Hides in Tubs

Do you need to use hides in tubs? or will it be fine as long as the tub is the right size for the size of the snake?

Most people don't, some people do. A small tub is almost like a hide in itself, so the snake might not even need it. It's up to you and your snake. If your snake is super stressed, won't eat, and is constantly in fear..it could probably use a hide to curl up in! If the snake is eating well, strong, growing, calm and just being a good snake, that snake probably doesn't need a hide.

I personally like to give my animals hides because they use them and even when they aren't using them they have the option of going to use them if they experience a high amount of stress. I use larger enclosures than the typical tub set up(my male is in the typical female setup, and he's tiny) and so he does need a good hide to feel safe and secure!

It depends on your setup. With my current rack the sides are open so the make them feel more secure I give them hides. When I build new racks next year I'm going to have closed sides so I won't bother with hides. They are just something else that needs to be clean. :P

Yea i have a lot that were eating then all at once like 4 of my 150-200 gram females stopped eating all within a week from each other its been about a month now. They seem shy and nervous about the food so maybe i should throw some hides in the tubs of the snakes that wont eat. Of course, i'm not too worried about them not eating considering its so normal for ball pythons to do this :P

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Originally Posted by Kinra

It depends on your setup. With my current rack the sides are open so the make them feel more secure I give them hides. When I build new racks next year I'm going to have closed sides so I won't bother with hides. They are just something else that needs to be clean. :P

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Yup thats my plan too:gj:

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Originally Posted by xfallingpointx

Yea i have a lot that were eating then all at once like 4 of my 150-200 gram females stopped eating all within a week from each other its been about a month now. They seem shy and nervous about the food so maybe i should throw some hides in the tubs of the snakes that wont eat. Of course, i'm not too worried about them not eating considering its so normal for ball pythons to do this :P

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With little ones you need to be careful when they go on hunger strikes because they have less weight they can lose. If my 2000g normal female decided she wanted to go on a hunger strike I wouldn't care, but if any of my 100-200g babies went on hunger strikes I would start looking at my husbandry and things I could do to make them start eating again. It's been my experience that babies are less prone to hunger strikes once they start eating.

It also depends on the snake, some are happy to have them while others couldn't care less, even adults.

The reason i'm not too worried about it is that one is back to eating and the other two have skipped only 3 meals now but they have eaten like 6 since I've had them they aren't really losing much weight they just aren't eating haha i don't get it.

Are they in a rack or individual tubs? if theyre individual try giving them both a hide and using a sheet or towel or something to cover the whole tub, give them more security.

no its on a rack haha im thinking now about closing off the sides since you guys said something. That does make perfect sense

Cheap and easy way to do that would be a black bed sheet, you could even staple it to the bottom to keep the thing nice and tight around it without light leaks.

This is just my opinion on the matter...

It's been my observation that ball pythons LOVE to be completely closed in on all sides. (Probably many other snake species feel the same, but ball pythons in particular.) I think that the physical sensation of walls all around them and a low "ceiling" above them is just as important to them as the dark seclusion of a tub in a rack.

There are, of course, exceptions to the rule. I've seen big girls consistently snub their hides, for instance. But as a general rule, if they have one, they'll use it.

My small rack has a hide for each snake. Just one. They scootch it around wherever they want it to be...but they all use them, even though the rack is closed in and it has a blanket over the front most of the time.

Most of mine have hides, but I do remove them for breeding. They just seem to be in the way then.

I use newspaper in my closed rack, they like to make their own hides. All of them eat very well without complaints.:)

My snakes will use the hides if I put them in so that gives me the impression that they like them. They will still eat/behave fine without them but I like to try and make them as comfortable as possible.

any one have any cheap hide ideas? I know the sticky shows that but my lowes doesnt have any good sized pot bottoms. They all are very low.

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Originally Posted by xfallingpointx

any one have any cheap hide ideas? I know the sticky shows that but my lowes doesnt have any good sized pot bottoms. They all are very low.

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They should be low. Check this out:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...8DU-Warning%29

:)

2 dollar kitty litter pans at wal-mart are working well for our adults, and some cheap plastic bowls for the hatchlings.