Ball Python 'searching'? Stress and how to treat

My Ball Python Hossette has been frantically searching in her tank. :( it's been a while now and she just wont relax. I don't know what to do. I know searching is a sign of stress and stress is caused primarily by holding and/or improper husbandry. But her tank hasn't changed much since she was last acting normally. You know, a hiding bp is a happy bp and all of that. And no matter how long i leave her alone she still doesnt stop. I have to be wrong somewhere. There has to be something I'm missing. But what? Please if you have any advice i would much appreciate it. I want my lady to be happy again.

Answering a few questions will help the forum help you try it figure it out.

What size is the snake?

What size is the tank?

Is he eating?

Have you done any cleaning lately? If you replaced substrate and cleaned hide it's all brand new to the snake and has to check it out before settling in.

Are you observing this behavoir only at night?

What are the hot/cold temps?

There are a few more questions I'm sure I can't remember right now.

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In order to help you we'll need to know more.

- How long have you had the snake?
- what type/size enclosure is the snake In?
- How are you heating the enclosure?
- what are your temps?
- How and where are you measuring temps?
- Are your heat sources regulated by a THERMOSTAT?
- How often are you handling the snake?
- how much does the snake weigh?
- what prey are you feeding? How often?
- Are there at least 2 properly sized hides?

The more you tell us the better we can help you.

Post a photo of the terrarium. That will tell a lot about why she might be roaming around.

3 foot snake 3 1/2 years old. 1200grams
30 gallon glass tank coconut fiber(damp) two hides one on hot side one cold side, weighted water bowl, some leaves and a wood structure. 2 sides covered by blanket, lid is half wrapped in saran for humidity.
She has a wall mounted heat mat and an under the tank mat.
Her hot side is 85-88°F cold side is 72°F humidity is 63-65%
Cage was last clean cleaned a month ago. And i go light poop cleaning every other week. Water change with light clean.
She eats medium rats. Live, only. She will NOT eat frozen. And only brown rats. No white.
Feeding is every other week.
She is searching both day and night. Nonstop.

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Originally Posted by Auriea

3 foot snake 3 1/2 years old. 1200grams
30 gallon glass tank coconut fiber(damp) two hides one on hot side one cold side, weighted water bowl, some leaves and a wood structure. 2 sides covered by blanket, lid is half wrapped in saran for humidity.
She has a wall mounted heat mat and an under the tank mat.
Her hot side is 85-88°F cold side is 72°F humidity is 63-65%
Cage was last clean cleaned a month ago. And I go light poop cleaning every other week. Water change with light clean.
She eats medium rats. Live, only. She will NOT eat frozen. And only brown rats. No white.
Feeding is every other week.
She is searching both day and night. Nonstop.

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72 degrees is a bit low. the ambient should be 80F

Can you describe the hides? Are they tall/short? Made from what? Tight fitting or plenty of space?

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Also what are you using to regulate those heat mats?

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I wouldn’t let the ambient get to 72, that’s too low.

Bump hot side up to 88-92 instead. "Cold side" ambient should ideally be 78.

It would be most helpful if you post a pic of your setup!

All good points made above. Also, a side mounted heat mat (aka UNDER tank heater or UTH) is unfortunately pointless. UTHs are designed solely to provide a hot spot and not for ambient temps.
So unless your snake is spider man that heat mat is not helping in any way.

Plastic hides they both fit snug tho she is growing out of her cold side one. I have had her a little over half a year. I learned about thermostats a month ago and am waiting till i have money to get her one. Tho i was made aware about the possibility of burns so she has a plastic wrapped cardboard bottom beneath all of her substrate so she cannot physically lay on the glass. I am wondering about doing the same on the backside so she cannot burn on the side mounted one. My rule for handling is no more than twice a day max. Tho i hold her more like every other day to every 3 days.
The strangest part is that the only way i can calm her down is by taking the tank lid off. She will poke her head out, stop roaming, and eventually go back into her hide like normal. That is until i put the lid back on. To me that sounds like a humidity issue, but her humidity has not changed since i got her.
Tho my buddy did mention an re being the prob and that actually sounds very likely because she has always had an occasional whistle. And idk if i am going to take the make 80 degrees the cool side temp advice. Because she doesn't do good on a 90 degree hot side very well. (I tried once)

I have thermostat #1 coming in on friday

That's most likely your issues running hest mats unregulated is very dangerous.

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[QUOTE=Auriea;2649837I am wondering about doing the same on the backside so she cannot burn on the side mounted one.[/QUOTE]

The side mounted one is pointless. As I said above, they are called UNDER tank heaters for a reason. And again, unless your snake is spider man, it's pointless and a waste of electricity.

UTHs are not designed for ambient temps, they are solely there to provide a hot spot.

How's she eating? Regular easy peazy? Or off?

A side-mounted UTH is not actually completely pointless - at that point, it's just a very low-powered radiant heat panel, essentially. It will more for the air temperature on the side of the cage than on the bottom because it isn't covered by substrate.

But it's still not going to do very much compared to more powerful (i.e, higher wattage) heat sources. A typical UTH is what, 10-20 watts? Radiant heat panels for smaller enclosures are typically 40-80 watts, and heat lamps or CHE's are typically 50-150 watts.

If you have two UTHs, one on the bottom and one on the side that's a total of 20-40 watts of heating equipment, and half of it is covered by substrate. That was probably fine all summer when it was warm, but once the weather cools it's not enough. There are several choices, but you will definitely need some more powerful heat source than what you have.

Regular easy peasy

I took her to the vet. And as i suspected she does have a respratory infection. The vet said to give her medicated baths once a day and she is getting antibiotic shots once every three days until she's had a total of three. Yesterday was #1. The vet did say to rase the temp of her cold side. 80°F-90°F will be her new ambient. In the meantime i am keeping my room at 70°F like it was in summer and i moved around her setup so the heating is more spread out.
Someone mentioned radiant heat panels. Can someone suggest brands to look for? I want to avoid CHE's as much as possible. (I am very clumsy and prone to breaking bulbs.)
But all in all she relaxing now. The medicine has looked to have helped because she has been hiding all night.

Thank you. You were right with the °80 low temp.

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Originally Posted by Auriea

Someone mentioned radiant heat panels. Can someone suggest brands to look for? I want to avoid CHE's as much as possible. (I am very clumsy and prone to breaking bulbs.)

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I personally think CHE's are little better than fire hazards. But lots of people find that they work very well.

I'm a big fan of Radiant Heat Panels and have several.

There are two to look for. Reptile Basics makes a very good panel, you can google them. Also Pro-Products (https://pro-products.com/) makes top quality stuff. You need to call and order over the phone but the gentleman, Bob, is really thorough. He'll ask a list of questions so that he can sell you exactly what you need for your set up.

I've never used one in a glass tank, only in PVC enclosures, so I'm not sure how well an RHP would preform, but I suspect it would be fine and really easy to attach to the top.