a few questions

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Originally Posted by Mantra

i keep the hot side in the low 90's cool side in the low 80's, i feed him one a week, a live mouse from what i read it should be about as thick as his thickest part so i try and size it out as close to that and hes never had a problem eating 1st time i fed him a live mouse i was actually nervous cause i heard if he wasnt used to live he might suck at it but as soon as the mouse walked infront of his hide he had that mouse wrapped up and was swollowing it down shortly after lol

i guess the cage might be in what would be a high traffic area if my house had much traffic lol, but if thats is the problem that will change soon as im planning to move him into the spare room soon

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Do you have your digital thermometer with a probe over the hot side? Or how are you measuring direct temps? Are you using an UTH or a heat bulb? If an UTH is it regulated by a thermostat?

If he's eating once a week without refusals that's good, usually stressed balls will go off feed. Maybe you can offer him more cover to see if he calms down? I personally think excessive roaming is a sign of some sort of stress, so maybe for him to calm he needs more foliage to hide in. I use lots of fake plants, but something as simple as crumpled up newspaper can be used too. Also I suggest blacking out the back three sides with construction paper to make it more cave-like, he might feel like he's pretty out in the open with the high transparent walls. Looking at your hides too I like having two identical hides so my snakes can thermo-regulate themselves without favoring a particular hide, I suggest getting two very cave-like hides for the hot and cold side (ie none of those half logs that they sell in stores, but an almost enclosed hide). I use plastic bowls with little entrances cut out of them from Walmart for $1 for 4, and they work great too.

These are just suggestions to maybe give your ball some more security so he's not roaming so much.

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

Do you have your digital thermometer with a probe over the hot side? Or how are you measuring direct temps? Are you using an UTH or a heat bulb? If an UTH is it regulated by a thermostat?

If he's eating once a week without refusals that's good, usually stressed balls will go off feed. Maybe you can offer him more cover to see if he calms down? I personally think excessive roaming is a sign of some sort of stress, so maybe for him to calm he needs more foliage to hide in. I use lots of fake plants, but something as simple as crumpled up newspaper can be used too. Also I suggest blacking out the back three sides with construction paper to make it more cave-like, he might feel like he's pretty out in the open with the high transparent walls. Looking at your hides too I like having two identical hides so my snakes can thermo-regulate themselves without favoring a particular hide, I suggest getting two very cave-like hides for the hot and cold side (ie none of those half logs that they sell in stores, but an almost enclosed hide). I use plastic bowls with little entrances cut out of them from Walmart for $1 for 4, and they work great too.

These are just suggestions to maybe give your ball some more security so he's not roaming so much.

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i use these http://www.zilla-rules.com/products/...hermometer.htm let me know if theres a reason this would be bad.

but dont get me wrong hes not always moving around i guess i might of used to strong of a description as most of the day he is in his hide just especially later in the evening ill catch him for a bit come out and climb around the cage and well being new to snakes i actually thought maybe he needed a bigger space lol but i guess its actually closer to the opposite lol....

i actually don't think he prefers one side to the other he moves over freely but i did switch out the log on the right since then to more of a cave hide closer to the tree hide on the left

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mantra

i use these http://www.zilla-rules.com/products/...hermometer.htm let me know if theres a reason this would be bad.

but dont get me wrong hes not always moving around i guess i might of used to strong of a description as most of the day he is in his hide just especially later in the evening ill catch him for a bit come out and climb around the cage and well being new to snakes i actually thought maybe he needed a bigger space lol but i guess its actually closer to the opposite lol....

i actually don't think he prefers one side to the other he moves over freely but i did switch out the log on the right since then to more of a cave hide closer to the tree hide on the left

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I don't have experience with that particular thermometer, I just use the Accurite thermometers so maybe more can chime in to the Zilla one.

If he's not constantly roaming during the daytime and whatnot then he sounds normal - almost all of my snakes are more active in the evenings too.