What is my snake trying to tell me??

OK, one of my snakes, Tia, has just done something which has me scratching my head. This is a two and a half year old snake, about 40" long and weighing in at just about 690 grams.

I moved Tia from a 20 gallon terrarium to a 40 gallon breeder with no problems about four months ago. Tia has a warm hide (93°) and a cool hide (that she prefers) at about 77°. Ambient is usually at about 83°. Humidity is usually between 60% - 65%. Thus far Tia has been eating well. She just moved up to a medium rat this last feeding.

Now, the behavior . . . two or three days ago, Tia started to curl up in the water dish. I had never seen her do this before. At her size, there's not much room for water when she is in the water dish so, for a few days now, it was only getting filled half way.

When I came home for lunch today, I found that Tia had burrowed UNDER the water dish with only a wee bit of herself showing. The substrate is about two inches thick in that particular spot. I suspect that she is about to go into shed but this behavior was just so different from her usual behavior that it has me scratching my head.

So, what is my snake trying to tell me?

Peace

Rofl! My boople does the hot tub soak too. But under it? Warm hide should be 90. Ambient 80 degrees. Check the humidity in her hides with your gauges. If it's low put moss in there. She might just want the humidity for her shed.

other than that, I got nothin'

Only thing I would look out for in soaking is mites, if she doesn't have mites, I wouldn't worry too much. Some snakes like to soak, as to why she would start now, I'm not sure. Your humidity seems alright, though you have room to bump the cool sides temp up a bit.


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My garter snakes insist on sleeping under the water bowl half the time no matter how many other options I give them in the same spot. I've given up. The ball python just this shed cycle decided to soak in the water bowl a bunch. I gave him a wider one so he would fit better, but he preferred to shove as much as he could of himself in the little one. Your hot hide is kind of high - try bumping it down and see if she likes it better - I try to adjust within the range if they're not using both sides relatively often. I actually bump the garter snake's hot side up a bit when they're in shed because they seem to seek out the warmest spots at that time and then bump it back down for the rest of the time. But in general, the answer is probably just that she feels like it. Under the water bowl may also be more humid.

Soaking in water -- if mites are proven not to be a concern -- often comes from:

• desiring more humidity
• disliking the current hides (too big, wrong temps)
• eating too large of a meal

Check if any of those might be the cause and make sure husbandry changes are made as needed.

My hatchling is under a water bowl the last couple days. I think the hide was too big. I put a smaller hide in there, and if that does't take, I will find an even smaller one. They really, really like to be under cover.

Yeah, I pulled her out from under the water dish last night, and she gave me this "withering" look. lol

She's back inside the water dish now. I'm thinking of moving the water dish (or maybe using a smaller one) and making a hide right there where the water dish is right now. I find it interesting that she found the one spot in the terrarium that has virtually no substrate covering the bottom or floor.

Peace

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hollowlaughter

Soaking in water -- if mites are proven not to be a concern -- often comes from:

• desiring more humidity
• disliking the current hides (too big, wrong temps)
• eating too large of a meal

Check if any of those might be the cause and make sure husbandry changes are made as needed.

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Interesting points to consider:

1. Humidity is where it needs to be (though I may bump it up because she's due for a shed).

2. She's been in this terrarium for nearly five months and is almost always found in the jumble of logs and artificial plants that I have placed on the back of the cool side of the tank (though it runs along for a while to the warmer part of the terrarium). As I indicated in my original post, inasmuch as nothing has changed in her habitat, the temps or the humidity, this behavior is a radical departure from her usual behavior.

3. This is the first that I have heard that too large of a meal can drive a snake into water. I am quite interested in the source of that information. Doubly so, in that she went from a (largish) small rat to a (smallish) medium rat a few days before she began manifesting this unusual behavior.

Peace

this sounds like a situation i had with Yellow a year or so ago. he stopped using his hides and was burying his entire body below the substrate and carpet (i used carpet at the time :doh:) after some observation i realized he just didn't like his hides anymore, and needed bigger ones.

it could be a security issue. check your hides situation and see if they're suitable for her; she just might not like them.

Everything I've ever read states that BPs can survive on nothing more then small rats at adult sizes....I fed my BP by accident a med rat and well (husbands fault) he didn't eat for a month lol needless to say stick to small rats every week unless your breeding from the chart


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

My hatchling is under a water bowl the last couple days. I think the hide was too big. I put a smaller hide in there, and if that does't take, I will find an even smaller one. They really, really like to be under cover.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by tttaylorrr

this sounds like a situation i had with Yellow a year or so ago. he stopped using his hides and was burying his entire body below the substrate and carpet (i used carpet at the time :doh:) after some observation i realized he just didn't like his hides anymore, and needed bigger ones.

it could be a security issue. check your hides situation and see if they're suitable for her; she just might not like them.

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i agree with these posts. i think Tia is looking for security. are her hides too big? too small? are the sides of your big 40g tank covered? is the tank in a busy area of the house? she sounds like she needs an appropriate sized hides and/or a darker enclosure.

Thank you all for responding. You all have provided valuable insights into what my be driving this odd behavior by my snake.

I will concede that the security issue could, indeed, be what's behind this behavior. However, several things lead me to believe that it's something else.

1. Her enclosure has remained unchanged for months yet she is now showing new behavior. If she didn't like her hides why didn't the behavior manifest itself sooner;

2. She continues to be a good eater. However, i will take her back to small rats at her next feeding. I moved her to smallish medium rats because, for the last month or two, she would be showing hunting behavior three or four days after her last meal.

3. If she is, indeed, showing her insecurity, why, then, is she inside the water dish that is fully exposed to the world with no ground cover for it at all?

The only part of the terrarium that is not covered is the front face. Coincidentally, that's where the water dish is. She seems to be quite relaxed in there, though, even as I type this.

Peace

I thought you said she was mostly UNDER the water bowl, hiding. INSIDE the water bowl in the water, is entirely different. When mine did that it was from mites. Interestingly enough, I got him a big bowl to submerge himself, and it did the trick, within a week, he drowned out the entire mite family that was on him, and they haven't been back since.
I did nothing, save provide the swimming pool, and he did the rest of the mite genocide himself.

Other than that, I have no idea.

My apologies for not being clearer. She started the behavior of crawling INTO the water dish four or five days ago, and, then, graduated to crawling UNDER the water dish a few days ago. I've simply been responding to, and answering, posts that stressed a particular point.

Again, my apologies for any confusion caused by my posts and, my sincere thanks to those who have taken of their time to respond to my posts.

Peace

I'd try lowering the temp of the warm side hide to ~90-89f and see if that helps. Also, check the water in the water bowl for mites...They will look like small black specks.

Also, try putting her in one of her current hides to check for size. It is possible they are too large or small (if she has grown since she started using them).

alotta times it's hard to tell if a snake is asleep since they do not have eyelids. i think she may be sleeping in the waterbowl. it seems that your BP wants snug place to hide and sleep, therefore she is cramming herself into the waterbowl or burrowing beneath it.

An update: Tia has had a good shed and has eaten a decent sized rat since we last discussed her behavior. She still seems to be in the water bowl, day and night. Also, in visiting a local pet store, who takes serious pride in the care of their reptiles, I noticed that all their large ball pythons were in their water dishes. My smaller snake, Tam, has not exhibited this behavior at my house, nor did any of the smaller snakes at the pet store. I wonder if this is a cyclical type of behavior of larger snakes, in terrariums, derived from the time of year we are in.

<><Peace