, I figured as much which is why I went with one for my first snake. It's good stuff to know though as I do plan on getting different snakes down the road when I have more experience, and it'll probably apply more to them. You've really been very helpful.

Calcifer is all settled in so I fed him for the first time! I picked up a fuzzy at work and I just couldn't wait til tomorrow, so I thawed it out when I got home and fed him tonight. He grabbed it off the tongs and ate it right away! When I first took the mouse out I thought it looked too big and I was worried he wouldn't eat it, but he downed it in a few minutes and it left a nice lump - not too big, but just noticeable enough. It was pretty much perfect. Couldn't have asked for a better first feeding for my very first snake!

Now he's over on the warm side of the tank buried under the aspen with just his little head poking out. He looks very content. So cute!