Fluffy does not like the ground???

I just purchased a male normal Ball (both parents were Pastel). It acted normal at the NY snake expo. It acted normal at home before we put it into the "cage".

The temps as shown here:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...e.php?i=9194&c=

Hot spot under plastic hide = 91.4 temp on cool side = 83.1 and humidity is 64%.

I thought this was the ideal? When we put him in, he went crazy. Climbing all over the place -- knocking over the plants, temp gauge and he ended up here:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/gallery/...e.php?i=9193&c=

I figured that it was too hot for him so I turned off the overhead light, and the side uth (for ambient temp). I droped the hot side to 85.1

Now he is resting on the driftwood and the ambient temp is 81.0 (he seems to be happy now.)

What's up with this!!!! According to the sheet that came with him he was hatched on 6/10/06 and his last mouse was yesterday (9/9/06).

What should I do now?

Just give him time to settle in and get used to his new home. I'm not sure temperatures were the issue...just that everything was so new to him. He may continue to explore and press all the bounderies of his enclosure anytime he's awake for a few days, and may fall asleep in weird places until he's discovered his hides and assured himself that nothing else lives in there. (My guesses at what goes through a snake's mind when exploring a new home.)

I was checking out some other pictures and I see you have a tall tank. Ball pythons are not arboreal, they are terrestrial, therefore, needing more room to stretch on the ground.

Just let him settle in for a few weeks, or just get him a tub, and let him settle in again for a week or two.

When I brought my bp home he acted the same way. He went around exploring, bumping into the glass, climbed over the old temp/humidity gauges that were stuck on the glass, knocked over the acurite, knocked over his shark decoration, climbed over and under his hides.

He stays in the cool hide almost all the time.

Probably just getting used to his new home

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Originally Posted by Rhapsody

He stays in the cool hide almost all the time.

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You might want to try lowering your temps a little then. It is healthy for a snake to thermoregulate themselves regularly and not spend the majority of their time on one side of a cage.

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Originally Posted by Dougie

You might want to try lowering your temps a little then. It is healthy for a snake to thermoregulate themselves regularly and not spend the majority of their time on one side of a cage.

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he spends the day in there at least. this morning i woke up and noticed he had knocked over his thermometer.

cool temp: 81.7
warm temp: 88.3

Thanks everyone. About 12:30am last night he found the warm side hide -- I came out to check on him and about three inches of tail were sticking out of the hide. This morning he was totally inside and his nose just a half inch from the opening. Now he seems to be very happy. I am raising the temp from 85 to 88 on the warm side. I am also turning on the lamp. It won't help at night but the ambient temp in our apt. dropped to 77 last night. At least he won't freeze today.

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Originally Posted by bpkid

I was checking out some other pictures and I see you have a tall tank. Ball pythons are not arboreal, they are terrestrial, therefore, needing more room to stretch on the ground.

Just let him settle in for a few weeks, or just get him a tub, and let him settle in again for a week or two.

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julius has a bunch of vines up in her tank, and she spends more time up in those than anything else during the late afternoon through morning

when i first got my BP into his tank he didnt like hides either, he stayed on top of a temple type decoration in his tank. A few days later he got more confortable in his tank. My BP also likes to stay on branches, once he wakes up you will rarely find him on the ground. He's like a little monkey lol

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Originally Posted by bchapman

julius has a bunch of vines up in her tank, and she spends more time up in those than anything else during the late afternoon through morning

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It doesn't mean she's arboreal.