BP won't come out of hide on warm side?

Hello everyone! I am very new to this. My 7 year old little boy is completely obsessed with snakes. He catches snakes in our back yard and chases his sister around with them and loves to watch documentaries on snakes and books....you name it...he can't get enough of it. So after much research, we went to the reptile show with the intention of buying a ball python.

We have had Slinky (about 4 month old, male) for over a month now. He has been eating great...about once a week. He is in a small tank (10 gallon...recommended from breeder). Under tank heat pad, two hides...one on cool side, one on heat side. The temp reads to be between 80-90. Bedding is some recycled crumbled bedding stuff (eco something).

Anyway, he ate last Wednesday (11/9). We left him alone for a couple days. Then, he went into the hide on the heat side and has not come out since. Now, he is typically a very active little guy. He comes out right around dinner time (5ish) and likes to crawl around for much of the night into the early morning. I have notice that he has actually burrowed himself into the bedding......so that he is actually touching the glass. Now, it doesn't feel (to me) hot enough that he would burn himself. I am worried about that though. So he is laying right on the glass where the heat pad is. Is this okay?

Just wondering if anyone could give me a heads up on what is going on with my little guy?? Thanks in advance!

Also...I have a much larger tank (about 30 gallon). When should I move him to that?

As long as the temperature on the hot side is not to hot right where the heat pad is, this is really not a problem. What are you measuring your temps with? I would not put him in a 30 gallon any time soon. He sounds like he is just fine with what you have for now.

My newest addition was active for about a month then all she does is hide as well. I go with the saying a hidd\ing ball is a happy ball :) they are usually only active when stressed or hungry so it sound perfectly normal to me

Sounds like he may be getting ready to go into shed too. I fed my girl two Thursdays ago, and then she went into her hide. I didnt see her till that Sunday when i removed her hide from her tank to make sure she was still alive, and she was dull and starting to go into the blue phase, id say double check you humidity levels are high enough and see what happens ;)

How are you controlling the temps on that under tank Heater. I hope you have a thermostat. Say you do.

sounds like he is going into shed. i went through the same thing about 2 wks ago when mine was going into shed. she would not leave her warm hide.

I have a thermostat on the tank itself......is that enough? I was wondering if this would indicate he was ready to shed. He hasn't shed since I got him. I will check humidity levels....I just picked up a hydrometer. What should I keep it at? Also, I read about using a humidity box (with wet moss)....wondering what everyone's opinion is of that. The top of his tank is just a screen covering. Thanks for all the quick responses!

Yeah sounds like he is about to shed. But if he is burrowin with UTH you may want to think of laying down some zoomed carpet or something like that between the glass and substrate cause if it gets warm enough it can burn your snake. If he has a foggy eyes then he is definately about to shed. So make sure your humidity is up to 70%. But I really would get something between that glass and your snake. You never know even if your glass were to get pressure cracks from too much moisture hitting it mixed with the heat or just the heat itself could really injure your snake and that carpet stuff is cheap. As for switching tanks. you can do that whenever you want as long as you have the heating and humidity requirments. The hides are the main thing. Just cause you put him in a bigger tank doesnt mean he needs bigger hides. They like to touch as much of the inside of their hides as possible. Well I will stop this rant. Good Luck.

P.S. you want to be able to read the temps on the cold side and the hot side. So if you just have just one temp for your whole cage I would reccomend another one for each side. 1 hydrometer will be fine though. And the moss thing is a good idea. Just for the hot hide. Cause you dont want the whole tank that humid to prevent a RI.

Thank you SO much!! I will definitely get some of the carpet instead. I wasn't much of a fan of the bedding to begin with. My brother in-law use to keep snakes and said the carpet was very easy to keep clean. I will get more thermometers too.

I am going to keep a close eye on Slinky for the next few days. I checked on him earlier and his eyes aren't foggy or anything yet, but it could be coming. I am going to make him a wet hide with the moss this weekend just in case he needs extra moisture to shed.

Thanks again for all of your help!

You should have the probe of the thermostat on top of the under tank heater. Since it a little one set the temp to 92 degrees.

As far as shed boxes are concerned, i have to say im a big fan, I used one for my girl when she was shedding, http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...and-Snake-pics! you can see the outcome here, it worked fantastically with no issues. so i recommend it.

That is completely normal. They should stay in their hides majority of the time, and as long as your temps are correct I wouldn't worry about anything. They should spend a lot of their time on the hot side after they eat because they need heat to help them digest their food. One other thing is that if the hides are different sizes the snake will chose whichever hide it likes better regardless of their health.

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Originally Posted by Slinky109

Thank you SO much!! I will definitely get some of the carpet instead. I wasn't much of a fan of the bedding to begin with. My brother in-law use to keep snakes and said the carpet was very easy to keep clean. I will get more thermometers too.

I am going to keep a close eye on Slinky for the next few days. I checked on him earlier and his eyes aren't foggy or anything yet, but it could be coming. I am going to make him a wet hide with the moss this weekend just in case he needs extra moisture to shed.

Thanks again for all of your help!

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Keep your substrate and just add the carpet underneath. Substrate will make it much easier to clean up nasty messes. If poop or urates get on your carpet and sit, you will have to take it out and wash it to get it out where you can just replace substrate. As for the moss hide, still a good idea.