Burrowing

[KingWheatley]

Cookie's little nose found a way to burrow under the substrate and paper towel I placed underneath. I woke up to the sound of him trying to poke his nose back up to the surface, or so I imagined, but unable to do so because of the paper towel. I pulled him out and he had a little paper towel piece stuck in his mouth.

It's 3AM and it's the most I've seen him up and about, so I checked the state of everything. (Usually he's sitting in one of his hides. It's strange that he's exploring and being active...)

His humidity is low again. Sitting at about 40% with humidifier running. (It's at 20% when the humidifier is inactive) The heat is on so I think that's drying the air a lot. (I have my fan on because it's uncomfortably warm for me) His tank heat is 90 with UTH on the warm side and 82 on the cool side. No lamp right now.

I gave him fresh water, a cool rinse (water was 75, according to the thermometer, so it felt warm to me, but I imagine it felt cool to him), pulled the plug on the UTH and about to seek a better one from online with an inbuilt thermostat (I'll be looking through old threads. I know it's been linked. If anyone wants to re-link though, I would be gracious.) and better substrate. (Aspen eats humidity AND heat.)

The UTH used to be on a thermostat I had borrowed from my old roommate, however I had to leave that behind. The substrate on the surface was sitting at 88-93 depending on how close you are to the part where it's a bit compressed, but underneath the substrate, the glass surface is a worrying 118...

(All in Fahrenheit)

And since he is burrowing now... that can only mean it could have meant a burnt Cookie.

Things were going great before. The humidifier was keeping it at 60% and the cool side was at 75 and the warm side was at 85-90 with the UTH and Lamp. But now it's worryingly crappy. -face pillow-

Will he be ok for a couple days if I completely cover his tank up? It's usually really good at retaining heat, but if the lamp is on he may get too hot, so I'll have to keep that off while I'm gone. And the humidifier runs out of water every 6-8 hours, so I can't really keep that running while I'm gone. He's got fresh water, so I'm hoping that won't hurt him too much...



While writing this, I forgot to turn the light back off. He is not pleased. Soon as I turned the light off he started exploring his tank again. I can hear him poking around.

Does exploring more than finding a cooler/warmer hide always mean they are hunting?


Herp Derp

[PitOnTheProwl]

Your problem is not the heat mat. Your problem is not regulating your heat source. The glass (surface your snake can touch) shouldnt be over 95 degrees max.
Either get a thermostat or lamp dimmer to provide the correct husbandry.

[KingWheatley]

Your problem is not the heat mat. Your problem is not regulating your heat source. The glass (surface your snake can touch) shouldnt be over 95 degrees max.
Either get a thermostat or lamp dimmer to provide the correct husbandry.

Snakes can't see red light, right?


Herp Derp

[Yzmasmom]

Lamp dimmers are cheap at Walmart and can be used until you get a thermostat. We did that when Willows thermostat blew one night.

[Sallos]

Snakes can't see red light, right?


Herp Derp

The lamp dimmer is for the UTH. It is a cheaper alternative to using a thermostat. You manually adjust the dimmer until the glass under the substrate reaches the correct temperature, and once set, it should hold the same temp.

[KingWheatley]

The lamp dimmer is for the UTH. It is a cheaper alternative to using a thermostat. You manually adjust the dimmer until the glass under the substrate reaches the correct temperature, and once set, it should hold the same temp.

Ooooooh gotcha. I'd never heard of a lamp dimmer. Interesting.


Herp Derp

[KingWheatley]

He's up and about again. During the daylight hours, he will be in his hides, but during the night he is exploring his tank.

I want to say that it's because, other than the slight hiccup of the UTH which can be easily rectified, his husbandry is otherwise flawlessly following my expectations, so he feels safe enough to explore his space during the night, when he is awake. I am worried I am wrong.

That being said, the activity isn't something I'm used to, and typically changes in behavior are considered odd, right?


Herp Derp

[cchardwick]

Personally I'd get rid of the humidifier, being tied to filling it up every 8 hours is a nightmare. I tried a bigger one but had to fill it every day, I ditched it in after a couple weeks. Now I just spray the substrate every 3 days and let it get a bit dry between sprayings. The only way I'd go back to a humidifier is if I had a reverse osmosis unit hooked up to an automatic water supply feeding the humidifier so I'd never have to mess with it. I do keep the substrate damp if they go blue until after the shed. I don't worry so much about having exact humidity, it's really only important to bump it up high during a shed, otherwise it's find jumping around.

I'd also get rid of the aspen, it's difficult to keep the humidity up. I'd switch to a coconut husk fiber like Reptichip. It absorbs tons of water and keeps the humidity up and keeps the snake dry because it doesn't get soaked to the point where you have a puddle.

If you can't control the heat I'd pull all heat sources, better to be cold than burning hot. You can always crank up the room temp to the mid to upper 70s with a space heater until you can get a good thermostat. I have a whole box full of dimmers and $25-$100 thermostats that I don't use anymore, I finally upgraded to a couple Herpstat 4s. If you get one with the 'pulse' heating it will maintain temps better. I tried the cheap ones on Amazon for about $25, the temps vary up and down about 10 degrees, they are too variable for my taste. And I don't trust dimmers in the long run. The pulse thermostats will only vary a few degrees. I'm of the mindset of thinking that good equipment has good resell value if you ever want to get rid of it. And if you buy junk you'll end up with a pile of junk that you'll never be able to sell and will eventually upgrade later so it becomes obsolete. Better to get some good equipment up front if you can afford it. I was actually bidding on a Herpstat 4 on ebay, my max bid was $300. It sold for about $20 less than a brand new one, so I ended up just buying new. If I ever seriously got into breeding and had my own building with heated and humidified rooms I could sell all my Herpstats and get most of my money back.

[Yzmasmom]

My girls sleep in their hides all day and the spider roams her tank during the night and the BEL hangs out in her tree. They are nocturnal. Nighttime roaming is normal as long as it's not excessive.

[KingWheatley]

My girls sleep in their hides all day and the spider roams her tank during the night and the BEL hangs out in her tree. They are nocturnal. Nighttime roaming is normal as long as it's not excessive.

It was excessive, because he did it all day as well.

I thought perhaps it was the change in the atmosphere. Or that I changed him from paper towels to aspen. I switched back to paper towels.

Then I noticed a trend. When his cool side reached 80 (his warm side being 90), he would be out and about, trying to burrow, and so on. When it was lower, he was doing as he normally does and curled comfortably in a hide.

Perhaps, because of the cooler temperature I had him at the other house... maybe he is more comfortable in that because it's what he is used to? So his cool side is sitting at 70, regulated by the overall room temperature, and he has gone back to switching between warm and cool side hides and no more excessive roaming.


Herp Derp