Corn staying at coldest part of tank

[icygirl]

Jacob is in a tub under a heat lamp (I will be upgrading both my tanks to flexwatt as soon as I get some money). His substrate is eco-earth, mainly because he LOVES to dig tunnels and I wouldn't deny him that. His temps are 75 on cool side, and mid 80s on warm side - again, that will be improved when I upgrade the whole system.

But here's the thing: he has been digging himself to the bottom of the cool side where the temps are lowest. I pick him up and he feels cold! But he could easily dig a tunnel on the other side and be warmer . He's eating and defecating normally, is very active, and appears perfectly healthy. My question is, why is he doing this? Do any of your corns do this?

[Argentra]

Well, first off you don't need the dirt for tunneling. I use aspen in my tubs and it holds up great for their tunnels. There are times I can't see them anywhere.

And sure they'll spend more time (that you can see) on one side for a while, then switch over for a bit and go right back later. Unless you have a camera on them 24/7 you think they're just staying on one side.
Your temps sound good, but you could probably lower the cool side a bit more. Best rule of thumb is to have the cool side 10 degrees lower than the warm. They can handle it down to 70 with little trouble I believe.
Overall, corns are a cooler temp snake, and they like reminding us of that. My ghost very much prefers his cool side corner, while my snow likes to drape himself across both sides.

Oh, forgot to mention - He may be tunneling to get away from that heat lamp. In my little experience, they don't much like heat from above.

[icygirl]

Aspen's actually not a bad idea. I might switch over to that my next full tank strip.

I guess I'm just used to the approximate rules for BPs and others. Whenever I take out my BP she is warm and snuggly, and Jacob is just chilly... guess it just got me a little worrying.

BTW, I have had it up to here with heat lamps for my snakes and will be extremely happy to finally be rid of them. They're perfect for beardies and other low-humidity basking lizards, but not so much for snakes, as I've found out.

TYVM for reply

[icygirl]

By the way... if you use flexwatt or another UTH, what temperature do you set your thermostat for your corns? (if you use one)

[joepythons]

Jacob is in a tub under a heat lamp (I will be upgrading both my tanks to flexwatt as soon as I get some money). His substrate is eco-earth, mainly because he LOVES to dig tunnels and I wouldn't deny him that. His temps are 75 on cool side, and mid 80s on warm side - again, that will be improved when I upgrade the whole system.

But here's the thing: he has been digging himself to the bottom of the cool side where the temps are lowest. I pick him up and he feels cold! But he could easily dig a tunnel on the other side and be warmer . He's eating and defecating normally, is very active, and appears perfectly healthy. My question is, why is he doing this? Do any of your corns do this?

Remember your temp is 98.6 range so he is going to feel cooler .It sounds like he wants to "chill out" for awhile ,he will move when he needs to be heated up

[joepythons]

By the way... if you use flexwatt or another UTH, what temperature do you set your thermostat for your corns? (if you use one)

I set mine at the 80 range

[Argentra]

I have mine set so the temp measures 83-84 warm side. Right now, tho, three out of four of my corns are in QT out in the Living Room...in front of a huge glass sliding door. All three tubs have UTH's under one side and those are all plugged into a Ranco t-stat. The location sort of makes it hard to regulate their temps, especially the cool sides, but I make do.
The fourth corn is in the bedroom, where all of the snakes will be eventually, and in a 20L tank. His warm side is around 85, and that and the cool side (72-74) stay nicely stable.

[Blue Apple Herps]

If he's eating/defecating/shedding regularly then i wouldn't be worried about it. Just like people, corns are different from one to the next on what they "like". I have a female who never ever is on her warm side. Normally this might be a cause for concern (maybe her warm side is too warm? she's sick?), but the temps are fine and she's 100% healthy. She eats, sheds, poops, and breeds like clockwork. She's just different in what her ideal temps are. So if all appears normal I wouldn't worry too much about it.