 |
Back to Corn Snakes Forum Forums Home Members Area
Corn Snakes Forum
Dogface82 Jessica71 Dogface82 King_Doc_10 Dogface82 Dogface82 Dogface82 Jessica71 Dogface82 Jessica71 King_Doc_10 Dogface82 |
| Member | Message | ||
|
Dogface82 View Profile |
I don’t want to kill my snakums!!! (and more questions)
Now for my other questions: I believe my “he” is actually a “she”. I don’t really want to breed him/her so I guess it doesn’t matter, but is there a way to tell gender or at least make a good guess without probing? The breeder referred to my snakums as a “he”, but I never really asked. I read a few threads about females laying eggs when they have not bred. Do all females do this? Second, how long should I wait to handle my snakums? I brought him home Sunday afternoon and I was going to wait until Tuesday afternoon to hold him. He lets me gently “pet” him, if you can call one finger a pet :) and he seems fine but he is still very shy and I don’t want to distress him any more than I have to. He used to “run away” whenever I walked by, now he keeps his head out and doesn’t try to get away unless I get too close to his head. He doesn’t seem the striking kind because he was very stressed out from the car ride when I brought him home and he let me take him out of the carrier without striking. Lastly, if you were a snake would someone calling you Floofy and snakums offend you? Floofy is what I’ve been calling him because he is a snake and… well… snakes are not exactly floofy/fluffy. Plus, if “he” turns out to be a “she” then Floofy is sort of universal. Thanks for all the help! I am trying my best to be a good owner (hopefully one day it will be “friend”) to my snakums! And is it just me or do I type way too much? :) |
||
| 05/16/05 06:08pm |
|
||
|
Jessica71 View Profile |
Message To: Dogface82 In reference to Message Id: 344227 I don’t want to kill my snakums!!! (and more questions)
The cool end of my tank is around 79-80, the hot end 88-89. I think this is ok because my snakes are not prone to lying in their water dish, so I think 79 would be ok for the cool end. People vary in their opinions of what the temperatures should be, but also individual snakes are different. Our female corn is now pregnant and spending all her time basking under the heater at the hot end, but even before that she liked the hot end and the male liked the cool end. If your snake is hiding in the cool end during the day I would say this is normal behaviour - if he were really too hot he would be in the water bowl or rushing desperately around the tank. So I think you’re ok! You could always swop the thermometer’s place around a few times, or we have one with a probe so you can measure temps in two different places at once. Your second question, male snakes have longer tails in comparison to females, and they tend to taper less quickly near the vent in males. It’s quite difficult to compare unless you have one of each though! Some books say you can count the rows of scales from vent to tip of tail on a shed skin - can’t remember the numbers, seems a bit time consuming to me! I’m not sure how common it is for female snakes to lay eggs without breeding. Kathy Love says to leave snakes three days before handling, though I must say we only left ours two and they seem fine. Your snake sounds quite calm - I think it depends on their behaviour too. We have a new baby trinket snake and we handled her after two days because she was quite happy out exploring her new home, not hiding. Regarding the name, I think you can call him what you like - Floofy is quite cute! I think you’re a very caring owner - keep up the good work! Jessica |
||
| 05/16/05 06:52pm |
|
||
|
Dogface82 View Profile |
Message To: Jessica71 In reference to Message Id: 344260 I don’t want to kill my snakums!!! (and more questions)
"Floofy" is hanging out on the hot side now and seems very content. :) |
||
| 05/16/05 08:05pm |
|
||
|
King_Doc_10 View Profile |
Message To: Dogface82 In reference to Message Id: 344338 I don’t want to kill my snakums!!! (and more questions)
|
||
| 05/17/05 01:24pm |
|
||
|
Dogface82 View Profile |
Message To: King_Doc_10 In reference to Message Id: 344999
Uh oh! I was fooling with my snakums today and he tried to bite me! So I backed off a little and he started to do one of those rattlesnake impersonations with his tail. This isn’t like him at all! Any suggestions? I’m not sure what I did wrong, because he never did this before. |
||
| 05/17/05 04:12pm |
|
||
|
Dogface82 View Profile |
Message To: Dogface82 In reference to Message Id: 345180 I don’t want to kill my snakums!!! (and more questions)
|
||
| 05/17/05 04:16pm |
|
||
|
Dogface82 View Profile |
Message To: Dogface82 In reference to Message Id: 345186
Anyway, I gave him about an hour to settle down, then went back and tried again. He rattled his tail, but I didn’t move my hand away and after about five minutes he slithered over in that smooth, graceful way of his and actually crawled into my hand! I slowly picked him up and he got scarred so I set him down. I let him crawl around the cage for a few minutes then I picked him up again. He was a little jumpy at first but he settled down and seemed to enjoy exploring my arm. I let him crawl around on my arm for a few more minutes then set him down in his cage. He crawled around and then starred at me like, “And what do you want now?” He felt cool and very soft, almost like silk. I noticed two scales that weren’t smooth against his body. One was on top of his head and one was on his back. I think it might have been from when he got panicky in his carrier the day I brought him home and tried to shove his way out. Does he sound “normal” so far? Here is a REALLY bad picture. Bad lighting AND it’s blurry! Oh well, maybe the next one will turn out better. He is an albino (is lighter in real life than in the pic), about 8 months and I hope he is a guy but I could be wrong. He has a flower on his head, the first dot is the flower and on his head there are two leaves and a stem! It’s really cool. He might be a motley because he has stripes on the sides of his neck but he does have spots on the top of his neck like a normal corn, so I don’t know! I think he is soooooooo pretty. I luf him soooo much :)
|
||
| 05/17/05 05:55pm |
|
||
|
Jessica71 View Profile |
Message To: Dogface82 In reference to Message Id: 345326 I don’t want to kill my snakums!!! (and more questions)
Your snake is gorgeous! You obviously did the right thing because now he understands you are not going to hurt him. Ten minutes’ gentle handling every day and he should quickly calm down. You’re doing great I think! I know what you mean about the silky feeling - that’s what made me HAVE to buy a snake in the first place. And don’t worry about the little rough patches, that often happens but they usually disappear when the snake sheds. I adore my snakes too - not sure they reciprocate, but they’re good and trusting so I reckon they do! It must be good living on a farm. Do you help look after the horses and Jerseys etc? What kind of bird have you adopted? |
||
| 05/17/05 06:45pm |
|
||
|
Dogface82 View Profile |
Message To: Jessica71 In reference to Message Id: 345390
I am feeding Floofy for the first time tonight. Unfortunately, I have to feed him at 7:40PM or thereabouts and I don’t have a choice in the matter. I usually turn his heat lamp off overnight, but I’m going to leave it on (its infrared) so it can be warmer while he’s digesting. Will this be all right for him? About living on the farm, it’s really great! It’s also a lot of work, but I love it and could never adjust to living in the city (or even the suburbs!). The horses need a lot of attention, and the cows wouldn’t need that much attention, but they are 4H cows so I need to work with them at least once a week or they get naughty. I’ve been working with a Texas Longhorn/Jersey bull and he is SO CUTE but all he thinks about anymore is eating. I’ve had three birds, actually. One was a young blue male budgie and the other was an older blue female budgie, both of which are dead now. A few years ago I was helping my step mom hang laundry and this yellow parakeet flies onto my finger! It was hilarious! I had the cage from my deceased budgies, so I just took her inside and stuck her in it. I put posters up and called around to pet stores, but nobody ever claimed her. She is the meanest bird you’ll ever meet and she’s one of those birds that just won’t die (not that we want her to or anything, but it seems the animals we want to stick around always die, and the others that we never asked for never go away). |
||
| 05/18/05 02:58pm |
|
||
|
Jessica71 View Profile |
Message To: Dogface82 In reference to Message Id: 346214 I don’t want to kill my snakums!!! (and more questions)
I liked your story about the parakeet...! It must be very rewarding working with cows and horses. Good luck in feeding Floofy! |
||
| 05/18/05 03:07pm |
|
||
|
King_Doc_10 View Profile |
Message To: Dogface82 In reference to Message Id: 346214
sorry i have not had much time to reply to your earlier posts, about the lamp, yes you can leave it on (just dont let the temp get too hot). Your sooooooo lucky about living on a farm, by the way you describe it, i love it already lol. Sorry to hear about your budgies and tell the parakeet if it doesn’t settle down that your snake will sort it out (joke). lol c ya for now. - Shaun  |
||
| 05/18/05 03:13pm |
|
||
|
Dogface82 View Profile |
Message To: King_Doc_10 In reference to Message Id: 346228
|
||
| 05/18/05 03:55pm |
|
I don’t want to kill my snakums!!! (and more questions)
I don’t want to kill my snakums!!! (and more questions)
I don’t want to kill my snakums!!! (and more questions)