My BP keeps moving to the cold side???

Hi, so I recently bought a het axanthic BP, and am having trouble keeping the tank warm. Right now the ambient temp is 70 and the hot spot is at 84. I should be getting a larger watt ceramic heater in the mail today so I hope that will solve this problem. However, my BP keeps moving to the cold side and hiding under the log I put there. When I wake up in the morning I go in her tank to spot clean and usually bring her out for a minute, then put her back in on the warm side. She'll slide into the cave there, but then a little later I'll notice she moved back underneath the log. I'm just really worried she will be too cold and get sick and don't understand why she's doing it?

Do you have a uth? If so, is it regulated with a thermostat?

What are your current heating devices?

How are they set up and what style cage are you using? Pics?

What kind of thermometer are you using?

How bigs the hot side hide, they like it snug.... if the cold side is smaller that could be it

Maybe it wants to be cooler at the moment. Switch the hides around that'll answer your question.

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Or just take a pic.

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Originally Posted by KMG

Do you have a uth? If so, is it regulated with a thermostat?

What are your current heating devices?

How are they set up and what style cage are you using? Pics?

What kind of thermometer are you using?

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yes I have a uth, it's on a thermostat at 92 right now, only that high so it can get through my bedding. I have a uth and 60 watt ceramic heating lamp. I have the lamp in the middle of the screen. It's a glass tank.

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Originally Posted by M.P.C

How bigs the hot side hide, they like it snug.... if the cold side is smaller that could be it

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the hide is pretty snug, when I've lifted it to get her out she was pressed against three sides. There's a little room at the entrance of the hide.

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Originally Posted by Jhill001

Maybe it wants to be cooler at the moment. Switch the hides around that'll answer your question.

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Or just take a pic.

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I'll try switching them.

Also can't get a pic right now since I went to work, I'll update with one when I go get lunch.

I switched the hides, put her outside the new warm hide, she went in for about 3 minutes, then went back to the cold side. Here is what it looks like now:
http://i.imgur.com/oQrJEka.jpg

The warm side is on the left. Current ambient temperature is 75 degrees, the hotspot is 84. The ground she's on is 70.

No idea why the image is coming out so large...

If she keeps using the cold side regardless of hides, it would seem to indicate the hot side is hotter than you think.

Are you measuring air temp, ground temp or both? How are you measuring the temps? Temp gun? Digital gauge? Analog gauge?

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Originally Posted by 200xth

If she keeps using the cold side regardless of hides, it would seem to indicate the hot side is hotter than you think.

Are you measuring air temp, ground temp or both? How are you measuring the temps? Temp gun? Digital gauge? Analog gauge?

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I'm using a temp gun from pro exotics to measure ground temp, and I have a Zilla thermometer/hygrometer combo about 2/3 of the way down the center of the tank. There's about 1/4 - 1/2 inch of bedding over the hot side, and I've pressed my hand onto it and it's just warm. I don't think the temp gun is wrong.

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Originally Posted by mikesmelly

I'm using a temp gun from pro exotics to measure ground temp, and I have a Zilla thermometer/hygrometer combo about 2/3 of the way down the center of the tank. There's about 1/4 - 1/2 inch of bedding over the hot side, and I've pressed my hand onto it and it's just warm. I don't think the temp gun is wrong.

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If you move the substrate and measure the temp on the floor of the tank what is it?

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Originally Posted by 200xth

If you move the substrate and measure the temp on the floor of the tank what is it?

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95

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Originally Posted by mikesmelly

95

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That's on the high end. I set mine so the tub bottoms are usually 87F to 88F. There's some substrate on top of that. If they want it warmer they burrow, but most of the time, they don't have anywhere where it gets over 88F or 89F.

Try moving the thermometer to each end for a while and see what the temps are at both ends. Measure an inch off the ground rather than 2/3 down the side, too.

It still sounds to me like it's too hot for her on that side.

If your temps are in fact all good, you can try throwing some more clutter on the warm side. I know you just switched hides, but that side does look more open in general than the cool side.

I agree with what is being said about your hotspot temp. The max you want is 90 on the inside of the glass. Don't check temps on the substrate. If they want more heat they will push it to the side. With that being said your snake may just want/need to be cooler. Mine bounce back and forth and are usually not on the heat for long periods unless they just ate.

Interesting. My boy was doing that and then I discovered that he really just preferred the hide on the cooler side. I switched them and now he moves back and forth more consistently.

Neat setup. Maybe it's because the skull hide has so many openings.

My young male will lay on the slate I have under the RHP but only like a day and a half after he eats for a little while, that surface is 88 degrees Fahrenheit on that slate (young small male I keep it a little cooler), the top of his hide is 90F (closer to RHP). His ambient tems are 79-84 from cool to hot. When he is going into shed,or little after a shed, he acts weird for a while, they don't have the same patterns or mood.....after that all passes, mine go back to mostly hanging on the warm side during the day and explores for a while when I get home from work. Once in a while he will stay on the cool side but not as much (very rarely). I don't have a UTH heating up the floor of his hide...just the slate gets up to "hot spot" temp because it's dark and its absorbing heat from the RHP above it like the sun. Inside his hide is basically ambient air temps in the low 80's.

To the oP...it sounds like too much heat is building up inside his hide. If it's a young snake try lowering it a little.