Won't go in hide

so I've had my BP for roughly 8 weeks now and overall its been pretty good and easy. He is a killerbee yb het pie male. He currently weighs 155 grams or so. He eats consistently now and he was hiding in his hide during the day and coming out at night. Which I thought was pretty standard.. About a week ago I noticed that he's been sleeping outside the hides. No matter what I do, switching around hides placing him in the hide or whatever he will just move himself back outside the hide, wedged outside the hide or right out in the open.

I've replaced the substrate, cleaned the hides, replaced the water every couple days, and kept the temps pretty normal. The temps range from 86-93 on the high side and 74-80 on the low side. I have a fogger to keep the humidity right which i put in there about 3 weeks ago.. The humidity is currently at 70% as he is in shed. The only thing left for him to shed is his nose and eye caps. He's been shedding now for the last 9 days or so. I thought maybe hes out in the open all the time from him shedding but idk.

Any ideas on why he is doing this would be much appreciated. I want him to be a happy snake and everything I've read says its not normal for them to be out of their hide for extended periods of time.

What are you using as hides?

The head and eye caps should come off first during shed. Eye caps can actually get stuck and build up if humidity is not fixed. Having that fogger will really help but if you are using a screen top tank I would use some foil duct tape and cover a good portion of it to keep the humidity in.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KMG

What are you using as hides?

The head and eye caps should come off first during shed. Eye caps can actually get stuck and build up if humidity is not fixed. Having that fogger will really help but if you are using a screen top tank I would use some foil duct tape and cover a good portion of it to keep the humidity in.

---

The hides im using are a giant hollow rock which I admit is too big for him but the other is half a log which is not too big for him. I've switched them around to see if that makes a difference but it doesn't.
So I am using a screen top. I put a towel over 3/4 of the top and have my light on the other quarter as well as a lot of space for air to get in haha.. I swear to God he shed everything but his head. I know thats not normal.

For both the log and rock you can put moss in them to make them feel smaller and therefore make the snake feel more secure. During a shed you can dampen the moss to create a humid hide. Doing that alone gave me perfect sheds with my Ball in a screen top tank, partially covered.

For the log I would also suggest backing it up to one of the walls and placing thick paper on the outside to make the log more of a cave. Also stuffing moss in the back and the front can help but covering the opening from the outside is a great way to make the log feel more secure.

Then the towel on the screen is common but it holds humidity and if you are making it wet during shed it will rust the screen. For the longest I used cardboard I cut to shape and then covered with foil. I had the windows I needed for my heat sources and was good. Then if I need to take it off it simply would lift off. Now being in a snake room I don't use it any more as I have a humidifier for the entire room.

This is the moss I have always used and have enjoyed.

https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Terra...042nst800sr-20

If the set up provides enough security, i.e size and other cover. and the hides are in the right temperature options. The snake may not need the hide all the time to feel secure.
Also its a bit of an individual thing in my experience, Some love hides, but I have some that never use them.
That's based on tubs with all walls but one covered. its the same for exposed vivs or unexposed vivs and partial cover like plants and such.
I would say It varies on individual and the amount of cover in the rack or viv.

Just my opinions. Listen to other more experienced keepers too

Awesome I appreciate it. So you think its due to the shed?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kingdre517

Awesome I appreciate it. So you think its due to the shed?

---

I would guess it has nothing to do with the shed and everything to do with feeling secure. If the hide is not giving the snake a secure feeling it is useless and the snake may not use it.

Make the hides feel more secure and I bet you see your snake start to use them.

It's worth trying some of the strategies suggested to make the hides feel more secure. It's also worth considering...just doing nothing. You've been messing with the enclosure a lot. Let your snake settle in.

My snakes go through phases with hides. Some use them constantly but swap hides a bit; others rarely or never use hides. In addition to true hides, I like to provide cork rounds and areas of heavy cover (using fake vines) so that the snake has some choices.

Your snake is new, so is still figuring things out - and it can take several weeks for them to decide what their favorite spots are. Just as an example, I needed to add a new, larger hide for one of my Antaresia pythons. He completely ignored it for a solid six weeks - I mean he didn't even go near it. Now it seems to be his favorite spot. Go figure.

One quirky little thing I've noticed is that every one of my snakes that happens to have a sky hide and/or one of those Zilla Rock Lair hides just loves them - with the Zilla hides, maybe it's because they actually need to crawl into a little cave-like area and they feel more secure there. With the sky hides, I'm not sure. Even my terrestrial snakes spend a ton of time in sky hides. So much so that I'm planning on adding a sky hide for every snake.

If the snake had secure hides I would agree to let it do it's thing. Being that it doesn't I would make them more secure feeling and let the snake decide if it wants to use them then. If it doesn't, it doesn't.... But I bet it does.

Those half logs are not great to start but with moss and closing one end off it will work.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KMG

If the snake had secure hides I would agree to let it do it's thing. Being that it doesn't I would make them more secure feeling and let the snake decide if it wants to use them then. If it doesn't, it doesn't.... But I bet it does.

Those half logs are not great to start but with moss and closing one end off it will work.

---

I agree, I also would suggest getting the same hides for both ends of the enclosure. Give your snake the exact same options for hides on both ends so the only difference is the temps. A BP will choose security over warmth, so really you want both your hides to be exactly the same.

Personally I use these in all my enclosures for all my animals.
https://www.pangeareptile.com/store/...ide-boxes.html