Create a Corn Snake Vivarium
Corn snakes are one of the most commonly owned pet snakes. Sometimes the wrong steps are taken to creating an environment for your snake. Here's a how-to-guide on how to make a vivarium (tank) setup for your corn snake!
Contents
Steps
- Get a vivarium/tank. For hatchling (baby) corn snakes, a {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} or even a {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} viv (vivarium) is sufficient. If your snake is an adult, most recommend a {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} viv, which your snake will happily live in for life. A glass vivarium will be perfect for housing one corn snake.
- For Bedding/Substrate, NEVER use Cedar bedding, it's toxic to ALL snakes. Many snake owners like newspaper since it's cheap, efficient, and easy to clean. If you prefer something more natural, many snake owners recommend Aspen. It's 99% nontoxic, cheap, looks pretty, natural, and virtually snake safe. To protect your snake if using a UTH (Under Tank Heater), It's recommended that you buy two repticarpets. They're relativity cheap and fit in the bottom of the vivarium. This allows your snake to burrow for extra warmth without the risk of burns from the UTH.
- Place the repticarpet in the bottom of the vivarium (it should be swapped out and cleaned every 1 to 2 weeks. This is why you should have two so while one is being cleaned the other one is in use).
- Pour about a half inch to an inch of substrate on top of the repticarpet and evenly distribute/lay out over the whole floor of the viv.
- Give your snake places to hide. Your corn snake will need hides to make him/her feel secure/safe. Corn snakes prefer to have a tight-fitting hides that touch them on all sides, so avoid using anything to large. If you are using a hide that's too big, try stuffing it with crumpled paper-towels, it works quite well!
- Place one hide on the warm side and one hide on the cool side, you can even place a hide in the middle. For hatchlings a lot of snake owners prefer to give them a rang of hide options, placing one on the warm side, cool side, and middle.
- If the hide is too big, stuff it with paper-towels. REMEMBER: You can always make homemade hides instead of buying them! A paper-towel roll, a glued together Popsicle stick hide (Use a hot-glue gun), plastic containers, etc!
- Provide climbing branches and plants. Corn snakes are partially arboreal snakes and providing artificial plants and climbing branches will provide stimulation, comfort, hiding places, etc.
- Get the right types of fake plants.
- Artificial plants, leafed vines, and other artificial foliage can be placed throughout the vivarium, on the warm side, cool side, and in between, against back walls, sides, etc. Wherever you want, but remember to provide more than one plant. This will give your snake a range of spots to climb, relax, warm up, cool down, etc.
- Provide a climbing branch for your snake. You can either make one yourself or buy one from your local pet store. These can be angled wherever you like but remember to make sure:
- The snake can climb up and down it.
- it can support the snake's weight.
- It's not so thick the snake can't coil around it.
- Provide some Other vivarium items/decorations:
- ALSO: Plastic/artificial logs, rocks, etc. that can be found in pet stores and are meant for snakes/reptiles can also be put into the vivarium to provide as more forms of stimulation, encourage exploring, climbing, and provides more hiding places
- Put climbing objects and other 'decorations' in the vivarium. Put these decorations/objects in different areas of the viv, not just all on one side.
- Provide a source of heat. Corn snakes require temps of: Day- Warm side: {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} and Cool side: {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}. Night- Warm side: {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} and Cool side: {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}. The most popular way to heat a vivarium for corn snakes in an UTH, aka Under Tank Heater.
- How to place an under tank heater:(1) Place UTH on bottom of viv on side meant to be the warm side, make sure it covers NO MORE THAN half the vivarium. (2) Buy a THERMOSTAT and use it to regulate the temps of the UTH.
- Other heat sources: You can also use a heat lamp to provide extra heat, since in some areas during the winter months a UTH will be unable to provide enough heat. Using a lamp with a Full Spectrum or UVA bulb also provides a day and night cycle. You want about 12 hours day and 12 hours night.
- Setting up heat lamp: (1) Screw Full Spectrum Day Bulb or UVA day/basking bulb into heat lamp. (2) Place on warm side of vivarium in the middle of the warm side (Not crossing over into cool side or in middle of viv). (3) Plug lamp into RHEOSTAT to control how hot the bulb gets and plug the RHEOSTAT into a timer which will provide the day and night cycle. (4) Plug rheostat into a TIMER to provide the day and night cycle for your snake. 12 hours day and 12 hours night is good.
- Have a way to provide humidity. You'll want the humidity to be between 35-60%. No more than 60%, no less than 35%. 50% is ideal. Heat lamps take away from humidity some recommend taking a dish-towel and soaking it, ringing it out, and placing it over half the vivarium, but there are many other ways out there, which are listed below:
- Humidity ideas: (1) You can mist the cage every day or every other day if you prefer. A recommended method suggests using Distilled Water so it doesn't leave droplet marks on the glass. (2) Wet dish towel over half the viv (rung out before placing). (3) You could also make a humidity box by getting a small plastic container with a lid and making holes in the sides and lid of the container, but make sure they're not big enough for the snake to get in through them. Place damp peat moss inside of the container and put the lid on. Place it on the warm side of the viv.
- Have a method for temperature and humidity control. You'll want to buy a rheostat to control brightness/dimness/heat of bulb in the heat lamp, Thermostat to control temps of UTH, Thermometer/Hydrometer to read the temps of bot sides as well as the humidity.
- Note about Thermometers/hygrometers: To put it simply the analog thermometer/hydrometers can be very inaccurate. Most snake experts recommend getting a digital Thermometer/hygrometer that has a good rating and reputation.
Tips
- check the temperature and humidity daily
- Always remember to close the viv lid
- Always make sure your snake has fresh water
- Make sure your lamp is connected to a rheostat and your UTH is connected to a thermostat.
Warnings
- NEVER use a heat rock, they're notorious for severely burning snakes and even killing them. They also don't provide even heat throughout.
- REMEMBER: Too much heat equals death
- If your UTH and lamp aren't connected to a rheo/thermostat there is an increased risk of them overheating, causing the death of your snake.
Things You'll Need
- Glass vivarium (tank)
- Bedding (Aspen is recommended)
- Repticarpet (Recommended)
- Artificial plants
- Climbing branches
- Hides ("caves")
- Under Tank Heater (UTH)
- Heat Lamp (Recommended)
- Full Spectrum/UVA bulb for lamp
- Thermostat (Recommended: Hydrofarm)
- Rheostat
- water dish
- Thermometer/Hydrometers
