stays on cooler side

well its been almost 24hrs since i picked up my BP named phantom and i am noticing that when ever he is not exploring his cage he stays on the cooler side of the tank which is kept around 82 - 83 F. the hotter side in the low 90's. i did notice this morning when i got up the temp had dropped on the cool side to 79 F and the hot side was about 88F and he was then resting in the center of the cage. seems as though phantom prefers the lower to mid 80's. i have been keeping a close eye on him, even woke up 3 times during the night to check how everything was and i have never seen him stay on the hot side. I also have placed a number of rolled up paper balls in the cage and he has a hide on the cool side and a hide on the hot side which he never uses. Is this just saying that possibly my snake feals safe out in the open and prefers the cooler temps? or could there be something wrong? i know i am probably just paranoid.

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Originally Posted by new2BP

i know i am probably just paranoid.

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yes.

Relax. Your snake is "adjusting" ... over time it will use all of the parts of the cage that it needs to thermoregulate. The only thing you can do is provide for what your snake NEEDS and let it make the choice.

Oh, and stabilize those temp!! Temp swings are a good way to work on a respiratory infection. A good thermostat will keep them from dropping when the ambient room temps get cooler!

-adam

adam, just what i thought. thanks.

i just got done checking out a thermostate. i need some advice. it is a pain being paranoid about wether your temps are ok when u leave the house. through this site i was directed to check out www.reptilesupply.com and found this thermostate. Its a ReptiTemp 500R Model # RT-500R made by Zoo Med. any thoughts on this thermostate?

Honestly ... In my opinion .... ReptiTemps suck! .... They are prone to failures and are basically a toy. It's like trying to setup an alarm system for your home with stuff from the "spy toys" isle in Toys -r- Us.

Check out www.mgreptiles.com ... Matt is a regular poster on this site and is an EXPERT in all things reptile heating related.

I personally use Helix thermostats on all of my rack systems. They are probably the most expensive, but I have some units that are 10 years old and have never had a failure.

When you consider the fact that you'll have your snake at least 20 years, spending $120 on a professional thermostat works out to only $6.00 per year for your piece of mind.

-adam

Yep best advice in the world. Check out Matt's site and email directly to him. He's great at setting you up with what's appropriate, answering tons of questions and staying within your budget.

We've all joked that when you get that first ball python you also get a free case of raging O.C.D. (obsessive compulsive disorder). Once you get the temps and humidity stabilized it does lessen as you get more confident in your equipment and your ability to deal with your new snake.

We've had ours only a short time and with a ton of support here, we are now much more confident (yah just wait till something wierd happens LOL I'll be right back here in full panic mode).

~~Joanna~~