# help with corn snakes!



## Thistles (Oct 17, 2014)

Hi, I'm getting a corn snake next year, and of course, I'm going to use this time to get the stuff I need and look up about them, so I was hoping you could help me with a few questions?
1 are there any good snake breeders near kings Lynn? At pets at home they have corn snakes, but they don't say the age so I have no idea what kind of vivarium to put it in, or what mice to get!
2 will a medium sized vivarium do for a young un or a grown up?
3 I can only ORDER the mice from a website and that takes a week or two to arrive so I would really be happy if I could reserve A corn snake, so I can get everything ready!
4 You can't hold it after it's been fed, right? And you also can't feed it in the tank bc of the aspen so, if you feed it Ina box, how're you gonna get it back in the viv?
5 doesn't Jollyes sell mice? I do not know
I'm sorry I sound such an irresponsible person but I just want to ask the questions to get them over with!
Would really appreciate the help


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## NickBenger (Nov 18, 2010)

Thistles said:


> Hi, I'm getting a corn snake next year, and of course, I'm going to use this time to get the stuff I need and look up about them, so I was hoping you could help me with a few questions?
> 1 are there any good snake breeders near kings Lynn? At pets at home they have corn snakes, but they don't say the age so I have no idea what kind of vivarium to put it in, or what mice to get!
> 2 will a medium sized vivarium do for a young un or a grown up?
> 3 I can only ORDER the mice from a website and that takes a week or two to arrive so I would really be happy if I could reserve A corn snake, so I can get everything ready!
> ...


I wrote an indepth article on keeping corns for my website - Snake Articles |

1) If you ask [email protected] they should be able to tell you
2) What do you consider medium sized? Young snakes are grown on in Faunariums and R.U.B's. The minimum sized vivarium for an adult should be around 3 x 2 x 2ft. The bigger the better though
3)Remember your snake will only eat one mouse a week as an adult. One order could last a long time, you should have plenty of time to order in food. 
4) Ingestion of Aspen rarely causes blockages and personally I wouldn't worry about it. If you feed outside the vivarium you can put the snake back in the vivarium just be gentle with it. 
5) I have no idea what Jollyes is.


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## Thistles (Oct 17, 2014)

NickBenger said:


> I wrote an indepth article on keeping corns for my website - Snake Articles |
> 
> 1) If you ask [email protected] they should be able to tell you
> 2) What do you consider medium sized? Young snakes are grown on in Faunariums and R.U.B's. The minimum sized vivarium for an adult should be around 3 x 2 x 2ft. The bigger the better though
> ...


Thanks!
Medium size doesn't actually state what size but apparently it's perfect for snakes?
Again, thanks for helping and everyone's excited about the snake except for my mum lol


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## Iulia (Mar 2, 2011)

Is there a pets at home near you? they usually sell the frozen food if they sell the snakes


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## Thistles (Oct 17, 2014)

Iulia said:


> Is there a pets at home near you? they usually sell the frozen food if they sell the snakes


There's one like half an hour away, they sell snakes in the reptile section but the only food in that section is crickets, locusts, wax worms and mealworms. Wouldn't they be there? And there's nothing on the website.... Thanks everyone! ;-)


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## Iulia (Mar 2, 2011)

Its worth asking - my local [email protected] they are kept in the staff only section and you have to ask. If they sell the animals they 'should' sell the food ...

depends on what size corn you get. babies are probably better temporarily in a faunarium or RUB.

Its worth keeping an eye on the classifieds AND gumtree and preloved.

Corns often get rehomed and sometimes you can get a good deal including a viv. You may have to tweak the set up a bit but its worth keeping in mind


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## Thistles (Oct 17, 2014)

Iulia said:


> Its worth asking - my local [email protected] they are kept in the staff only section and you have to ask. If they sell the animals they 'should' sell the food ...
> 
> depends on what size corn you get. babies are probably better temporarily in a faunarium or RUB.
> 
> ...


Okay, thx. Do you know how old corn snakes are when they get classed as a juvie or adult?


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## Mike1 (Feb 10, 2012)

the kings lynn pets at home do frozen mice and rats, they are kept out the back. you have to ask for what you want and they go and get them. I think the latest offer is 5 for 4! and their snake are well over priced!


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## Thistles (Oct 17, 2014)

I was looking at snakes and there's one that has a meter long corn ( 3yrs) it comes with accessories and a vivarium that's 2ft 10inches x 1ft 6 inches x 1ft 5 inches.
All for £80. I can get it in December.... Wow. I'm reading everything about cornies now.


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## Thistles (Oct 17, 2014)

Thing is, my Dad wants me to get a corn from a proper certified breeder. I can't find any around kings Lynn,and The snake I found ( that's £80) isn't a proper breeder, and my Dad's worried the next day the snake all be dead or the viv will collapse... Please help!


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## Iulia (Mar 2, 2011)

Does your dad use the internet? maybe suggest he comes here and chats with a few people.

There IS a risk of getting an unhealthy snake, but no more so actually than from a classifed ad than from a pet shop. Pet shops are actually notorious for not looking after reptiles properly.

I don't know how far you can travel, and who is in that area, but you are far more likely to get a healthy snake buying from this forum (in my opinion) than from pets at home. Loads cheaper too.

you can also tell a lot from a photo - if the ad shows a photo of the snake and the enclosure it is kept, feel free to post it and I'm sure some forum members can alert you if there seems to be a problem.

Really there are so many corn snakes for sale its very hard to imagine you can't find a nice one : victory:


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## Thistles (Oct 17, 2014)

Iulia said:


> Does your dad use the internet? maybe suggest he comes here and chats with a few people.
> 
> There IS a risk of getting an unhealthy snake, but no more so actually than from a classifed ad than from a pet shop. Pet shops are actually notorious for not looking after reptiles properly.
> 
> ...


Thanks so much! I will inform my dad about RFUK selling snakes!
I've planned names Clementine (from eternal sunshine of the spotless mind) Korban (the fifth element) or maybe Boo (my favourite book, to kill a mockingbird!)


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## Thistles (Oct 17, 2014)

Also, I actually have two vivariums, I have a two foot wooden one with my gecko and I have a spare glass 1.5 vivarium. Snakes get scared in case of birds sometimes, don't they, so would it be OK in the glass viv, if I covered it with a load of plants?


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## Iulia (Mar 2, 2011)

oh didn't realise you had a gecko - thought it was your first reptile : victory:

I think a corn would be fine in a glass viv but if you mean 1.5 ft that's fine for a baby but it will need larger by the time its about a year


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## Thistles (Oct 17, 2014)

Iulia said:


> oh didn't realise you had a gecko - thought it was your first reptile : victory:
> 
> I think a corn would be fine in a glass viv but if you mean 1.5 ft that's fine for a baby but it will need larger by the time its about a year


No, I have a 1yr old grumpy leopard gecko  haha.
I found a corn snake hatchling kit for £28, so I'm saving up now and in December, I'll have extra to get branches and food!
I'm looking at hatchlings because it's best apparently so you can bond with it at a young age! BTW, I read somewhere that corns ( or other snakes) have to have bottled water, they can't have tap water? Is this true?
Thanks for all the info!


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## TEENY (Jan 4, 2008)

Pets at home do frozen, it will be out the back in a freezer tho rather than out front as it would be a tad insensitive with all the live mice/rats out front lol....Jolleys do frozen too, it will prob be in a sep freezer out the back rather than the dog foods freezer, as again not everyone wants to see it lol


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## Thistles (Oct 17, 2014)

TEENY said:


> Pets at home do frozen, it will be out the back in a freezer tho rather than out front as it would be a tad insensitive with all the live mice/rats out front lol....Jolleys do frozen too, it will prob be in a sep freezer out the back rather than the dog foods freezer, as again not everyone wants to see it lol


 lol, my poor mum has to put up with Mice she wasn't too happy about the thing where you have to cut the head open and let the brain leak lol


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## Megj (Oct 17, 2014)

Hi, I work in pets at home and we sell every sized frozen rodent you can think off, also each snake will have paper work with it to say when it eats, any feeds it's missed and the day it hatched, there will be trained experts on reptiles if you ask they will give you all the info you need, good luck!


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## Thistles (Oct 17, 2014)

Megj said:


> Hi, I work in pets at home and we sell every sized frozen rodent you can think off, also each snake will have paper work with it to say when it eats, any feeds it's missed and the day it hatched, there will be trained experts on reptiles if you ask they will give you all the info you need, good luck!


Thanks!
The pets at home I'm near is at Hardwick and when I got my gecko, he didn't come with paper work and I had got a hamster there before to find out that he had something wrong with his paws and he died so after.
But, that's all in the past, pets at home is good with reptiles, and rodents and other pets lol!


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## Herpster (Oct 24, 2006)

Thistles said:


> lol, my poor mum has to put up with Mice she wasn't too happy about the thing where you have to cut the head open and let the brain leak lol



You only need to do that as a last resort if it is not eating but being a corn I doubt that would be a problem.

A juvenile is around 5-6 months a sub adult is around 9 months and an adult is 1 year onward.

What ever you decide on this below list applies to all corns no matter what size.

1. Thermostat
2. Thermometer
3. Heat source (heat mat or ceramic bulb)
4. 2 hides/fake branches
5. Water bowl and fresh water daily)
6. Enclosure (rub/faunarium/vivarium)


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## NickBenger (Nov 18, 2010)

Herpster said:


> A juvenile is around 5-6 months a sub adult is around 9 months and an adult is 1 year onward.


Debatable. These are loose terms, the OP is better off just asking the age of the snake.


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## Hannah81 (Nov 19, 2008)

Herpster said:


> A juvenile is around 5-6 months a sub adult is around 9 months and an adult is 1 year onward.


Sorry I would disagree with these ages.

Juvenile or yearling is anything that's a year old.
Subadult would be 2-3 years and adult at 3 years +.

This is based on the fact that female corns mature at around 3 years old and that corns in general reach full size at about that age.


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## Thistles (Oct 17, 2014)

Hannah81 said:


> Sorry I would disagree with these ages.
> 
> Juvenile or yearling is anything that's a year old.
> Subadult would be 2-3 years and adult at 3 years +.
> ...


Okay, thanks! Thanks everyone for the ages of snakes (_or the rough idea)


NickBenger said:


> Debatable. These are loose terms, the OP is better off just asking the age of the snake.


Thanks!


Herpster said:


> You only need to do that as a last resort if it is not eating but being a corn I doubt that would be a problem.
> 
> A juvenile is around 5-6 months a sub adult is around 9 months and an adult is 1 year onward.
> 
> ...


Yeah, I know about it's a last resort lol,, I'm just one of those people who freak out over a tiny thing and I also have to get everything sorted! Thanks!!!!


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## TEENY (Jan 4, 2008)

If you wish to buy a snake from [email protected] they will know the correct size of food it is eating and have it in stock, as they feed them from the same frozen stock that they sell. Snakes in [email protected] can vary in age from something that has had 5 or more consecutive feeds from hatch, up to a good few months depending on how long they are there before they are sold, but they will all have full records including hatch date, feeds and sheds so make sure you request the records incase the person forgets and leaves them stuck to the housing box


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## Zincubus (Sep 6, 2010)

Our local pets at home only sell hatchling Carolina corns and they charge £49.99 each which is criminal as I'd guess they get them for about a fiver each !

It's crazy how people pay that money for a Carolina when you can get Amels / Snows / Anerys in this forum for about £15 each ..


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## Megj (Oct 17, 2014)

At the pets at home we're I work, we get are totally unaware of what morphs we will get, it's completely randomised but we do get some nice surprises so you could look out for one and you can reserve them, any snake that gets too old to sell or if we think nobody will buy it, it gets sent back as a breeding snake, but yeah all paper work should be available so make sure you ask for it!


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