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From the Editor

Welcome back to the Cold Blooded Chronicles! Spring is just around the corner and things are really starting to heat up here at Kingsnake.com. Kingsnake Canada (http://www.kingsnake.ca) and Kingsnake Europe (http://kingsnake.co.uk) have been reorganized and have many great new features. We are having regular forum photo contests. The response from the herp community to our Rescue Network has been extraordinary. If you operate a rescue group or shelter, or are looking for a pet to adopt, be sure to visit us at http://www.rescuenetwork.org.

Best of all, our regular monthly guest chats are back! Our first guest will be Kathy Love from Corn-utopia, answering your corn snake questions. Kathy is one of the best known corn snake breeders and author of The Corn Snake Manual. She always goes the extra mile to help new customers and corn snake owners find their way through their first herp ownership. Kathy has been a strong presence here on Kingsnake.com and we think you all will enjoy chatting with her. To learn more about Kathy, her Business Corn-utopia, and corn snakes join us Friday, March 5, 2003 from 9-10 PM Eastern Time in the Kingsnake Chat room. You can access the chat room here http://www.kingsnake.com/chat/index.html. We hope to see you there!

Cindy Rampacek Editor, Cold Blooded Chronicles phfaust@pethobbyist.com

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Contribute to Cold Blooded Chronicles!

Do you have something to say about herp issues? Have you written a care sheet? Have words of advice for newcomers to the hobby, especially kids? If you're an oldtime herper, do you remember how you got started? If you'd like to submit an article to Cold Blooded Chronicles, just send an email to PHFaust at coldblooded@pethobbyist.com!

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Letter from a Baby Corn Snake to New Owners
By Kathy Love

I'm just a baby and its my first day away from home. Don't be surprised if I'm a little shy and nervous at first. I just survived a long, bumpy (and maybe hot or cold) journey. Everything in my new home looks, smells, and vibrates completely differently than anything I've ever experienced in my short life. My old home was small, secure and usually quiet, except each week when a towering two-legged monster intruded to bring food, water or clean. Our next couple of weeks together will influence the rest of my life, and I need assurances that it will be calm and safe for me like at the last place. This will help.

I know I'm irresistibly cute, but please try to let me rest for the first three days. Just give me a quiet little home with a hide box, water bowl, and the correct temperatures (low end - around 75 - 80 degrees F; high end - low to mid 80s F. The shavings in my shipping cup are from my old home; please put them in my new hide box to make me feel more secure. After three days, you can give me a VERY SMALL meal, much smaller than would be typical for my size. I'm used to eating in my shipping cup - just me and my mouse, nothing else - about once per week! After about 3 weeks of small meals and very little handling, I should be acclimated and ready for normal-sized meals and some gentle handling. You may wish to feed me more often, like once every 3 - 5 days, so I'll start growing even faster. Remember - AVOIDING UNNECESSARY STRESS is the key to keeping me 'chilled out' to assure long-term health and growth success!

After the first three weeks, I would like frequent, short periods of gentle handling so I become really tame and friendly with my new "parents."

Please keep me alone, at least for the first few months. I may become intimidated by a cagemate, or I may do just fine. Who knows? Please wait until you know all of my habits before you introduce new stress into my life.

Copyright 2004 by Kathy Love. Reprinted with permission. Kathy is the author of The Corn Snake Manual and can be contacted through her website at http://www.corn-utopia.com.

Cold Blooded Chronicles is copyright 2004 by OnlineHobbyist.com unless otherwise specified. All rights reserved.