Always Hiding

[Danny350]

I have two Balls in the same tank(bad) and they stay together constantly in the same hide box and never come out. Do they only come out in search of food? They get fed once a week so they are never real hungry.

Also, I only take them out to feed them but sometimes I would like to just hold them for a while but I feel so guilty waking them up. Is it OK to take them out in the sunlight? I know they are nocturnal.

Cool side temp. is in the low 80's and the warm hide has a UTH and is in the high 90's with a tank humidity of 65-70%.

Any advice will be appreciated.

[jotay]

Hi Danny350 Welcome!
My bp stays in his hide 98% of the time but I just wait until evening and pop up his hide and gently take him out. He doesn't seem to mind.
Your hot side temps sound a little high 90-95 is a better range and 80-85 cool side.
I usually take my bp out at night except to the vet and when I do that he seems a bit out of it during the daylight hours, so I stick with handling at night.
As for coming out mine seems to only come out to drink, change hides or poo.
Hope this helps.

[gen]

I would suggest putting them in seperate enclosures if you can. What type of caging do you have for them now?

You warm side temps definitely sound too high. Do you have space between the UTH and the tank? Does it have a high low switch and is it on low? If it is already on low and your temps are that high, you should put the UTH on a dimmer switch or rheostat or thermostat. Something to keep the temps down to about 90.

It is normal for ball pythons to spend most of their time hiding. If you want to take them out I would also suggest doing so at night. How long have you had them?

Also if you don't already, you should have 2 hides, one on the warm side and one on the cool side.

[gen]

Oh yeah, welcome to the site!

[Danny350]

Thanks for the welcome.
They live in an aquarium 48x18x18 with plexiglass tops where the screen was. I have a hide in the cool side and warm side but they always stay in the cool side hide. Sometimes when I put them back in the cage they will go in the warm hide box and stay for about 5 or 10 minutes but then they go into the cool hide, probably because it is too hot like you suggested.

The UTH is on a rheostat and is set on low but the tank is not elevated off the pad. I will raise the tank off the pad today.

Last week while feeding live I had a little scare, there was quite abit of blood visible and although I was watching, I could not be sure who's blood it was. I was mad at myself for letting this happen knowing what I read here about live feeding. After he was finnished eating I cleaned where the blood was and it was thick and gooey and would not come off easily so I thoght for sure he had been bit.
I began to clean the "wound " and the blood and all came off, I was so relieved that he was not hurt. That was a wake-up call and I need to get them on FT/PK very soon.

[gen]

Yeah, they may not be using the warm hide because it's too hot. I'm glad to hear you're going to put some space between the uth and the tank. Let us know how it goes, it should lower the temps.

Also glad to hear you'll be switching to fpk or f/t. I'm on p/k now, but I'm going to attempt frozen thawed this week. Keep us posted!

[sophie42204]

Welcome, Danny! Let us know how the switch goes from live to f/t or p/k.

[zennygirl]

i thought two in the same tank was a big no no unless they are breeding.
also that is so awful your snake was hurt by his live prey, i don't like to hear stories like that. i recommend feeding him two baby fuzzy rats, too young to hurt him. that is what i do for my adult ball since he only eats well with live. i would never give him a full size live rat that could injure him. this breed is too sweet and docile.

[gozetec02]

Like many here i say you got to seperate these two. Even though they coexist they probibly feel safer together i.e. safety in numbers. But even a rubbermaid or sterilite tub will be better then keeping them together. They follow eachother to the hide because they feel safe. Thats an awfully big tank. Try putting some foliage on the ground like vines or something that way they can slip from hide to hide unnoticed..

Thats all from me. Welcome to the forum.

[Marla]

Actually, it's entirely possible that they are competing for the best place to thermoregulate and not being buddies. Pythons aren't the most social animals, even though they generally will get along.