Why is she acting NUTTZO!!??

Alright, not only has Hissy gone off feed, but she has taken to another strange behavior that is both annoying and concerning me. She has begun to, all of a sudden, burrow beneath her substrate. I used to use exclusively reptile carpet or rug. She was always fine with it. Never even once did she ever even try to get underneath it. All of a sudden, right around the same time she decided to stop eating, she began finding ways to get under the rug! Obviously I am concerned because I don't like the idea of nothing between her & her heat source but rubbermaid plastic. At the same time, it is annoying because i have to retrieve her from her new found hiding spot a couple of times each day. I try to anchor it all around the edges & I even switched to papertowel because it is easier to anchor down. Still, she always manages to find a way to snake (pun intended) her way under it. The crazy thing is, when i take her out & re-adjust the anchors in the tank & whatnot, I put her back in & aim her head towards one of her hides. She used to love these hides. Whenever i used to pick her up I would put her back in by aiming her head at her hides and she would cruise right into them. Now, she puts only the front quarter of her body into the hide until i walk away & then it is right back to looking for a way to get under the substrate. Her temps are perfect, her humidity is perfect, WTF is going on!!?? Can anyone give me any advice!!??

She sounds perfectly normal to me.

Are you sure temps are "perfect"? If you're using a UTH, it sounds like she is trying to get warmer. Also, ball pythons like to wedge themselves into tight space where there is contact on all sides of their body. Hiding spots like that make them feel very secure, like nothing can "get them". Sounds to me like she found a warmer more secure (to her) hiding spot and won't give it up anytime soon.

I would leave her alone and let her feel safe, she is just being a ball python.

-adam

I suppose that it is always up to the snake to determine "perfect" temps but I have regularly kept the temps in the 90-95F warm side, 78-84F cool side range & the humidity stays between 50-60%. So I guess what I am trying to say is that the temps are ideal for what most "experts" feel they should be. Her hides are tight & well enclosed. As I said, she has always loved them. She crams herself into one hide that I would think is too small for her but she loves the thing so i leave it in there for her. Then I have one where she gets in & can rest comfortable while still touching all sides. I would really have no problem with her going under the substrate if i wasn't worried that she was going to lay in an area that ends up being too hot & she burns herself. I want her to be safe.

My male, Ashes, was like that. I switched to cypress mulch substrate, and he does not bury beneath that. He creates a little indent in the mulch, inside his flowerpot-tray hide, but that's about it. He is the only snake I have ever had that liked to burrow under newspaper, fake grass carpet, etc. and no matter WHAT you would use to weigh it down (rocks, bricks even) he'd find a way. I think the mulch as solved the problemo, although it is a bit of a pain to lay enwspaper down before every feeding so that none is ingested. It looks good though.

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Originally Posted by Eddie_Z

I would really have no problem with her going under the substrate if i wasn't worried that she was going to lay in an area that ends up being too hot & she burns herself. I want her to be safe.

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Then make sure that the hot spot doesn't go over 95 degrees and she'll be fine.

Also, I'm no "expert", but in my opinion unless you are breeding her, a range of 84 to 78 is getting too low and unstable for a "cool" spot. 78 degrees is a temp that will cause balls to go off feed. I personally always like a steady 84 on the cool side and 94 on the hot unless they're being cycled for breeding. As I'm sure you already know, don't take what the so called "expets" say as gospel, use it as a guide and then do what works for your snakes.

Hope this helps.

-adam