My corn snake has gone missing. Any advice for finding it?

[Minecraft Axolotl]

**THE CORN SNAKE HAS BEEN LOCATED AND IS SAFELY BACK IN HER HOME**

https://kiwifarms.st/threads/my-cor...y-advice-for-finding-it.114820/#post-11439970

Found out she was missing a few hours ago and have searched high and low for her. Anyone got any creative ideas for luring her out/finding her?

Edit: Taken some of the threads advice and put down several water dishes, warm hides and even a goddamn dish of milk in order to entice her out. I will update the thread if anything happens. Thank you for both the genuine & silly advice
Wish me luck

 

[Shig O'nella]

Glad she's back. They're oddly affectionate beasts.

 

[Cats]

Finally after at least 12hrs of search time I've found her, and no she wasn't near the bowl of milk lol.
She had gone to the absolute furthest place from heat she could find in the room and had coiled up in the very back of the bottom of an old desk draw that should've been unable to get into from the outside.
She's completely fine and healthy except for a few bent scales and sat in my arms for 20-30mins warming back up with a surprisingly thankful look on her face before being returned to her home.
Thank you once again for all of your help. Giving @/Brett Delawyer the solution as their story about their old corn snake is what gave me the idea to search there

yay

 

[Cloaca Rimjob]

Do corn snakes smell? They look easy to take care of with feeding them a mouse once a week. Seen a video of one shitting though and nearly threw up.

 

[Minecraft Axolotl]

Do corn snakes smell? They look easy to take care of with feeding them a mouse once a week. Seen a video of one shitting though and nearly threw up.

Like most pets they don't smell if you take care of them properly.
They're pretty easy to care for yeah, like you said adult corn snakes only eat once a week. They poop all in one go so if they're only fed once a week they only poop once a week & their poop does smell sort of like rotting eggs. The smell does occasionally leak out of their tanks into the main room but its never over powering and generally stays near the tanks until cleaned. Imo it smells a lot better than something like a litterbox and its also easier to clean.
Otherwise corn snakes can musk when they're upset but mine haven't done so in years but when they did as babies it smelled like cut grass : )

 

[Cloaca Rimjob]

Like most pets they don't smell if you take care of them properly.
They're pretty easy to care for yeah, like you said adult corn snakes only eat once a week. They poop all in one go so if they're only fed once a week they only poop once a week & their poop does smell sort of like rotting eggs. The smell does occasionally leak out of their tanks into the main room but its never over powering and generally stays near the tanks until cleaned. Imo it smells a lot better than something like a litterbox and its also easier to clean.
Otherwise corn snakes can musk when they're upset but mine haven't done so in years but when they did as babies it smelled like cut grass : )

Are they easy to clean up after? Is it better to keep them on paper towels or substrate? Is it just a case of keeping on top of the shit? Not really an animal person despite my username, a leopard gecko would be cool though.

 

[Minecraft Axolotl]

Are they easy to clean up after? Is it better to keep them on paper towels or substrate? Is it just a case of keeping on top of the shit? Not really an animal person despite my username, a leopard gecko would be cool though.

For me they've been no problem to clean up after. I have a little scoop I use to scoop out the soiled bedding and I replace it with fresh stuff and even if I don't notice it and it gets left there for a little while it doesn't cause much harm.
Corn snakes like to dig so its generally better to keep them on substrate if they're healthy & paper towels/newspaper if you need to keep an eye on their stool. I prefer aspen as a substrate for my corns as it holds their tunnels in place but it has a tendency to mold rather easily compared to other alternatives like coconut fiber or ecoearth.

I have two leopard gecko's and you never should keep them on substrate.
I see videos online of people saying, "well its OK to keep them on this substrate because it passes right through their stomachs!". It doesn't, and even if there is some miracle substrate that does I don't think anyone wants to eat their food out of the dirt and neither does the gecko. They're very easy to clean though, they don't smell at all & very friendly!

 

[Cloaca Rimjob]

I have two leopard gecko's and you never should keep them on substrate.
I see videos online of people saying, "well its OK to keep them on this substrate because it passes right through their stomachs!". It doesn't, and even if there is some miracle substrate that does I don't think anyone wants to eat their food out of the dirt and neither does the gecko. They're very easy to clean though, they don't smell at all & very friendly!

Yeah I seen they get a thing called impaction, and it's best to stick insect feeders into a bowl so they dont get covered in particles. are those easier than snakes to keep then?

Have you had any experience with new caledonian geckos like crested and gargoyles? I watched a few videos on bioactive enclosures that basically clean themselves. I know they can stink if the drainage layer isn' sorted out properly.

 

[Minecraft Axolotl]

Yeah I seen they get a thing called impaction, and it's best to stick insect feeders into a bowl so they dont get covered in particles. are those easier than snakes to keep then?

Have you had any experience with new caledonian geckos like crested and gargoyles? I watched a few videos on bioactive enclosures that basically clean themselves. I know they can stink if the drainage layer isn' sorted out properly.

Leopard geckos & Corn snakes are basically the easiest of all reptiles to keep. While they both have different care I would say leopard geckos are slightly more difficult as you have to make sure you religiously dust their food with vitamins & also feed them live healthy insects. So you need a separate small tank to keep crickets/roaches in so they can be easily fed "gut loaded" and kept healthy as well. The crickets will smell 10x worse than the gecko I can guarentee you that.
I personally don't use a feeding bowl for my geckos as in my experience the bugs just..crawl out of it and then free roam the tank if the gecko doesn't want to eat them. If I'm going to feed my geckos wax worms/meal worms I tend to do it by hand with some feeding tongs and that way I can stop them escaping and it also forms a bond with my gecko's so they see them as little treats! A feeding bowl isn't a bad idea though and I've seen it work for plenty of people : )!

The only experience I've had with a gecko similar to those is my so's chahoua gecko. His poop is by far the worst to clean as he decides to do it in his food dish half the time and it gets on the glass as well.
He did have a bio active set up until recently. I don't have as much experience but from what I know they do still need to be cleaned out every 3-6months depending on the mess in there as like you said the drainage layer will stink, but you're able to reuse a lot of the substrate as it has all the little bugs still doing their jobs in it. Something I don't see people mention about bio active set ups is that like the leopard geckos you need to keep a colony of isopods (if you're including them in the set up) on the side so you can easily replace them.
Bio active set ups are really cool but they come with their own set of problems and for some the allure of having a little active enclosure is worth the extra steps and care to make it happen. Its a personal choice of the keeper rather than a better or worse option.

 

[Cloaca Rimjob]

Leopard geckos & Corn snakes are basically the easiest of all reptiles to keep. While they both have different care I would say leopard geckos are slightly more difficult as you have to make sure you religiously dust their food with vitamins & also feed them live healthy insects. So you need a separate small tank to keep crickets/roaches in so they can be easily fed "gut loaded" and kept healthy as well. The crickets will smell 10x worse than the gecko I can guarentee you that.
I personally don't use a feeding bowl for my geckos as in my experience the bugs just..crawl out of it and then free roam the tank if the gecko doesn't want to eat them. If I'm going to feed my geckos wax worms/meal worms I tend to do it by hand with some feeding tongs and that way I can stop them escaping and it also forms a bond with my gecko's so they see them as little treats! A feeding bowl isn't a bad idea though and I've seen it work for plenty of people : )!

The only experience I've had with a gecko similar to those is my so's chahoua gecko. His poop is by far the worst to clean as he decides to do it in his food dish half the time and it gets on the glass as well.
He did have a bio active set up until recently. I don't have as much experience but from what I know they do still need to be cleaned out every 3-6months depending on the mess in there as like you said the drainage layer will stink, but you're able to reuse a lot of the substrate as it has all the little bugs still doing their jobs in it. Something I don't see people mention about bio active set ups is that like the leopard geckos you need to keep a colony of isopods (if you're including them in the set up) on the side so you can easily replace them.
Bio active set ups are really cool but they come with their own set of problems and for some the allure of having a little active enclosure is worth the extra steps and care to make it happen. Its a personal choice of the keeper rather than a better or worse option.

Are Dubia roaches better? Can you just omit crickets altogether and use mealworms/superworms/hornworms instead? Keeping the insects wouldn't bother me it's just dealing with the animal shitting, that's the part that would freak me out.

Does the drainage layer stink only if it becomes waterlogged and mixes with the substrate? Could you slice a bottle in half and place that into your drainage layer with the top poking out the substrate. If the drainage layer overflows you can just screw the lid off and siphon the excess water out with a long tube?

I would like a reptile but just worried they'd stink.

 

[Minecraft Axolotl]

Are Dubia roaches better? Can you just omit crickets altogether and use mealworms/superworms/hornworms instead? Keeping the insects wouldn't bother me it's just dealing with the animal shitting, that's the part that would freak me out.

Does the drainage layer stink only if it becomes waterlogged and mixes with the substrate? Could you slice a bottle in half and place that into your drainage layer with the top poking out the substrate. If the drainage layer overflows you can just screw the lid off and siphon the excess water out with a long tube?

I would like a reptile but just worried they'd stink.

Reptiles in themselves shouldn't stink and feeder insects shouldn't smell outside of their bins if you see to them properly. I'm afraid everything poops my bro but its a quick and easy process to deal with for years of companionship.
Dubia roaches are better feeder insects than crickets yes. They have more vitamins and unlike crickets they're not cannibalistic as well which means they're less likely to get sick from eating their families, but there is a huge problem which I only encountered when I first started keeping them. Leopard geckos eat the smaller babies rather than the adults which means that you have to breed them to get the babies. Which also means that if you're only planning to keep one maybe two reptiles that eat the bugs then you're going to have a massive roach colony by the end of it. So if you're only planning to get one then store bought crickets would be better unless you're local pet store/online store carries smaller cockroach babies then..ignore everything I just wrote haha.
You cannot substitute a gecko's diet with just worms I'm afraid. Just like us they need a balanced and varied diet to keep their minds and bodies healthy and most worms are on the fattier side of food so if you just feed them worms they're going to get overweight quickly...also they smell as well I'm sorry.
If you're worried that much about the smell from them you can keep your breeder insects on a substrate which is not recommend but I do it as well because I don't like the smell either and it seems to keep it to a minimum lmao. I use coconut fiber bricks for bedding for them and try to change it out frequently.
Edit: I only give my crickets/roaches bedding. I don't give the worms I get for my geckos anything except a small piece of fruit as they don't live long and I don't want them to turn into beetles anyways

I'm afraid I don't know the answer to your drainage layer question. In theory your idea would work and would help keep the drainage layer empty? It wouldn't stop you from having to clean the tank but it might help prevent the water from building up and the smell.


Reptiles are the least smelly animal I've ever had the pleasure of dealing with, don't worry bro you'll be fine if you do choose to get one

 

[Cloaca Rimjob]

Dubia roaches are better feeder insects than crickets yes. They have more vitamins and unlike crickets they're not cannibalistic as well which means they're less likely to get sick from eating their families, but there is a huge problem which I only encountered when I first started keeping them. Leopard geckos eat the smaller babies rather than the adults which means that you have to breed them to get the babies. Which also means that if you're only planning to keep one maybe two reptiles that eat the bugs then you're going to have a massive roach colony by the end of it.

Thanks for the info man. Dredging up an old convo but for the roaches being too big, is it possible to cut them up with a knife into smaller chunks for the gecko? The parts will still squirm around and provoke a feeder response won't it?

 

[Mariposa Electrique]

Look in my cave.

 

[Minecraft Axolotl]

Thanks for the info man. Dredging up an old convo but for the roaches being too big, is it possible to cut them up with a knife into smaller chunks for the gecko? The parts will still squirm around and provoke a feeder response won't it?

Dredge up the old convo as many times as you like bro, I don't mind helping ya.

I know people do cut open roaches to help the animals their feeding recognize the scent of food so its an option but it really depends on the animal you're feeding the roaches to.
If it was a leopard gecko for example they would still have difficulty digesting the outer shell of a fully grown roach, but a medium/mid aged roach I think they could digest that & I'm pretty sure they do sell medium roaches at most stores.
My leopard geckos are pretty stupid and I can usually get a feeding response out of them if I just waggle the tweezers a lil so feeding them a chunk of a mid sized roach would probably work out. I can't recommend feeding an animal a long dead bug but a freshly killed one would work if the pet you buy is willing to accept it.
If you're going to go ahead and try this make sure you don't feed them chunks/prey that is too big for them to swallow. I've heard many horror stories of idiot reptiles choking on their food because they're stupid and forgot to chew.

 

[Cloaca Rimjob]

Dredge up the old convo as many times as you like bro, I don't mind helping ya.

I know people do cut open roaches to help the animals their feeding recognize the scent of food so its an option but it really depends on the animal you're feeding the roaches to.
If it was a leopard gecko for example they would still have difficulty digesting the outer shell of a fully grown roach, but a medium/mid aged roach I think they could digest that & I'm pretty sure they do sell medium roaches at most stores.
My leopard geckos are pretty stupid and I can usually get a feeding response out of them if I just waggle the tweezers a lil so feeding them a chunk of a mid sized roach would probably work out. I can't recommend feeding an animal a long dead bug but a freshly killed one would work if the pet you buy is willing to accept it.
If you're going to go ahead and try this make sure you don't feed them chunks/prey that is too big for them to swallow. I've heard many horror stories of idiot reptiles choking on their food because they're stupid and forgot to chew.

I'm back with a little query.

The main issue with leopard geckos is arguably keeping insects to feed them.
I have a flatmate recently leave who left behind a food dehydrator and it got me thinking, would it be possible to make up a premade mix for leopard geckos like the pangea/repashy stuff you get for crested geckos.

I got a cup with my hand blender, I put equal amounts of gutloaded crickets, dubia roaches and mealworms into it, add in a much lesser amount of wax worms and horn worms for flavour, a scoop of calcium and vitamin supplements. Blend the whole lot together until I have a fine insect puree.

I'd then spread this in the dehydrator and once it was done, vacuum seal it in bags and store it. Use it like crested gecko mix with adding a little water.

Would this work? It'll still fulfill all the nutritional requirements the animal needs. I've googled to see if anyone has tried something similar but to no avail. It seems like an untapped market but if nobody else is doing it there must be a reason .

Edit: what were the odds I picked this username before looking up keeping reptiles

 

[Minecraft Axolotl]

I'm back with a little query.

The main issue with leopard geckos is arguably keeping insects to feed them.
I have a flatmate recently leave who left behind a food dehydrator and it got me thinking, would it be possible to make up a premade mix for leopard geckos like the pangea/repashy stuff you get for crested geckos.

I got a cup with my hand blender, I put equal amounts of gutloaded crickets, dubia roaches and mealworms into it, add in a much lesser amount of wax worms and horn worms for flavour, a scoop of calcium and vitamin supplements. Blend the whole lot together until I have a fine insect puree.

I'd then spread this in the dehydrator and once it was done, vacuum seal it in bags and store it. Use it like crested gecko mix with adding a little water.

Would this work? It'll still fulfill all the nutritional requirements the animal needs. I've googled to see if anyone has tried something similar but to no avail. It seems like an untapped market but if nobody else is doing it there must be a reason .

Edit: what were the odds I picked this username before looking up keeping reptiles

Your username is certainly not the hottest for talking about reptiles haha.

I've often wondered why there isn't a repashy alternative for leopard geckos myself but I guess the simplistic answer to that is just they simply prefer to eat live food. I don't think a leopard gecko would be happy not being able to hunt for its prey or at least get the feeling of a freshly killed bug to enjoy.
However I have seen people feeding them a repashy/pangea mix before but only as a treat and not as a complete diet supplement. I've not tried it myself but its something I've always been curious about, but I still don't think that could be a complete diet for them as they're natural hunters.

I've seen people do something similar to what you mentioned above for their sick leopard geckos before, I think they were called slurries? They take a very similar recipe to yours; cuttlefish bones, meal worms, ect, and put it in a blender and then pump it into a syringe to feed them when they're sick and refusing to eat anything else. But I think thats only done to encourage them to start eating again/keep them alive.
The problem with this and your suggestion above is that dehydrated and blended ingredients tend to loose some of the vitamins when processed like that. I'm not entirely sure of the science behind it but I assume if you fed a leopard gecko on a diet like that then the leopard gecko would either become sick due to lack of nutrients or incredibly fat from over feeding to pump those vitamins into them.
And apart from that you would still be handling and keeping the live bugs to keep making the slurries/dehydrated food so I don't think that it really solves the problem in the end.