Why So Active All Day?

[hotelvoodoo]

So I've had my two pythons for a little over two weeks now and they are so different! My little girl likes to hide all day, either under her log or behind a tree and then come out at night, but HE IS ACTIVE THE WHOLE DAY! He is running around the cage like a madman trying to scale the sides of the cage. He has been spending more time like this and less time in his hide. The temps are good, the humidity good, he's been eating... Is he ill or stressed or just feeling adventurous? I'd like to think he's just getting more comfortable and wants to be a part of the out of cage experience, but I keep thinking "a secretive ball python is a happy ball python"
Any suggestions?

[The Serpent Merchant]

Are they in seperate enosures?

[DooLittle]

Sounds to me like he is stressed. What is your set up? Does he have appropriate hides, what are temps, how are you controlling them, how much are you handling??? Also, as said above, they are not housed together are they?

[mattchibi]

Maybe add in another hide if you are only using one, or try adding some more ground cover (fake leaves, crumpled newspaper, etc). You can also go over our care sheet to make sure everything is on spot: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...s%29-Caresheet

[hotelvoodoo]

They share a cage, but it's divided so they never interact. He has two hides some branches, a fern... The temps range from 78-83 ambient night to day and from around 88-94 night to day basking. We handle him around once a week.

[kitedemon]

That sounds fine I might drop the day warm spot temp (hot but it isn't really hot to humans) to max at 90-2. Thermometers unless you have a good one ($200+) often have an error up or down from correct. Most are rated to be with in 2ºF of correct either high or low. Simply just plan for that. if you set the highest day temp to be 90-92 the range is still ok up or down.

They are individuals and what is a good temp for one maybe a touch hot for the other.

You don't need a night drop if you have planned one but often they happen with out planning just be the room cooling over night. It is fine just try to keep it at the temps you have already.

It sounds like stress to me too. Temps or security could be either.

[LotsaBalls]

How old/big are they and how often and what have you been feeding them?

[blushingball419]

The temps sound fine, although I agree with kitedemon that the warm side needs to come down a few degrees. A good thermometer or temp gun is invaluable.

It definitely sounds like stress, and different bps deal with it in different ways. Your female obviously already feels pretty safe and secure, but he probably just needs more time to settle in. I also recommend getting some different hides for him since he needs more than some branches and a fern to hide under. They really like more cave-like hides, such as the ones you can find at the reptile basics website, or you can just buy a couple of dark colored (opaque) plastic bowls at the dollar store and cut a hole in the side. He also might benefit from having the glass on his side of the tank covered with dark construction paper to help him feel more secure.

Just give him some time and make sure your husbandry is correct, he'll calm down eventually

[hotelvoodoo]

Well, after a lot of discussion and trying new things and new hides and all kinds of stuff, we broke down and decided to build a rack so we could house them in a totally proper way. Of course the day we bought the materials, our little boy burrowed under the water dish and now rarely shows his face. He spends most of the day and about 1/2 the night hanging out under there. Kids...

[Slim]

You won't regret moving to a rack system. It's so much easier to maintain proper conditions for your BPs.