BP colder then the tub?

[jwill226]

Sunday feeding day and my BP who has never refused a meal even in deep shed (I was leaving for a week with no one to feed so I offered and she took it) refused to eat. She was acting a little stressed and tried to stay away from the P/K rat. I left the rat in her tub for a little bit and she didn't touch it. She was acting afraid of the rat and slowly trying to leave her tub. This is not normal for her on feed day. I left her alone the rest of the day.

Monday I checked on her and she seemed a lot more calm. Over night she had been in her water dish. I could tell because it was nearly empty and her aspen was wet on that end of the tub. The water is on the cool side. She had pushed all the wet aspen into a pile about 4 inches high on the cool side and was curled up on top of it. Normally she burrows down to the bottom of the tub and lays directly on the plastic of what ever side she is in the mood for and uses the aspen as sort of a hide in the tub.

I pulled her out to look her over. She was cold to the touch. Not cold for a BP; but cold like when your wife puts her feet on you in bed cold. She was moving very slow. My temp gun had the warm side at 88, the cool side under the wet aspen had dropped to 65 (when dry it should be about 75). The walls and lid where 70 but my BP herself temped at 61.

I replaced the wet aspen. I held her in my arms near a small space heater until she warmed up some. She never tried to get away. She just held on to my arm like normal and stretched towards the warm air from the heater. As she warmed up she moved around at a more normal pace. She looks normal. Regular tongue flicks. but for some reason she went out of her way to be very cold. I did see very early signs of shed. She is getting the initial dull look. Normally she stays on the warm side during shed.

1000g 2012 normal female. Tub with locking lid. Several fake plant branches for hiding under. 2 inches of aspen. Nothing has changed about my husbandry in months since I moved her to a tub

I'm at work now and will be checking her when I get home. What could cause her to try and get so cold? Normally she hangs out on the warm side.

[PitOnTheProwl]

I am taking it that the room is not heated and your only heat source is a mat or flexawatt?
Post up a couple pictures of your setup.

[satomi325]

If she's 1000g, its common for BPs to go off feed once they hit around that weight. Its called 'hitting the wall'. Not to mention its currently the breeding season, where most adults do go off feed as well. Some females like being cooler when they're developing follicles. So that could be it maybe. She's a bit young and small, but not unheard of.

Your ambient temp sounds too low. If you can raise the room temp, that would be the easiest way to keep her warm. Tubs aren't great at insulating heat, so maybe build a little box cover out of styrofoam or wood to help insulate heat(like, something that covers the top, back, and sides of the tub. Like a single level rack almost). Heat mats provide a specific hot spot and don't really change air temps. So its important to make sure all the temps are within proper range or she could get sick.

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[Zach Cedor]

my 1800g pastel female did the same thing last night but my room is kept at 79-80 she is kept in a 41qt tub in a rack that is enclosed on all three sides and has a hot spot of about 88-89 is this just her way of cooling down for the season?

[jwill226]

When I checked on her after work she was back to her normal self. Laying on the hot side. When I first got her I kept her with an ambient of 78-80. She was always staying on the cool side and acted stressed. On one of my visits to the pet store where I got her when no one was around I reached in and temped their BP enclosure with my temp gun hidden in my pocket (this is when I found out they don't have belly heat there of any type). There ambient was 73. I lowered my BP down to 72-74 and she acted normal after that. Splitting her time between the cool and warm side about evenly. So that's where I try and keep it.

The last week or so that's been a pain because the weather has been changing a lot so I get a little more fluctuation in her temps. Even if ambient changes the hot side always stays at 88-90 on top of the UTH. The cool side fluctuates more mostly from the lack of insulation (I will see about wrapping in some heat retaining materials in the future). The room can get cold so I have a space heater with a thermostat going all the time.

What gets me is she went out of her way to get wet and stay away from the heat. She was in the farthest corner away from her warm spot. I also can't figure out how she could be colder them ambient.

I forgot to say before. the tub is a standard locking steralite tub from Walmart. 41qt I think. About 2.5 feet long and 1.5 feet wide and about 8 inches deep. Not sure because I took the sticker off.