Unconventional Hide

So things have been weird with Zoe my bp lately. The other night she wasn't being as friendly as normal. Today when i went to check on her humidity, I panicked when i saw she had escaped from her tank! After doing the stupid thing and freaking out, i found her less then a foot away from the tank in my shoe. I put her back in the tank afterwards and made sure the top was secure.

Well I continued to check on her, and to my dismay she wasn't acting normal. She usually spends the entire day curled up in one of her hides sleeping, but each time i checked on her she was wide awake and sniffing around the top of the tank, as if she was trying to get out again. This had me really worried. I was told that if a bp is trying to get out of her tank, it means she's not happy in it and/or stressed. Then i had the bright idea to take the shoe i had found he sleeping in and put it in there with her. I checked on her a little after and it was back to normal sleeping nocturnal zoe, only now she was sleeping in the SHOE! It was adorable and a relief.

so my question is this. is it a bad idea to have that shoe in there? I think it's cause she might have outgrown her hide, no surprise she got big quick. She seems to like the shoe, but should i worry about bacteria or anything else that can harm her? The shoe is old and worn (maybe a year old, yuck). Thoughts? Opinions?

Aw that's so cute! I love their unique little preferences... But yeah I might try to disinfect the shoe somehow. Is it a trainer/tennis shoe? Just wash it in the laundry on hot cycle, like you would normally, and let it dry. That will take care of it.

My python's favourite hide is a small, posh-looking Belvedere vodka sample box. (the box is empty of course...) She gets really mad at me when I take it out to clean it.

That tells me you should do a total check-over of your tank specifics: temps, humidity, substrate(and depth), cover, and furniture. Especially hides. If she prefers that shoe it means she wants hides that hug her and make her feel secure.

Some snakes want tighter hides than others. My young normal female seems to like space and prefers medium hides, while my pastel male likes his tight hides so much he 'complained' like yours was doing when I tried to update them (so I left him the old small ones).