Shed box

On March 14, 2026 By CarynIn snake

My eldest noticed an anomaly on her snake’s lip and took him into the vet for a look. It turns out it was just a loose scale, not mouth rot or any other number of horrid things, but the vet did suggest keeping his container at 50% humidity and making him a shed box full of damp sphagnum moss.

Photo description: transparent plastic box with a large hole cut into one end then sanded smooth and filled with sphagnum moss

Photo description: Malt the corn snake in the shed box and my hand keeping the door shut while I took the picture

When I put the shed box in his container, I put a black piece of material around it to make it more inviting. He still didn’t like it and found his way back to his other hole with the wet wash cloth.

Photo description: corn snake head coming out from the shed box, with his normal box on the right, washcloth visible from the opening

At least he now has choices, and I’ll keep replacing the washcloth with freshly damp ones, and misting the container. His eyes are currently cloudy, a sign that he is getting ready to shed. Eventually his eyes will go clear, then he’ll shed within a few days.

He’s looking

On February 22, 2026 By CarynIn snake

Photo description: corn snake peeking out of the aspen shavings while his body is coiled on a basket above him

It is Spring and Malt the corn snake is looking for the ladies. He is restless and traversing his cage all day, and isn’t interested in eating. He skipped this routine last year, and I was hoping that he was getting too old for the mate pursuit, but alas, no. He typically goes 4-6 weeks before he’ll eat when he gets this way, which stresses us out.

I think he likes it!

On February 15, 2023 By CarynIn Craft, snake

It took a couple weeks, but my eldest’s snake is now using the new basket as a hide! He has crawled over and around it and squished it out of shape, but not crushed it. I’m calling it a successful creation.

Snake hide basket upgrade

On January 27, 2023January 23, 2023 By CarynIn Craft, snake

The picture above was taken the day after we put the new rope basket (see yesterday’s post) in the snake cage. He did investigate it, but in doing so knocked off the lid and squished the basket. The basket is semi-flexible, but doesn’t make a good hide if the lid is off. Hm. I decided to add a hinge and latch.

I had a premade rope frog (latch) in my stash that has been stashed for a couple generations. I sewed it on the basket. To make the hinge I just sewed one side of the lid to the basket, since the sides are flexible. As I was sewing, Izzy the cat decided that she would try out the basket on my lap. She didn’t fit.

This has become quite the fancy snake basket. Well, currently it is just a basket. The snake has yet to curl up in it, but it survived a night in the cage without collapsing, so we’ll see if he takes to it. At least it is washable if he decides we just gave him a second bathroom.

Snake hide basket

On January 26, 2023January 23, 2023 By CarynIn Craft, snake

My eldest’s corn snake is a big boy, and has outgrown his favorite hide. We’ve been trying different things: he likes the large PVC tube section, but sticks out the ends, the large black plastic rectangle tub he decided was better as a bathroom than a hide, and the slabs of cork bark are fun to climb around, but not hide under. So I thought I would make him a basket. I purchased half inch polypropylene rope, which it is used for boating and is mold and mildew resistent, and sewed it together with bonded nylon thread.

Sewing a coil basket was easier than I feared. I chose a method where the needle is stuck through the top of the previous row, then wrapped around the current row. To make it better for snake habitation, I built in an entrance near the base.