Constantly roaming lately seems unhappy in his new tank

My snake seemed fine in his new tank at first. He was at least hiding, but on a feeding strike. He finally ate for me 2 weeks ago, but since about 3 days after that he has just been roaming his tank. I've tried raising and lowering the temps a few degrees but makes no difference. I tried to feed him this week and he refused, ignored the rat like it wasn't there, even left it in the cage overnight (I feed F/T).

He also has only pooped/peed once in the past few weeks and that was the day after he ate. I get why he isin't pooping alot, but no urates or wet bedding seems strange to me.

Other than the roaming and not eating he seems fine. Looks normal, acts normal when I take him out. So nothing changed behavior wise out of the tank. It just seems like he doesn't like something about his tank and is doing his best to escape. And half the time when he's not roaming he hides behind the hide on the hot spot, not in the hide.

His hides are new with the tank and they may be a bit on the big side, I've tried stuffing with news paper, makes no difference. They are about 8"x8". He's 38" or so and 1300 grams before his feeding strike.

http://db.tt/fyezBNV3

I've turned the hide on the hot spot (right in the picture) so the opening faces the back of the tank, that seemed to get him to go in a bit more, but eventually he stopped that as well.

So anyway, there are 2 heat lamps to keep ambient temps up, they are on a thermostat (that thing hanging in the middle) and have dimmers. There is repti-heat cable under the right half of the tank with a thermostat set at 92 (probe is taped under the tank).

I have two thermometer probes, one on each side, one side is 78-81, the other is more 80-83 ambient. The digital therm/hygrometer in the picture gets moved around the cage (usually by the snake), I use it to see how humidity changes throughout the day. Humidity is between 45-55%, I have a humidifier to add moisture when its really dry.

Your temps are too low. Your hot side needs to be 88-92. The ambient is ok.

How large is your snake? If he's really small, I would put more fake greenery or other decorations around to clutter up the space and make it more secure feeling. Maybe even swap out to smaller hides.

If the tank is alot larger or more open than it's last you might try adding cover like driftwood and plants to offer a more secure feeling. I added mood to a hide that is to big. I put it just inside the door and it doubles as humid hide when I mist it during a shed.


http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...708_184945.jpg

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Your temps are too low. Your hot side needs to be 88-92. The ambient is ok.

How large is your snake? If he's really small, I would put more fake greenery or other decorations around to clutter up the space and make it more secure feeling. Maybe even swap out to smaller hides.

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Reread it. They said the snake size and only listed ambient temps. They said the heat cord is set to 92 which with that thin layer of substrate should be good.

Yeah, I'll try adding more plants and stuff. It is definitely more open because its bigger. He was in a 20gal long. This is more closer in size to a 40gal I would think, its 36"x18"x18"

Are BP's sensitive to ventilation? As in can be too much/too little? Those particular cages have a good bit of airflow, more than an aquarium or tub would.

I don't get these guys when you upgrade them to new tanks. I've seen a complete change in behavior since I went from a 10gal to a 40gal breeder, with enough foliage and driftwood/humid-hides/etc. to be a virtual jungle. For the first couple of weeks he seemed normal as usual....then things changed. He used to always stay in his hot side during the day, and come out at night and bask or lounge around. Now he only stays in his middle hide (it's only around 83-84'F there, MOVE guy!) even though they're identical, rarely comes out at night, and has gotten extremely food aggressive. His temps and humidity are fine, but he's acting like he's starving. Three days ago I put a rat on top of his cage while I took the clips off, and he was rising up and striking at the lid to get to the rat! It was a fairly large rat too, but ever since then if I pass the cage or go to check on his temps he comes right out like he's waiting for food, and I have to be really careful sticking my hand in there. He hasn't tagged me yet, but I'm wondering if I should just feed him more often and ride out his sudden hunger-craving?

To much airflow would lead to lowed humidity.

As long as your feeding within the suggested weight for the weight of your snake I would stick with your schedule. Never complain about a snake that eats to well, that's not a problem. Be thankful.

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Originally Posted by OmNomNom

Are BP's sensitive to ventilation? As in can be too much/too little? Those particular cages have a good bit of airflow, more than an aquarium or tub would.

I don't get these guys when you upgrade them to new tanks. I've seen a complete change in behavior since I went from a 10gal to a 40gal breeder, with enough foliage and driftwood/humid-hides/etc. to be a virtual jungle. For the first couple of weeks he seemed normal as usual....then things changed. He used to always stay in his hot side during the day, and come out at night and bask or lounge around. Now he only stays in his middle hide (it's only around 83-84'F there, MOVE guy!) even though they're identical, rarely comes out at night, and has gotten extremely food aggressive. His temps and humidity are fine, but he's acting like he's starving. Three days ago I put a rat on top of his cage while I took the clips off, and he was rising up and striking at the lid to get to the rat! It was a fairly large rat too, but ever since then if I pass the cage or go to check on his temps he comes right out like he's waiting for food, and I have to be really careful sticking my hand in there. He hasn't tagged me yet, but I'm wondering if I should just feed him more often and ride out his sudden hunger-craving?

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Well going directly from a 10 gallon to a 40 gallon is a huge leap, even with cover it might have been too much for him. some BP's do fine in larger cages others do not.

Ventilation is important. too much and the cage will be too dry, but too little airflow is equally as bad. stagnant air can cause many things in a BP cage.

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e also has only pooped/peed once in the past few weeks and that was the day after he ate. I get why he isin't pooping alot, but no urates or wet bedding seems strange to me.

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Snakes get most of their water from the rodents they eat (66% of a rats body weight is water)

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Originally Posted by VooDooDoc

tank

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One problem

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Originally Posted by VooDooDoc

2 heat lamps

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Another problem

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Originally Posted by VooDooDoc

one side is 78-81, the other is more 80-83 ambient

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2 heat lamps and your ambient temps aren't higher than 80 degrees? Do you live in the arctic?


Ditch the fancy terrarium[EDIT: or get a bearded dragon for that thing!]... your BP doesn't like it and you'll never see him [EDIT: but you'd see a bearded dragon!] once he's happy anyway. You're just taking up space in your house with that thing.

MrLang your response was totally unhelpful and borderline rude. Many folks, even on these forums keep them in tanks and they are happy. Mine was completely fine for his entire life until now. If I wanted to, or could use a tub I would. I don't, and I can't. Simple. So hopefully we can skip the whole tank vs tub debate in this thread as its not really going to be productive.

The heat lamps are also not a problem. If you actually read the post you'll see they are on a thermostat to keep the ambient at 80. So explain what's wrong with them? They keep the air the right temp, the humidity is fine, maybe I'm missing something.

As to the issue about ventilation, the top is screen, but I cut plexiglass to cover most of it. I left a small patch under the lamps. The front is ventilated. My humidity stays fine on most days and when its really dry I can remedy that easily enough. The tank doesn't smell musty or anything so I think I'm OK in that department. If left open all the heat and humidity would definitely leave the tank though.

Given the fact that temps are fine, humidity is fine, I don't know how this could be considered any less effective of an enclosure as one of them expensive PVC setups. Maybe a bit more complicated, but it is fraction of the cost since I had all this stuff laying around.

Well VooDooDoc, I don't know if I saw you mention anything about lighting, but, one contributing factor maybe a lighting schedule? Originally My temps were so low I had to turn my light on and off constantly, which definitely stressed my snakes out. They wouldn't eat, and they also constantly roamed. Eventually
I figured it out and got them on a day/night cycle. AND IT SORTED ITSELF OUT RIGHT AWAY! :) I was ecstatic! So I'm not sure if this is going to help, but good luck! :)

I keep mine in a tank, because I only have one snake and aesthetically it's more pleasing. Maybe if I had several I'd move to a rack, simply for the space issue, but I prefer a nice-looking terrarium set-up, and with the proper controls/set-up/heating it's easy to make it just as proper "environmentally" as a tub or PVC cage.

If you're using the "infrared" bulbs then the day/night cycle shouldn't be that big of an issue, particularly if the rest of the room has natural lighting throughout the day and is dark at night. If you have fluorescent lights on all the time that might be more of a concern.

Shen's behavior went 180 on me after a few weeks of being in his new tank too, although he seems fine and happy, he's just not acting like he used to. If your environmentals are fine I'd say just leave him alone for a couple of weeks to figure things out, aside from feeding time. I'd put in a ton more drift-wood/vines/etc/etc though to make things "snugglier". There was one person who commented in the past they had to cover most of the tank in order for their BP to chill out and then slowly removed it.

Here's how I decorated mine:

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...inal_thumb.jpg

The infrared lights are on almost 24x7. On dimmers and they are really turned down, but they do click off from time to time due to thermostat. I do have a fluorescent light but I only turn that on when I need to see in there.

The tank is covered on the back and sides and kind of tucked away in a corner of my home office, here are some pics of how the lights are arranged and how the tank is covered..

http://db.tt/FXRQ0Rcs

http://db.tt/UdLtrcMh

I gave him fresh water this morning before work and decided to put him in his hide, so I curled him up and stuck the hide on top of him. He actually stayed there all day, poked his head but went back in and stayed. But then tonight, came out and is cruising again.

I say him alot, but we still don't know if its a he or a she, we call it a he though because my wife says only a boy could be this aggravating.

He has finally settled down and is eating again. I took the reptile carpet that I had laying around and glued it to the top of his hides on the inside. So its more snug now and keeps the light out better. The hides are pretty thin plastic (kitty litter pans). He ate a small rat 2 days ago and was acting really hungry so I gave him a medium rat tonight. That should tide him over till next week.

It sounds like you are starting to get it dialled in. I may make a suggestion snakes see very far (most reptiles do in fact) into the IR spectrum so deep red is actually in the middle of the visual range. I would guess they see it as quite bright. I would suggest dark blue instead as the visual range is in the IR end dark blue is at the opposite end and may not appear to them so bright. I also believe they will get used to it either way but blue may speed the process. More cover can never go wrong, and there is no such thing as too much ventilation just too little humidity can be solved 1000 ways restricting air flow so exhaled breath increases ventilation can place health at risk in a very serious way. I'd take the odd poor shed over RI any day.

MrLang, so you are suggesting no lamps and a tub if the ambient temps are 80 with two lamps a tub would be far below this. How would you heat ambient are temps of a tub when two lamps are barely able to do this or do you believe that a 1 mm plastic tub is better insulation than 1/4 glass? Please use your head! CLEARLY a tub would need heroic efforts to maintain correct cool end/ambient air temps in Docs environment, so your suggestion is move ? Change his living conditions? What is the issue with lamps let me guess glass absorbs water? I really hate it with my windows swell and crack when it rains... Lamps heat air, warm air can carry more RH so in fact lamps can add to humidity if you understand how humidity works (hint, it comes from water and air flow patterns...) Your clipped unhelpful answer has only gone to show your arrogance that you can only see the way you do things as right and everybody else as wrong. There is no right or wrong just different.

Might be kind of hard to tell from the pic, but that black strip along the front is full of holes for ventillation. There is also a small square openining under each light. So I think plenty of fresh air is getting in from the front and stale hot air goes out the top but its not so much that I lose all heat and humidity.

I also dialed down the intensity of the lights by quite a bit. Now instead of them coming on for a few minutes and going off quickly they stay on for longer durations but no where near as bright. Based on the reply above Im thinking this maybe has just as much if not more to do with things than making his hides more snug.

Ill have to check into getting some blue bulbs next time Im at the pet store and give those whirl. It would be good to have spare bulbs on hand anyway. Though maybe Ill wait a while since he just now started eating, trying to keep it all the exact same for a few weeks.