Been reading all the great info on gettnig a new corn settled and all the stress factors......ours still has not eaten since Dec. 14th. We got Slick at Petco and he/she was in with alot of other corns their age.....is it possible that Slick could be lonely since he was used to being with other snakes?

No. This is definately not the reason. Corns are primarily solitary herps, and housing more than one is generally a bad idea, even when they are hatchlings.

There seems to be another problem with your snake. I assume all the cage temps are correct? I ask this as as reptiles are cold blooded they need heat for energy and also to digest their food (an probably to build up an apetite for that matter)

Another reason could also be that your new corn is acclimating to its new surroundings. Keep offering food, and see how it goes for the next few days? What is the behaviour of your corn like?

Another reason could be because of the winter temps. Some snakes decide to go on hunger strikes at certain periods of the year.

Hope this helps, Luke

Thanks Luke....we'll keep him to himself....I'm going to get a digital therm. today. He was acting fine....going in a sleeping coming out and exploring, he liked sleeping in the tree. He's been drinking and was swimming in his water bowl the other day. What would you use to increase the ambient temp in his tank? We have a 150w bulb at the top on the warm side and a heating pad on the bottom of the tank.....

No problems liberty_girl, just glad i could be of some help.


As for your heating question, a UTH (undertank heater) AND a 150W bulb, should be giving your little snake plenty of heat. You may have more of a problem keeping the enclosure cool enough with a bulb with a wattage like that. Good temps for corns during the day are around 85F (but anywhere in the range of 80-88 is ok). In most cases, a UTH would suffice as a heat source, and it is only if you can't reach that temperature with the UTH, that you should start using a bulb.

What type of bulb are you using? Is it just a normal light bulb? If so, and you still need a bulb, as your temperatures cannot be bought upto a decent level with just the undertank heater, try and get one of the ceramic heat emitters (the lower wattage ones) as these produce no light and are less stressful for the snake.

Again, i hope this helps you out Luke

Hey Luke.....well, we just got back and I dropped a digital therm/hygrometer into Slick's tank, on the bottom of the warm side....
Right now we're sitting at 85.9 with 25% humidity....

The bulb is just a normal ligth bulb. I'll turn it off and see where we're sitting in the morning....

Thanks again for all your help....if I can figure how to resize my pictures I'll post a picture of him....I could really get addicted to these little guys...I definately will be getting a few more and would love to raise a batch of them....snakes are just so neat....

*cough* yes they are very very addicting, especially after you see what morphs are available...have you tried feeding slick in a seperate container and leaving it alone in the dark? That's what i had to do for a couple of weeks for one of my little guys. Since then i haven't had a problem.

Another way to get it to eat is to gently poke the snake with the pinkie. Don't poke it's but try some where in the middle....or have you tried dangling the pinkie by it's tail?

i have had simular probs with my corns my male will go on strikes for 2-3 weeks after that he eats like a champ,make sure you turn that bulb off cause constant light can be very stressful for the snake if needed i would suggest a red light or a heat emitter as suggested above and if you need heat for the night get a black bulb (not a black light) these can be purchased where you bought slick, constant light can stress him out to the point he wont eat also make sure you dont handle him the day you are trying to feed this can also stress a snake out. and leave it overnight alot of snakes like my bp wont eat during the day this is when they feel most venerable. it takes alot of time to get one comfortable to eat in front of you exspecially if the were fed in a petstore. if you get one from a petstore you should ask for a feeding chart that way you know if they dont have one chances are they dont know if he has eaten and alot of times they havent the get born and them after shed and first feeding they are shipped and from that point handled daily. you must understand this is very stressful for a young snake. just keep trying thats all you can do if her gets to the point where he looks like he is losing weight worry and see a vet a.s.a.p. but if he is holding weight just try your best

Thanks everyone for all the great info.....I'v covered Slick's cage with a towel to dim the light....it is barely shining in one corner and has his tank dim and peaceful. Will get a ceramic heater bulb thingy. We are going to try to feed him tomorrow night and will put him in a vented little container and leave him in all night if he doesn't eat right away....hopefully he is a little more settle. He was out last night and early this morning...last night especially he was all over the tank climbing and smelling etc....I'm hoping that's a good sign that he's hungry....will let ya'll know when Slick has enjoyed his first pinkie at home!

Thanks again!

Okay, ya'll....now I'm starting to get a little worred. Slick has been drinking just fine. He's stayed in his hide for a few days and would come out at night and nose around a little....it's been a good week since we last tried to feed him. Put him in a small container with a f/t pinkie last night and covered it with a towel to keep it dark and sat it in his tank to keep him warm....left him over night.....still did not eat....when I turned him out he went and got a drink and went up his vine and then down into his hide. Noticed that he has a wrinkle along his side when he was crawling up the vine. He has been drinking good, so is this from dehydration or is he starving? He has not had anything to eat since Dec. 14 at Petco. Read where someone was syringe feeding a non eating baby.....I've bottle fed and syringe fed everything under the son but a snake....is this something I need to look at......I really really don't want to wake up and find a dead baby in the tank. We live out in the middle of no where....closest herp vet is 150 away.....any suggestions?

Your best bets, in my opinion would be to take the pet back to the petstore and see if they will do you a swap or something. I dont really know much about petstore rules or anything, but it's worth a try.

You don't really want to be stuck with a troublesome snake (by troublesome i mean poor feeder..) especially if it is your first.

Shame you can't get to a herp vet. Sorry i couldn't be anymore help, Luke.

Thanks Luke....I'll talk to Justin and see what he wants to do. We thought we'd try to feed it just a pinkie head in 3 or 4 days. Will see how things go. Have a great weekend!

as the snake is hiding alot , do you think he is in shed? a tell tale sing is the eyes look cloudy and the normal colour is faded

i hope Slick is ok!! :wink:

Thanks to everyone for all the help. Slick still has not eaten. Tried again last night, left him in the container for quite a while and then left in in the container with him over night. He crawled in and out several times but just not interested in eating. He still has not shed and his eyes are not getting cloudy, although he is in his water bowl very regularly. He is still drinking. I am going to Wichita this morning and am thinking of taking him back to Petco. We don't want to lose him and would really like to get him straightened out, but Justin is discouraged with how things are going and not getting too close to him in fear of loosing his pet. Will talk to Justin and see if he wants to go a few more weeks or take Slick in today. Will let you know...thanks again to everyone!

Sorry things haven't worked out for you this time liberty_girl. I hope things do get better, and be sure to let us know on how things go. Luke

My corn wouldn't eat for a while after bringing him home either despite LeoLady's and my best efforts. We were finally forced to feed Harry inside his tank by putting the pinkie on top of his favorite hide as he was active during the night. It worked like a charm and ever sinse then we've been able to feed him in a seperate container during the night. I don't know if it can help but I hate to see a herp fall into the clutches of PetCo again. Also make sure that when thawing out the pinkie to try and get it warmer than room temperature. I put mine in a ziplock bag and run them under warm water. Hope this helps.

Well....we still have Slick...thought we'd stick it out a little more. Put him in with a pinkie scented with tuna water tonight....will leave him over night and see what we find in the morning. I think if he doesn't eat this one we may try a live pinkie. While pouring fresh water into his water bowl tonght, Slick seemed to get very excited over the movement of the water and started looking around the bowl....may he'll do better with a live meal instead of the frozen tv dinners he's been getting......will let ya'll know how we do.....he still hasn't shed and we'ev had him since Dec. 18th.

I'm really sorry to hear that Slick still hasn't made any progress. I really do hope you have luck with the live pinkie. If that doesn't work, you may want to go to the vets or a specialist, and they can show you how to force feed. It is a total LAST resort, but if live pinkies doesn't work, it's the only other thing you can do.

I wish you the best of luck liberty_girl, and be sure to let us know how things go. Luke

Thanks Luke.....actually found out there's a herp vet in Wichita Falls....will try the live pinkie and then give him a call if that doesn't work. Slick is looking thin...will try to post a picture of him....just noticed he has a piece of skin sticking straight up on his head....looks like Alfalfa.....I think he's fixing to shed...need to get the humidity up in his tank.....what should it be at during their shed? Thanks again.....

I read your first few posts and then kind of skimmed the rest so I appologize if any of this has been said already.

First lets address the light and heat issue. What size tank is he in? It sounds like with the light and heat matt and him soaking in his dish he may be getting too hot. A heat matt by itself should be more than sufficiant in most cases and I have pretty much found that lights on corn snake cages are more for me than for them. A 150w bulb at full blast will put off alot of light and heat. I would definately not leave it burning all night. Dont trip if the temps drop at night. It isnt sunny any warm 24hrs a day in the wild so why should it be in the cage. I would get a red or blue light if you want to view him at night, snakes cant see those colors under a red light, it is still dark to them.

And do you have several places for him to hide at least on both the cold and warm end and maybe even in the middle? Just kind of grasping at things that might have him stressed out here.

And if you havnt tried it already, try feeding him in a small paper bag. Like a tiny lunch bag. Drop in the pinkie and paperclip him in the bag for a while. And out of curiosity, what is your thawing process?

Lastly, your humidity problem. I honestly have never had a humidity problem with my corns. My BP on the other hand is another story. I have never had one of my corns have a bad shed and in the winter the humidity drops down around 25%. If they are shedding OK, I am leary about adding extra humidity and running the risk of dealing with resperatory problems. I would just try using a larger water dish and that will probably bring it up a bit. Now with my BP, she has had one bad shed and I have battled with the humidity ever since. Having her in a screen top cage makes it challenging. In the winter, I take a bath towel, wet it down with hot water and cover the half of the cage that doesnt have the heat lamp on it. I rewet the towel every day before work and change it out every few days. That alone brings the humidity up about 30%. I have not had a bad shed since.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, Im wordy like that. Give the bag trick a try and let me know what happens.