Why does she insist on being so cold?

do not try to tell me to make it warmer or suggest that she is chosing that side for security or any other reason. She wants to be cold. She is perfectly healthy and behaves normally. There is nothing wrong with her. I only want to know if there is any biological reason she would choose to be so cold suddenly

Well to answer the one question you want to know, no there is no biological reason for a snake to choose a colder spot than would ever be reached in their natural environment. Leave her on the 65F col spot or lower more if you want to get her to move. The end result will something YOU will have to deal with being it a vet visit and shots for RI or a dead snake. Best of luck with whatever you do in this case.

Has anything changed around the enclosure at all around about the time she started this? We're only trying to help by mentioning temps. It's completely up to you if you don't want to take the advice.

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Originally Posted by TurkeyPython

She is clearly choosing temps. I am not forcing her onto the warm side, I'm letting her choose what temperature range she wants. A healthy snake in a good temp range will use the entire enclosure and will utilize both sides. How do you think people even came up with the idea that ball pythons need a 80-90° range? They come up with that because it's the range most utilized by most ball pythons. If that's not the range she wants, then it's not the range she wants. How can you even know what is and isn't a healthy range? If you saw a snake in a tank where the snake was pressed up against the cold side, constantly there regardless of cover and hiding availability, wouldn't that just scream to you that the snake is too hot? If an animal chooses to be in an area of 100° over one if 70°, does that not say to you that the animal wishes to be warmer than 70°? Sometimes you need to learn from observation, rather than just a guideline someone decided is for everything

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People did not come up with temperatures for Ball Pythons by taking POLLS. We get info for snakes from how their native habitat is.
People are not trying to tell you what to do, your becoming defensive and people are concerned because you said you turned your temp down to 65. That temp over time will result in sickness period.

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Originally Posted by montymiow

Has anything changed around the enclosure at all around about the time she started this? We're only trying to help by mentioning temps. It's completely up to you if you don't want to take the advice.

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No. Nothing has changed at all aside from adding the extra hide after she started behaving that way

I think that if she's choosing to be on the cold side, let her be, and I get what you're saying. But you must at least change her hot side temps back to the required range for the species, which is 87~90, with a ~90 hot spot. If she never goes there, maybe she just for an hour or two and you just don't witness it, who knows?

But I wouldn't recommend lowering the hot side lower and lower to the point that she has no choice but to be cold either way, and it will cause health issues in the long run.

Let me ask you a question. If your snake would ONLY hang out on the warm side of the tank, would you then raise the temperature and keep raising it ? Because obviously your snake "wants to be hot" since it only stays on the warm end..

Obviously (or hopefully) you would NOT do that. You would harm your snake. Just like you are harming your snake by letting the cold end get to cold. Just because the damage won't be as quick as having her burn on the hot side, doesn't mean there won't be damage.

So your reasoning is, if she got to cold, she would move to the warm side to keep from getting sick ? Hm, well, what about the many snakes that stay on the "to hot" sides, to the point of burning, without moving to the cold side ?

Maybe sometimes they don't realize what is good for them or not ? Or to late ?

And really, you "know" what she wants ? Just based on behavior ?

You know, there could be a million reasons why she is avoiding the warm end suddenly. It could be a smell, something not noticeable to you, but to her. It could be some low "current" from electricity. Just some electric buzz going through an area. Or sound waves. Or something scared her on that side one time.

You are not in her brain. Like I said, there could be many reasons "why" they do the things they do.

Like Sully said, the temperature range, humidity range etc was not just decided on by a few people on a wild whim. That is simply the needs this species have based on where they come from. And it has already been well established what happens when those needs aren't met. Its nothing good.

Now its quite obvious you will do what you want to do and to heck with all good advice. You "know" what she wants and what she wants is whats best for her.

There is absolutely no "biological" reason why she would "want" to get far colder then any Ball Python should get.

So continue to do as you wish and one can only hope that it won't be the snake paying the price for it.

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Originally Posted by zina10

Let me ask you a question. If your snake would ONLY hang out on the warm side of the tank, would you then raise the temperature and keep raising it ? Because obviously your snake "wants to be hot" since it only stays on the warm end..

Obviously (or hopefully) you would NOT do that. You would harm your snake. Just like you are harming your snake by letting the cold end get to cold. Just because the damage won't be as quick as having her burn on the hot side, doesn't mean there won't be damage.

So your reasoning is, if she got to cold, she would move to the warm side to keep from getting sick ? Hm, well, what about the many snakes that stay on the "to hot" sides, to the point of burning, without moving to the cold side ?

Maybe sometimes they don't realize what is good for them or not ? Or to late ?

And really, you "know" what she wants ? Just based on behavior ?

You know, there could be a million reasons why she is avoiding the warm end suddenly. It could be a smell, something not noticeable to you, but to her. It could be some low "current" from electricity. Just some electric buzz going through an area. Or sound waves. Or something scared her on that side one time.

You are not in her brain. Like I said, there could be many reasons "why" they do the things they do.

Like Sully said, the temperature range, humidity range etc was not just decided on by a few people on a wild whim. That is simply the needs this species have based on where they come from. And it has already been well established what happens when those needs aren't met. Its nothing good.

Now its quite obvious you will do what you want to do and to heck with all good advice. You "know" what she wants and what she wants is whats best for her.

There is absolutely no "biological" reason why she would "want" to get far colder then any Ball Python should get.

So continue to do as you wish and one can only hope that it won't be the snake paying the price for it.

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If they're only on the warm side then yes, you should raise the temperature OR give them a gradient. You shouldn't raise it to the point where it'll burn them but clearly they're either cold or only have the options of hot and cold. They need a gradient. Snakes given radiant heat don't get burned or overheat like those with belly heat do. They get a gradient, they're not forced to choose cold or hot, they're given a mid option too. If they think the cold option is too cold and the hot is too hot and they're not given a middle option they will often choose too hot. It's a completely different matter.
There is nothing that could have startled her and nothing, absolutly NOTHING has changed anywhere in or near her enclosure. Not in the entire room or any nearby. And most of those guidelines and "requirements" were based on potentially very inaccurate studies and experience.
She will NOT let herself get sick for no reason. They're not like dogs, snakes are made to know what they need. While she doesn't have a 90• hot spot anymore she still has an 80° one, which is within the supposed "proper" range. If she starts actually using those temps then I'll raise it because she wants to be warmer but she doesn't. If she did she would move closer to that side and use those temps. She doesn't and she is fine. Snakes aren't dumb. They know what temps they need and she feels she needs cooler temps. If I get one more person saying I'm an idiot I will be requesting this be closed as absolutely NO ONE has said ANYTHING useful at all. SHE IS FINE. I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING. I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHY SHE WOULD CHOOSE TO BE COLD FOR AN EXTENDED AMOUNT OF TIME.

oooooooooook... ;)

Lock the thread then - no one is giving bad advice, and at this point you're just trolling peoples' emotions who are only concerned about the snake