Snake hide or no snake hide?

Do you guys use hides for your ball pythons?
ive heard some people say not to use a hide because their Rubbermaid bin is opaque and dim enough.
others say differently..

what do you think?

Depends on the ball. My Nessie, 600g and growing, only has one and only ever used one, even when she had two or three available. She just prefers to hide on her hotspot, so that's the only place I have one.

Izzy, on the other hand, is only a hatchling, and as such she has 5 hides and a ton of cover. I find her in a different hide every time I check on her. She also likes her space as dark as possible, or she becomes visibly stressed. So her entire space functions as a hide with a lot of tight spaces to curl up in.

The standard is to start with two identical hides, one on the hot side and the other on the cool side, and monitor your snake's behavoir as to where it likes to hang out most.

100% hide, they rely on security and get stressed very easily, a hide is needed!!! two if possible, one on the cold side and one on the warm so they dont sacrifice security for thermoregularity.

Pictures of setup please, it sounds like you have no cover.

This is my new ball pythons simple enclosure. His name is Romeo, he is a 3 month old pied bp and currently in quarantine.

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p...gurl28/1-1.jpg

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p...gurl28/2-1.jpg

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p...37ad29feb1.jpg

There is nothing particularly 'wrong' with it but i am a strong beliver in replicating there naterul environment, vines, leaves and nice hides rahter than a simple life of eating and pooing, how do you measure heat and humidity

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Originally Posted by dgring

There is nothing particularly 'wrong' with it but i am a strong beliver in replicating there naterul environment, vines, leaves and nice hides rahter than a simple life of eating and pooing, how do you measure heat and humidity

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I said he's in quarantine. Strictly on paper towel until I observe that he is Healthy, eating and pooping regularly and has no signs on mites or ticks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dgring

There is nothing particularly 'wrong' with it but i am a strong beliver in replicating there naterul environment, vines, leaves and nice hides rahter than a simple life of eating and pooing, how do you measure heat and humidity

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There's nothing wrong with it at all.

Instead of climbing plastic vines until they hit plastic lids on their plastic containers and think to themselves, "This is just like Africa", my snakes simply sit in their dark hides thinking deep, complex thoughts like "What the heck is a vine?"

Last time I checked they weren't climbing vines in rodent burrows where the animals actually live the majority of their lives. I almost never use hides for any of mine, never have any issues with them eating. Every now and then you will get a stubborn one who won't eat when you move him to a bigger enclosure, in that case a hide works until they get used to the new space, then the hide comes out

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Funny how you still have people throwing a comment out when you very clearly said he was in quarantine

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Originally Posted by EME

Funny how you still have people throwing a comment out when you very clearly said he was in quarantine

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And...?

What is your point?

Since I am the only one who posted after her quarantine comment you are clearly referring to me. Rather than make a veiled, snide remark just say what you want to say.

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Originally Posted by dgring

100% hide, they rely on security and get stressed very easily, a hide is needed!!! two if possible, one on the cold side and one on the warm so they dont sacrifice security for thermoregularity.

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Hides are not absolutely needed. I've got plenty of balls that don't have them and don't need them...

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Originally Posted by 200xth

And...?

What is your point?

Since I am the only one who posted after her quarantine comment you are clearly referring to me. Rather than make a veiled, snide remark just say what you want to say.

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Well if you have an animal in quarantine you are not going to set up a naturalistic environment for any animal, so I didn't see the need for that comment. If however your comment was not directed at her then I apologize for my remark

I always offer a hide or two if possible. Being a young snake I would make it feel as secure as possible to limit the chances for stress.

Later once it has some size and is better established it is entirely up to you and your snake if yall use hides. You may not want to but your snake may argue differently.

Mine are in 41-quart tubs in a rack. The smaller (under 1000 gram) BP's have two hides, one on the heat and one on the cool side. Above that I notice they really don't use the cool side hide much, so I just give them one on the warm side and occasionally I find they've shifted it off the heat themselves. My largest girl is almost 1900 grams and she has no hides, the tub is her hide.

Mine have one hide in each tub except my newest female, she never used it and would lay on top of it so I took it out. The other use them all the time and move them where they want to
:)

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by EME

Well if you have an animal in quarantine you are not going to set up a naturalistic environment for any animal, so I didn't see the need for that comment. If however your comment was not directed at her then I apologize for my remark

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I wasn't responding to her (hence the quote from someone else), nor did I suggest setting up a natural environment.

Only a few of my babies still have hides, otherwise they just get newspaper to hide under, if they can figure that out. If they are kept in a rack system hides aren't a necessity.

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I paint the exterior three sides of all of the tubs I use. This way I can check on them easily and they feel more secure. I started using repti-zorb sheets instead of substrate. I've found the females like to hide most and when they do they just go underneath the sheeting. At feeding time if one is underneath I pull them out before putting the rodent in.