regarding 2 identical hides

after a few weeks of watching my juvenile bp ive come to notice that it never ever goes into the cool side hide.i see alot of people advise on it but in my opinion its a waste of money and ground space.i have also tried switching the hides to see if there was something wrong with the other but it still goes to the warm side.just so you know,my warm side is around 84 to 86 and cool side stays constant at 80.one more note,ive read alot on bp's like the ground more but if mine isnt in his hide.hes cruisin the vines or the driftwood i got setup up at a angle.sure there clumsy and fall sometimes but wat the hell,i fell several times as a kid.in nature they do as they please and if it was a dumb species guess wat,there would be no more wild balls.now humans tearing down there homes is a different story.sorry to rant,had a bad day

Maybe you should up the temperature on the high side by a few degrees?

if i could i would.i stay in the basement and its about 68 in here at all times.at least wen its not summer.but the fact is my bp thrives.hasnt refused a feed,defecates normally 3 days after feeding like clockwork.hides all freakin day wich kills me so i have to stay up till bout 4 to 5 am to see him move around,and work really blows because of this.but hey wat can i do?huh,huh,well sometimes i remove the hide so he has no choice but to be in the open.we are buddys though and i dont care wat people say about snakes not having feelings,lil butters loves me.i believe everything that breathes and is alive has feelings.its impossible to not have emotion.for example,sometimes if i try to get him out to handle him he doesnt want to be held.trys to get away from me.that is a mood wich is a feeling.thats just my opinion and belief.

Okay dude, here ya go: I'm not getting into brain structure and physiology; that part of your discourse I will (astutely) let pass.
I will suggest that your snake does need a hide on both sides of the tank. It doesn't matter what you think or how sympatico you and your snake are. 2 hides.
You do need to get the hot side temps up- get a thermostat and get them up.
As for dumb species and evolution...jeez, don't make it this easy...............

When i drink is wen i get careless. But why why why why keep 2 hides if one is never entered.i have vegetation and other stuff that he can hide around on the cool side.its just not identical.im gonna use the other identical one for the other tank i have wen im cleaning the main one.

pix pls!

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Originally Posted by Butters420

if i could i would.i stay in the basement and its about 68 in here at all times.at least wen its not summer.but the fact is my bp thrives.hasnt refused a feed,defecates normally 3 days after feeding like clockwork.hides all freakin day wich kills me so i have to stay up till bout 4 to 5 am to see him move around,and work really blows because of this.but hey wat can i do?huh,huh,well sometimes i remove the hide so he has no choice but to be in the open.we are buddys though and i dont care wat people say about snakes not having feelings,lil butters loves me.i believe everything that breathes and is alive has feelings.its impossible to not have emotion.for example,sometimes if i try to get him out to handle him he doesnt want to be held.trys to get away from me.that is a mood wich is a feeling.thats just my opinion and belief.

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I'm assuming you are giving your snake the best of both worlds by offering him a hot spot to bask? Unless your a mind reader and talked to your snake, best to be safe and offer a nice hot spot around 90-95 F.

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Originally Posted by Butters420

lol,smokin has nothin to do with anything.if anything wen i drink is wen i get careless and thats a legal substance.whole nother issue.but why why why why keep 2 hides if one is never entered.i have vegetation and other stuff that he can hide around on the cool side.its just not identicle.im gonna use the other identicle one for the other tank i have wen im cleaning the main one.

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What if he's using that other hide when you're sleeping and can't see him?

I have found that it is hard to keep an enclosure quite warm enough with an ambient room temperature below 72 degrees using flexwatt. I don't know what your heat source is but I would guess that it is too cold in the 2nd hide. My bp's go back and forth between 2 hides. Your warm hide may sit right over the heat source and is the only place warm enough for your snake.

you dont have much of a temp gradient so why would he move? You need to get your warm side up and then you should see him switching hides more often. Hes probably not moving off the warm side bc hes not warm enough to want to move. Some of my snakes will chill on the warm side for the night and then switch to the cool side during the day... If hes not warm enough to want to move to the other hide why would he? Pics make it easier to give you a better answer bc then we can see how your set up is.

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Originally Posted by Butters420

after a few weeks of watching my juvenile bp ive come to notice that it never ever goes into the cool side hide.i see alot of people advise on it but in my opinion its a waste of money and ground space.

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Your animal's not using the second hide will most likely be due to the temperature gradient being too uniform like others have pointed out.

Now, the reason why it's not a waste of money is because if you only had a single hide, and had a greater temperature difference between the two zones, the animal would most likely choose security over thermo-regulation (which isn't really much of a choice right now anyway), which could result in stress and health issues.

Your warm side is too cool - that is why he is not switching between hides. My bp does spent about 70% of his time in the warm hide (91) 20% of his time in the cool hide (84) and 10% of his time out and about.

I agree with providing low level climbing for my bp, but giving him anything remotely tall would result in him falling and possibly doing serious damage to his organs/brain. I love LD so just because I think it's neat when he climbs, doesn't mean I want to risk killing him - whether he would do it in the wild or not.

i only have one hide in montana tank same thing as going on with butter but my hot side temp is a constant 92 and she will go and sit on the hot side all stretched out never used the hide i had in there. she would lay on top of it flip it over so i took it out and now shes been feeding like no other. i put that hide in she goes off feed. and my other snakes doesnt even use hides, well ok he uses them as a toilet. but other then that hes always on top of them or out in the open. and his tank is the same exact way. so i dont know what it is but i dont think 2 identical hides is an absolute

I don't have 2 IDENTICAL hides either, I have a snake cave on the hot side (~92deg) and a modified bark bends on the cool side (~80) and plenty of fake plants making a covered path between them. I've read, and noticed thus far, that they will choose security over temperature every time. I've also learned that, given the opportunity, they will travel in cover as often as possible, which is why I've made a covered path between them. I'd be willing to bet that if you added a second heat source to the hot side to get those temp up a bit, your little buddy would be a little more active too!:gj:

I don't use IDENTICAL hides either. Most of my snakes have two hides though. I know lots of people who use racks and tubs use only one hide because the back side of the tub is so dark anyway. I would see a snake staying in the hot side hide all the time as a sign that the hot side temp is too low regardless of the hides.