Pumpkin Jack is freaking me out He climbs up on things, whether it's the round thermometer stuck on the side of the tank or on the climbing "tree" to get up to nose the screen on top, and I don't know if he's like a toddler learning to walk (or in this case, a hatchling learning to climb), or if he has a horrible problem, but he falls off! He'll be doing just fine and then all of a sudden it's slip, slide, and splat. He even managed to tip off once and land upside down! It's scaring me to death!!! My husband says he just must be learning and doesn't know how to hang on properly yet, but I don't know.

Maggie says Spectre fell a number of times when he was littler, but I don't remember...I must not have seen it. Pumpkin Jack's smaller than Spectre was...I had thought Spectre was about 12 inches when we got him, but my husband says no, he was more like 15. Jack is about 12 inches and skinnier than Spectre was, so I guess Spectre was bigger and more coordinated by the time we got him. Should I worry that Pumpkin Jack has a terrible neurological problem? Or should I just figure he's clumsy due to extreme youth and an unfamiliarity with climbing things and will grow more graceful in time? I imagine he was probably kept in a Sterilite container or something similar from birth before I brought him home, and never had anything to practice climbing with...but I wish he'd quit giving me heart attacks.

On a positive note, we went out of town for a couple of days, and I had planned to feed Pumpkin Jack today when we got back. He smelled the little pinkie right away, froze when he found it, and then struck beautifully. He ate it right up! No hesitation and no problem at all. It seems to have been the right size pinkie, even though it was the smallest one I've ever seen. He has a very nice bulge right now. That's another thing that makes me think my husband's right about Spectre having been bigger when we bought him. The first pinkies we gave Spectre were nowhere near this small.

Pumpkin Jack has been so active after his meal! Spectre always goes right to sleep, but Jack's been all over the place, climbing and falling. What's the deal? Is the difference in after dinner behavior because of personality differences or the age difference? Is falling after eating going to cause him to regurgitate?

I'm so worried about Jack falling so much. I'm terrified he's going to hurt himself! Should I just take everything out that he can climb on, including the thermometers? Or leave them in and hope he gets more coordinated? Soon.

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~Juliane~

My two little hybrids do that all the time, even falling a few feet to the floor a few times. It's scary, but they suffered no apparent ill effects. I think it's more from being new to climbing and moving about in general that's the problem. I wouldn't worry.

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How many of us have ever thought seriously about eating a rat, just once, to see how it tastes?

Nobody?

Me neither.

It's normal for a snake to investigate its surroundings, in particular young snakes that are new to their environment. Just let him wander - he is checking out his new home, and corns enjoy climbing. He won't hurt himself. You may notice that as he gets older he will stop climbing as much, but many corn snakes, even though they are not aboreal, like to climb. All of our corns have stopped climbing so much as they have got older, but as hatchlings were all over the tank. Our oaketee corn paritcularly used to like to climb on the round thermometer.

Your corn may be more active after his meal because he is ready for more food - how big/old is he, and how much are you feeding him? Don't expect him to act just like your original snake, each snake is individual just like each human and each animal.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

Thank you for the reassurance...I appreciate knowing my hatchling isn't the only one who has a habit of bungee jumping without the bungee. I guess he'll probably be ok then.


He's only about 12 or 13 inches or so long as near as my husband and I can tell (I haven't handled him yet, but I'm hoping to in a couple of days after he's digested most of what he ate yesterday) and more or less pencil-thin, and I don't know exactly how old he is.... I fed him one of the littlest pinkies I've ever seen, but it seemed to be about the right size. It left a noticeable bulge. Maybe he wants two of them though? Should I try it and see?

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~Juliane~

yep I agree with what the others said, my snakes are always doing acrobats especially the small ones, red used to do that with the round thermometer, and now my other babies do it, its normal, my baby king it the worst, he gets stuck in some real funny places, he wedged himself between the smallest of gaps the other night, between the doors, i couldnt believe it lol, he was squished, but ok once we got him out.

BTW I have a few that are still active after a meal, but once its settled they go sleep.

For now keep him on one pinkie, while he is still settling in, as sometimes the stress of a new environment and being greedy can cause regurgitation. His activeness may be due to the new environment. How often are you feeding him? You can feed a snake so young as often as every three days, but we usually settle for once every 5 days, until they are a bit older when we move them to once every 7 days. Continue feeding one pinkie every 5 days for example, for a few times. He may become less active as he settles, or if he is still being as active in a couple of weeks, and has kept his meals down, perhaps try him on 2 pinkies. Or wait until he sheds to move him onto 2.. if the food is showing once he has eaten it is the right size. Remember you can feed a food item that is up to 1 and a half times the thickest part of the snake, but it is easier to digest and better to feed more smaller items than one bigger item.

Good luck with the little acrobat

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

I only got him last Tuesday, so yesterday was the first time I've fed him. They told me he had eaten last Sunday. They said he'd eaten last Tuesday morning as well, but I wasn't sure they were right...I think they may have had some mixed communication between two employees...he just didn't look like he'd been freshly fed to me, but maybe it was a small meal or he digested it quickly. I'm planning on the 5 day for a while plan, and then every 7....that's what we did with Spectre, and it's worked well. Thank you again for your help!

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~Juliane~

Juliane the behavior is perfectly normal. At this size when they stretch for things they don't have the weight behind them to stabilize themselves. As they get older and heavier it will slow down or cease. You ought to hear it when a 3 ft ball python extends too far and falls over!
Talk about things that go bump in the night!

This is another matter. Falling a couple of inches in a tank is not a big deal. Falling this sort of distance can severly injure or kill them and everything possible to prevent it should be done.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Yes of course. I should have explained it a bit better. I checked him out to make sure he was okay, and the reason he fell is because a) he wasn't sure of the whole 'slither' thing yet, and b) the person holding him wasn't bright enough to realize "hey, he's going to fall, maybe I should catch him". I didn't mean to come off sounding nonchalant about that.

Tip of the day:
Don't let inexperienced people hold your herps (of any kind) unless you're right there every second with them, no matter how mature or intelligent you think they are.

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How many of us have ever thought seriously about eating a rat, just once, to see how it tastes?

Nobody?

Me neither.

Whew! Thanks for clarifying! It did sound like it was something that happens all the time!

Amen! And let me add that no matter how docile you belive your herp to be watch them every second that someone else is handling them!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!