Burrowing..?

Ahhhh Hello. I woke up in the middle of the night from a pretty spooky nightmare, and was grateful to see Mal. He was being adorable by sort of burrowing himself then peeking up and looking at me. I fell asleep watching him and thought nothing of it. As soon as I woke up, it hit me. Is this bad for him to do? Was he itchy? Was he cold by chance? Does he have a reason for this or is ist purely for the fun of digging?

I checked as soon as I was awake. His temp on the hot side was 89, his humidity dropped down to 50 but it back to around 55/58. During the night I had the heat lamp off because it's an infrared heat lamp and that would mess with his daytime/nighttime schedule (I think? somebody on the forum told me that. I trust you guys.) Should I be worried? I'll supply photos below. Is there anything wrong with his enclosure that needs to be changed?


https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...310748e96e.png


https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...043303296a.png

My male does that sometimes. Specially when he is out exploring. I think if they want to do it then its fine

Sent from my HTC Desire 626s using Tapatalk

Burrowing is perfectly normal. Here's one of mine completely submerged except for his head sticking out.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...cb71f99ebd.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...55cad3add4.jpg

As for your setup, my only recommendation would be to switch out the log hide on the left for the same hide you have on the right. The logs don't provide as much security and it's best to have matching hides so the snake doesn't choose security over comfort.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

i only see one hide; do you have two identical hides? it's a glass enclosure; are 3/4 sides covered by dark paper/fabric?

burrowing is not unusual but if it's constant it can be a sign of stress from not feeling secure enough. quite a few months ago Yellow suddenly started burrowing and refusing to use his hides: turns out they were too small and he didn't feel they provided enough security for him. he got new hides and the behavior stopped.

just check over your husbandry and ensure the snake isn't roaming or burrowing from stress.

Your numbers might need a little tweaking but are not too far off. Burrowing can be done for any number of reasons. Is he burrowing on the hot or cold side? He could be burrowing to get to heat, away from heat, doesn't have a hide that suits him, or to get to higher humidity. He could also be doing it just because he wants to make a mess. Check the numbers and the possibilities I have given you and you will figure it out.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b16ba3c848.jpg
Totally normal

Sent from my HTC Desire 626s using Tapatalk

It's normal. :) In the wild, BPs will enter rodent burrows, so being underground is okay.

Some beeps just like to borrow! I give my lesser bee girl a deeper aspen bed so she can make tunnels, because it's the first thing she will do when she gets her substrate changed out. None of the other snakes seem to care much.

Quote:

---

As for your setup, my only recommendation would be to switch out the log hide on the left for the same hide you have on the right. The logs don't provide as much security and it's best to have matching hides so the snake doesn't choose security over comfort

---

I have another hide that I'll switch out with that one when he is a bit bigger. I got him that hide first because I wasn't too sure of his side when I first chose him, but it was easily 3x his size. The log will have to do till he grows a bit.

AND YOUR BABY IS SO CUTE. THOSE PHOTOS MELTED MY HEART.

Quote:

---

i only see one hide; do you have two identical hides? it's a glass enclosure; are 3/4 sides covered by dark paper/fabric?

---

I have two hides. Not identical, but I have two. I've got the poopy log one on his cool side, which I plan to switch out soon, and his nice rock one on the right. 3/4 sides aren't covered by a dark paper or fabric, but they are backed up to the walls of my bookshelf that's holding his enclosure. Is that good enough? I thought about putting paper around it, but honestly, I'm too weak to lift up the enclosure so, I convinced myself that that'll do.

Quote:

---

burrowing is not unusual but if it's constant it can be a sign of stress from not feeling secure enough

---

How often does it have to be to be considered constant? The last two night when I woke up he was doing it. He uses both of his hides, but at night will do ANYTHING to mess up the cage. I'm cleaning it on a daily basis at this point. It's almost like he wants his water to be dirty.

Quote:

---

Your numbers might need a little tweaking but are not too far off. Burrowing can be done for any number of reasons. Is he burrowing on the hot or cold side? He could be burrowing to get to heat, away from heat, doesn't have a hide that suits him, or to get to higher humidity. He could also be doing it just because he wants to make a mess. Check the numbers and the possibilities I have given you and you will figure it out.

---

What should the numbers be? They tend to fluctuate by like 3 degrees for the hot side, stay a solid 75 on the cool side anytime I checked, and humidity goes from 75 to 50. Mesh lid is killing me! Looking to get plexiglass but still unsure how to include it. He's burrowed all over his home. Hot side, cool side, caught him last night trying to go under the water dish. He uses both of his hides, so I think they're good.

Quote:

---

I give my lesser bee girl a deeper aspen bed so she can make tunnels, because it's the first thing she will do when she gets her substrate changed out.

---

That's adorable !

Thank you everybody for your help! I was so scared something was wrong.

yep, they burrow. my Elphie used to do it alot when she was a bb. here's she is in one side of her side, burrow and up through a mound of substrate on the other side :) :

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...%2F4pl80jQ.jpg