i guess my bp isnt a hider

hes not against the glass but hes just balled up in the corner behind the bowl and hide kinda like he would be in a hide which like you said makes some sense ill post a pic of my setup i moved the hide on the left from in the back to the front and behind there thats the corner he hangs in.this is just a pic when i was doing my temp checks before i got him and moved some stuff. i have 1 probe on the substrate on the hot side 1 probe in the hot hide and 1 on the substrate on the cool side

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/a.../DSC006271.jpg

I have a hide on the warm side for my snake, and a little branch with fake vines wrapped around it on the cool side. I never see her leave the branch. she just hides under the vines. Maybe she thinks I can't see her. LOL. But the temps are fine and she seams content. She's also eating well.

So as long as she is having no problems, maybe she's just comfortable there.

yea, I have some garland draped over my BP's hide and sometimes he nestles into the garland on the outside of the hide.

I don't use two identical hides - I don't even use two hides. I don't use a tight fitting hide either. I use a "half log" shaped hide that sits over a temperature gradient close to the glass in the back. Also, it has garland draped over it.

My personal experience has shown that general clutter is actually much more effective because it gives the snake a wide variety of options on where to hide. Its a bit trickier to set up but IMO ultimately more effective because the snake doesn't really want to repeatedly trek back and forth across the cage to thermoregulate. This approach is really helped alot if you have 3 sides of the tank covered.

Just a disclaimer: this is more advanced enclosure design. Unless you understand the issues at hand pretty well, I would stick to the basic setup recommended in the stickies on this site.

Sorry if someone has mentioned this, but I think we should have a sticky regarding new owners getting new BPs. Nearly every thread I read about new owners mention something about their BP exploring too much and not hiding. That's exactly what my BP did the first week or two, but once he got used to the enclosure, he never ever came out of the hide. Sometimes he's tightly pressed against the back of the hide, and sometimes his head is sticking out, but he's always in it.

It takes new BPs up-to a week to explore their new home, get to know the environment, and settle down. Until then they will be constantly moving around and trying to escape out of the tank. They will also appear to not be scared of outside movements during this phase.

It takes them some time to figure out all the "angles". A brand new snake will probably find somewhere decent to hide and latch onto it. After he feels more secure he'll probably cruise around at night and get a better feel for it.


Have you tried feeding him into the hide? Has he gone in and rejected it?

leave the hides in there and enjoy the show because sooner or later he'll use em all day long!