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ROADKING   Reptilefreak23   Reptilefreak23   Nateruess  
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 #1784546


ROADKING
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 HELP!! Need a baby red rat snake!!!!!

My 6 year old son caught a wild baby red rat in our front yard that looked like it was mauled by a bird. He tried to nurse it back to health but it passed away this morning. And he is devistated =( I am looking for a baby red rat snake to replace it. If you have a clutch of babies or know where I can get one please e-mail me and let me know. I live in Clermont, Fl about 1 hour west of Orlando. If you are in the area and can help me out please let me know. He has been crying for the last few hours and refuses to let me bury it. I am desperate and the local pet stores only have larger ones. My email address is . I can give you my phone number from there if needed. Thank you for any help to can give me



07/06/08  02:28pm

 #1784571


Reptilefreak23
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  Message To: ROADKING   In reference to Message Id: 1784546


 HELP!! Need a baby red rat snake!!!!!

Most locall petstores have cornsnakes. (red rat)
There are HUNDEREDS OF DIFFERENT MORPHS

heres a good site to buy from

Link
Good Luck!

Do you know their care?

if not heres a care sheet
Sexing and Characteristics:
The only way to find out truly if your snakes is male or female, is by getting them probed, make sure this gets done by a professional.

Substrate and Water Needs:
For Substrate use anything But PINE OR CEDAR you can use newspaper or paper towel which are cheap but not very attractive (and not natural for snake). Aspen or auboise is your best bet, it’s cheap and it looks good. Another reasonable choice is pot soil (no pestesides, magic grow ,or ferdalizer) Reptibark,

You will need a fair size bowl, one the snake can at least soak in.

Lighting and UVB:
Corn snakes have no special lighting requirements, if you do use a bulb; make sure it has a guard on it so that your snake does not get burned. You can use normal house bulbs in their vivarium.

Temperatures and Humidity:
The recommended temperature for corn snakes are about 25C - 28C but they can range from 21C - 31C so don’t worry if it gets low or high, but you don’t want it to high because your snake will not like it, and it will be unhealthy to your snake. 

Corns normally would live in relatively humid conditions, about 40-50% humidity is good, you don’t want it too high because it may cause scale rot. 
When they are shedding, you may want to up the humidity a bit higher for them to make it easier for them to shed. 

For corn snake heating, you will only need a heat mat, you will want this to be controlled by a thermostat because you will not want to burn your snake, you can also use normal house light bulbs which will add a lot of heat, and light up your snakes home. But make sure you cover it with a guard as they will get hot. Also monitor the tempretures closely.

Caging Provided:
Housing corn snakes is quite simple. They don’t need many requirements; they don’t need special lighting like other reptiles do. 

For hatchlings, tubs work great, a good size is 1’ x 6” x 4” .you don’t want it to big because baby corns can get stressed in large environments. 
That size tub will last 6 months to a year, depending on how fast you little snake grows. Once they grow out of this, you can house them in 50 litre RUBS, or a minimal vivariums size of 3’ x 1’ x 1’. but bigger is allways better.
corn snakes are very good escape artists, so you will need to make sure that they cant slip through any gaps, if you have sliding glass doors you might want to invest in getting a cage lock ( they are smart and know how to open doors).

Diet:
The general thumb rule is the food can be 1.5 the size of the thickest part of the snake. 
when there hatchlings, they will eat pinkie mice, when they get bigger, As the corn snake increases in size, the one to two mice per week should be increased in size proportionately. The mouse fed to your snake should not be so large that it makes a huge bulge in the belly of the snake. If a food item is too large, the snake will have problems digesting it and it may be regurgitated. It is much better to feed two small mice than one big mouse because it will be easier for the snake to digest the smaller mice, after that, then fuzzies, and keep going up in sizes, also may eat appropriate sized rats as well. 
You want to use frozen thawed mice/rats, safer for your snakes, rodents can fight back, you should only result in live as a last resort, there are a few ways to get your snake(s) eating. By making it warm and wiggling it aboutaround your snake is a good way to pretend the mouse is alive (attracting snake to it)The best way to thaw mice out is placing them in hot water, not boiled because cooking a corns food item is not healthy, which you probably don’t want.
There are 2 major exceptions to the live food rule.
1.The first exception is for males during the spring breeding season. Male corn snakes will often lose interest in food during the breeding season, especially when a receptive female is present. 
2.The second exception is for gravid females. Gravid females should be fed up to three or four small mice each week prior to egg laying. Females may quit eating prior to egg laying. It is also essential to boost the food supply of females who have just laid their eggs. Remember, in order for corn snakes to properly digest their food they need some heat. The higher the temperature in the cage the better your corn snake will digest its food and the more willing it will be to eat again. A common cause of regurgitation in corn snakes is that the cage was kept too cool. 
DO NOT HOLD YOU’RE SNAKE FOR 48 HOURS AFTER FEEDING.

Supplements, Nutrition and Usage:
They do not require any. (but would suggest dusting food item in calcium sup. once a month)
They get all the calcium and vitamins they need from rodent gut content, especially gutload feeders. (which is live mice)

Maintenance:
Easy to clean out cages.
all you have to do, is change there water every 1 -2 days spot clean every few days, and clean them out properly every months. Every second month use disinfectant. 
you should handle them so that they get used to you. If they are nippy as babies, dont let it put you off, they calm down easily.

Some Words on this Species:
Corn snakes CAN live up to 20 years, before you get one make sure that you can take on the responsibility of looking after one for a long time!! Once you have them, they make great pets, and you will not get bored of them, they are very entertaining, and once you have your corn snake for long enough, you will notice that they get a personality. 
These snakes grow between 3 -5 feet long, some are known to reach 6 as well. Even thought they get this big, they are still great pets, out of all snakes they have some of the best temperaments, they rarely bite, and if they do, they only do it because they are truly worried. 

Otherwise they make the best first time snakes!!


Good Luck!
pm me if you have more questions



07/06/08  02:51pm

 #1814942


Reptilefreak23
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  Message To: Reptilefreak23   In reference to Message Id: 1784571


 HELP!! Need a baby red rat snake!!!!!

you still here? hello?



07/31/08  04:11pm

 #1814967


Nateruess
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  Message To: ROADKING   In reference to Message Id: 1784546


 HELP!! Need a baby red rat snake!!!!!

you could probably find a red corn snake hatchling at any good pet store. It would look a little different but probably not by much. doubt your son would care



07/31/08  04:28pm


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