What's my snake doing

My set up has not changed,well starting today,I increased the temp by 6-7 degrees and added some sphagnum moss last night to increase humidity...I fed him Sunday night as well.

Last night I put the sphagnum moss in and he came out of his hide in minutes and hasn't gone back in,he's just slithering around,tongue going 100 mph.can this moss be aggravating him or is he hungry? I also looked in his hide and he took a dump,so I cleaned out all the aspen in his hide and the poo and put in fresh. He went to go back in and came right out and is just slithering all over the place...he also looks like he been trying to burrow a bit today.

any ideas would be appreciated. Other words besides today,he is forever in his hide and is eating like a champ,urinating and pooping on the reg...

What are your temps at?

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Originally Posted by Shera

What are your temps at?

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Between 86-92... I changed the bulb so it's at about 90 as of today and before today a consistent 86-88

well he has slowed down,his tongue isn't all over the place any more..I have a feeling he may be hungry,I'm going to try and feed him. Like I said as soon as I put this moss in last night,he came right out and went up to it and been outside since.. I have the heat pad set as well on a thermostat

Is that the air temp or surface temp?

If you have a air temp near 90 its a safe bet that the surface under the bulb and around it is way to hot. The air temp should be 78-80 with a hotspot surface temp of 88-92.

I'm talking about the air temp,it's what my thermos a reads...but everything been the same since day 1 and he ne'er had a a problem ..noting was any diff then it's been the last 6 weeks.

Well I'm adjusting stuff right now...turning his heatpad up and going to get the air temp down and see what happens.

That may be but you need to check your surface temps. You said you just raised the temps today. There us a very good chance that your surface temps are way to hot. Air temp and surface temp are very different. Your ambient (air) temp needs to be lowered.

You can get a IR temp gun on Amazon cheap.

Turning the heat pad up? It is on a tstat? What is it set at? Many times the tstat will have to be set higher than the desired hotspot because of the heat lost traveling through the cage floor. You really need a temp gun or probe thermometer to dial it in.

KMG is right on the money about the temperatures being a concern. I'd definitely check on that.

If you're having trouble getting your "surface" temperature to the correct level, check the depth of your bedding. If you have to turn up your under-tank-heater to 100+ degrees in order to get the surface of the bedding to 88-90, then your bedding is too deep. Thin it out until the UTH can stay set somewhere well under 100 degrees, otherwise you risk burning the snake if it snuggles down through the bedding and lays on the floor of the enclosure. They don't need a thick mat of bedding to be "comfortable" the way us humans like soft, cushy things. It's only there to absorb waste, so you don't need a ton of it.

Something else to remember is that ANY change to the environment is liable to trigger some activity. They have to come out and sniff everything, crawl around on it, check it out and make sure it's nothing they need to worry about. These creatures live life at an entirely different pace than we do and it can take them hours or even days, to adjust to what seems like something simple and obvious to us.

This includes things like adding moss to the enclosure. Or even just changing out dirty bedding for fresh, clean bedding of the same type. Any change at all will want investigating.

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Originally Posted by KMG

That may be but you need to check your surface temps. You said you just raised the temps today. There us a very good chance that your surface temps are way to hot. Air temp and surface temp are very different. Your ambient (air) temp needs to be lowered.

You can get a IR temp gun on Amazon cheap.

Turning the heat pad up? It is on a tstat? What is it set at? Many times the tstat will have to be set higher than the desired hotspot because of the heat lost traveling through the cage floor. You really need a temp gun or probe thermometer to dial it in.

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Yes,guy I work with today said to get a temp gun as well..I am lowering the air temp now.. And have my mat on a hydrofarm thermostat.. I just turned it up to 93. I also lowered the heat bulb to bring the temp back down to around 86

Something as seemingly irrelevant as the temps outside can effect your enclosure's temp levels. I've been battling with my own levels since the weather's been fluctuating between 80 and 40. (Miserable for me, frustrating for my husbandry...)


Sent from my cool hide

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Originally Posted by Archimedes

Something as seemingly irrelevant as the temps outside can effect your enclosure's temp levels. I've been battling with my own levels since the weather's been fluctuating between 80 and 40. (Miserable for me, frustrating for my husbandry...)


Sent from my cool hide

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Dude,same here,the weather changing is messing with me and my temps...that's why I said I uped the temp today,because the weather been all over the pace lately..60 one day,80 the next47 this morning yesterday morning 60... I'm dreading the winter bro....well I just fed him a FT large mouse and he took or and is n the process of eating it now.

Now that I think of it,the last 3-4 days I been handling him a lot more. Which has me taking the screen of constantly. I usually handle him a couple times a week,last few days I been way too much. So I'm sure that can be messing with the temps..he's eating now and I won't open his cage til next feeding which will be Saturday...

The problem was the temp in the hide...due to the cold weather,I had to up temps in his hide and I decreased the air temp back to round 85 from a recently 90..now I have to make sure I do my best to keep humidity up. Got some sphagnum moss,watt rag on top,might need more moss though..but good thing is,he is back n his hide,I'm glad

You fed him Sunday night, and then again Tuesday night? That's a pretty tight schedule right there.

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Originally Posted by Tunechi

You fed him Sunday night, and then again Tuesday night? That's a pretty tight schedule right there.

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I feed every four to 5 days.. I fed him Sunday what I had left in FTs...which was one small FT mouse,which was nothing to him and he pooped on Monday,so I picked up a bunch of large FT mice and gave it to him Tuesday.. I'll feed him again sat night or Sunday night

Your air temp should be 78-80, NOT 85. This is to warm and most likely creating a surface temp that is way above what is desired. Having your air temp so high is also killing your humidity.

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Originally Posted by KMG

Your air temp should be 78-80, NOT 85. This is to warm and most likely creating a surface temp that is way above what is desired. Having your air temp so high is also killing your humidity.

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Ok,THnx

RI can be caused by a few things. Having your temps at the correct level is not going to cause this and 78-80 is correct. Some keepers even get a bit lower with no problem but they are also providing the perfect hotspot. If you get your air temp near 80 and your hotspot at 88-90 your ball should thrive.

The moist important thing is keeping it constant. This is greatly effected by changing temps in the room the snake is in. The room needs to stay the same to help you keep the cage temps steady. If the cold weather is making that room yoyo in its temp you may look at getting a small heater for that room to keep the temps from doing. I use a oil filled heater in my snake room year round. It makes my keeping much easier.