won't leave the cool side hide?

[Alexandra V]

I've had my snake for a couple days now and I haven't seen him leave his hide on the cooler side of the aquarium... should I be worried? He seems to have a good appetite, so I don't think things could be that bad, could they?

[RichsBallPythons]

Post your details with pictures. So we can be sure everything is setup properly while hes adjusting to his new home.

[Alexandra V]

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1296147_n.jpg

please don't mind the bad picture quality, i'm not the greatest photographer... It's a 33 gal tank with metal grating for the top, cool side temp is around 78-80 F (belly temp) and the warm side is about 90 F (belly temp). Humidity hovers around 50-60 percent, and to keep it there I usually mist whenever I think it needs it because the air in my house is very dry. On the photo, the cool side is the darker side on the left. Both hides are identical. He just ate yesterday and I've had him since wednesday.

[BlueCinder]

by the look of your hides, hes pretty small. And that tank is HUGE.
if it is a baby, you should probably consider downgrading to a 10 or 15 gallon long tank. If you cant do that, put LOTS of fake plants or crumpled newspaper throughout the tank. Ball pythons like LOTS of security and right now there is pretty much none except the hides.

[MiniJ83]

How are you measuring belly temps? Those stick on gauges are worthless. Grab yourself a coupe accurites with probes.

[RichsBallPythons]

Yes the price you paid for the stick ons you could of grabbed some nice digital ones to read cool side, warm side and humidity all in one for about 12-15$

[mykee]

Above agreed X 2.
Unless your ball pythons live their lives hovering 6 inches above the substrate, those temp stickie thingies are completely useless.

[55Ballin]

All together, once you get the temps accurately measured, it doesn't really matter where he is. He knows what he needs and he'll go where he's comfortable. But if those analog thermometers are reading 90-something degrees that high up, chances are its much much hotter on the ground which is why he's on the cool side. Get a digital thermometer indoor/outdoor thermometer from Wal-Mart and reassess. If its still too high (though I suggest a thermostat) put a magazine under the substrate where the UTH is and it should make it a little cooler.

[BMorrison]

Furio spends I'd say a good 70% of his time in his cool hide, The only time he uses his warm one is after eating. Some snakes prefer the warm hide, some prefer the cool hide, all in preference... Lisa likes the house to be a million and 9 degrees, I like about 67... all in preference

[Alexandra V]

i tested the belly temps with my friends infrared temp gun, but it wasn't mine so it's possible that it changed and i wasn't able to see it. i went out and got a digital thermometer with a probe so i can measure both sides by simply moving the probe. as it turns out, the temps have stabilized at about 76.5 on the cool side and around 88.5 on the warm side.