Basking, a Myth?

[SnakeEYEZ]

Whos BP really does Bask?, the only time mine does bask is if I take him out and hold him for a while then put him back in his cage and he just chills where hes placed under the light...

I ask cause Im always hearing 'make sure to have a basking spot of 90-95'...but arrggghhhh there is no baskin! Is this just in case they do? Which in my case never happens.

[lastdoctor]

I haven't seen mine bask as of yet.

[BallKingdom]

Yeah, basking is pretty much a lizard thing. Bp's might get closer to the basking spot, but never really wander back and forth like a lizard would.

[steelsack]

I've got a low hide just under basking light made of pottery. He never basks, but will go in the hide and rest part of himself along the wall and soak the heat from that. With the light on it, the pottery gets around 90 by the end of the day, and he seems to think it's better there than anywhere else in the tank. I have never seen him bask directly under the light.......

[Marla]

Ditto. BP's seem to love their hides (except the odd arboreal rebel) and they tend to just choose the hide that's on the warm side or cool side according to whether they want to warm up or cool down. Or Snyder, now that she's a lot perkier, is preferring to go behind her hide -- maybe because she has a better view to supervise from there.

[Ironhead]

Mine would "Bask" for 10 minutes or so when I had a black light above his limb, but ever since I switched to infra red I have yet to see him do it.

And speaking of going behind the hide, this morning when I got up Monty Joe was coiled up outside and behind his cool hide. This is a first since I have had him. Took him out and held him just for curious reasons (due to this) but he was as happy as he ever was. Put him back in and now he is just laying half on his cool hide and half up in the air on his limb.

[Marla]

How long have you had Monty Joe? Maybe he just wanted a change of scenery. Snyder doesn't have any limbs or anything like that right now to climb on, but I'm thinking a snake perky enough to escape her bath is perky enough to possibly be interested in climbing. She does have a reptile hammock (I know they're for lizards, but it was $2 on clearance -- how could I pass that up?) but hasn't voluntarily gotten into it yet.

[Ironhead]

I have had Monty Joe for a little over 3 months though he is 2 years old or so. I am the third owner and the last. Except during shed time and a couple day's after a feeding, he loves to hang out on his limb.

I was thinking that maybe he thought it was to warm under his hide because I forgot to turn one of his lamps off during the night. It was at 84 degrees on the cool side so maybe he didnt appreciate me keeping it so warm last night.

[Marla]

Yep, that could certainly explain why he wanted someplace a little cooler! It's funny how they'll move to one hide or another or higher or lower to get the different temp gradients, but will still burn themselves on a heat rock or a light bulb. I understand BP's don't really have heat-sensitivity in their bellies, but I wonder which body parts are the most key for them to sense heat? The pits, okay, but what about their backs? The cloaca? Sides? Hmmm.

[Wizill]

if you use heating pads, your snake basks more than you think.