BP rejecting UTH?

Hi everyone. The other day, I decided to put my UTH, under the tank. The previous owner had it on the side by the corner of his hide log. I didn't change it at first and I was told to put it under the tank after I put my pic of her setup on here. Anyway, I put it under the tank, spaced it so air could flow, and since then he will hide on the opposite corner with a chunk of her hanging out the open end. Is she just trying to figure out getting used to the belly heat or ?? She's been doing perfectly fine other than changing the side she hides in. And btw, the log isn't too big or nothing like that, she is snug in there.

I can't really offer any advice because I'm in the same boat as you are, but I can say that you're not alone, and I'm looking forward to seeing if anyone has any advice about this.

For some reason my ball has been staying on the cool side of his enclosure almost exclusively, even after eating. The UTH is under his hide on the warm side, but for some reason he just doesn't seem to need/want it. I may experiment with switching the hides just to see if it's a "this is my favorite hide" issue.

The weird thing is, he used to love his warm side hide, then all of a sudden he just stopped using it and started favoring the other side. I made sure it wasn't a temperature issue (E.G the UTH being too hot for him to handle) so I'm not sure what it could be!

I didnt read the word "thermostat" in there anywhere.....

Are you controlling the heat somehow?

Probably rejecting it because its too hot

What are your temps?

Yes, it stays at around 90-ish with the cool side now at 84

What kind of thermometers are you using? What kind of thermostat are you using? They are not the same thing, just to clarify.

Also, half log hides aren't really the best for ball pythons. They prefer the rock cave hides or something similar that has one small entrance.

I got a rheostat wired in-line.

Do you have a digital thermometer with a probe placed directly over the heat mat on the glass?

Im borrowing a friend's. I gotta get my own but yes, that's how I got the correct temps with the rheostat

Are the hides identical? Maybe just turn the heat down. We have guidelines, but it really matters to give your snake what it needs. They're all different.

no they're not identical. I'll be getting new ones soon. Apparently mine are all wrong. I got a long skinny log that she likes to go through sometimes and then the half-log hide. I haven't changed it yet because she seems content and it was what the previous owner had her set up with.

You need to get that thermometer asap

The thing is with dimmers/rheostats is that they rise with the ambient temp. So if your room goes up say 6 degrees, so will the belly heat making it possibly uncomfortable. You can't really make any assumption of anything until you get a thermometer with a probe. Go to walmart and get an acurite thermometer w/ probe there like 12 bucks. You should ALWAYS be monitoring how hot it is because things break, or things just happen that your not expecting. Whenever using a rheostat ALWAYS monitor it with probed thermometer, they aren't reliable sources of heat control.

good point, I'll go out and get my own. Thanks!

Log hides aren't that good for BPs. If you have a dollar store near you, you can buy bowls from there and cut out a hole on the side or the top and make nice cheap hides.

Or cave hides. They're more expensive, but you may want them anyway. That's the sort of thing to go for.

right on man. Thanks a ton!