Strange behavior after switching substrate?

[kiiarah]

Hey everyone, so I finally got the new bedding for Shesha since I had been having some trouble recently with low humidity with the aspen I had been using. I wound up deciding on the coconut husk (Ecoearth brand) and last night I finally did a bit of an early tank cleaning and replaced the bedding with the ecoearth. I didn't buy the brick kind and instead got the loose bagged kind so I did have to spray and hand mix it quite a bit since it was bone dry when I added it. The strange thing is that after we finally got the tank set back up and ready to go and I put Shesha back in he seemed very...startled, for lack of a better word, by the bedding change. He spent about 45 minutes climbing his plastic plant, his branch, his hides, even slithering across his water dish trying to hold his belly out of the water. I mean it really seemed like he would do anything to avoid being in contact with the ground.

Keep in mind, he was out at the regular time. Every time I put him back after handling he goes straight into his cool hide, he never explores the tank. He will usually settle in there with his head poking out of the entrance and in a loose S almost as if waiting for food. He will stay in that position for a while and then coil up at the back of the hide for bed. So this behavior was very unusual. He also has always been very calm while in his tank (and when being handled). The cat will jump up in front of the tank, put his paw against the glass and Shesha never tenses or recoils (at least not that I have seen and I watch him a ton). I was standing at the tank last night after returning him to it and moved about half a foot to one side and he instantly snapped his neck back and tensed. This happened twice. Even when I first went to lower him down over the new bedding and let him go back he tightened around my hand and his breathing got heavier and faster. I actually lifted him back out for a minute because he seemed afraid to leave my hand, despite not having toughed the substrate yet.

So long story short, after about an hour of him still not settling down in his hide I thought on a whim that maybe he was looking for the old section of the tank he recognized. I layed down a carpet of aspen over the new bedding under his usual hide and about two inches out of the entrance and sure enough within about 10 minutes he had gone in and was in his usual position. The temps were fine (ambient and hot hide anyway) and the humidity was a bit high at first but came down to a good level quickly. The only thing I could think was that the bedding (which is soil like almost) had not had time to warm up and felt damp (not wet) and cold to him. Does anyone have any insight into this? I mean will he adjust to the new substrate with time? I know sometimes a full tank change can cause them to need a bit of readjustment time, but this wasn't an issue after his last full cleaning. The substrate was the only thing that changed this time. Is it at all possible that he was just checking out the new area and not freaked out by it? I mean I would think that if he just wanted to get away from it he would have gone up the branch or into the plant and stayed there rather than going all over the tank for so long. I just don't know what to make of it and part of me is a bit scared to leave it in there now. I don't want to just write off his response, so I am hoping someone can offer some ideas that may give me some peace of mind.

[dr del]

He will adapt to the new substrate eventually.

Some snakes get more freaked than others and take longer to settle down is all.

[kiiarah]

He seems to be calmer now, I just wasn't expecting him to even notice lol. I felt so bad the first night having to leave him in there, like leaving a scared toddler at daycare for the first time. Had nightmares about snakes that needed help all night. I think he and I are both feeling more stable now though. =)

[hijacked]

Im new to this too, and certainly no expert. However, my BP clearly did not like the fine eco earth either. She kept pushing it into her water bowl. I mentioned it to a more experienced friend, and he said that substrate is too fine. He told me it can get in their scales, and irritate them.
I switched to aspen, and ive also used the large coco chips. Both of those did not end up in the water bowl.
I like the look of the fine eco earth. But my snakes didnt seem to like it so much.
And by the way, I never used the kind in the brick. Only the kind thats loose in the bag.

[auhsojnacnud]

My snake tried for 20 minutes to get into its hide without touching its new substrate. but she is fine now

[The Golem]

My BP has only ever been on coco husk (from bricks) but when I change it, it's too damp and he will do the same thing and try to avoid crawling on it. So what I've started doing is to set aside about 1/4 of a brick from the 2 bricks I'm going to use.
Put the fresh, wet coco husk in tank and let it sit under heat lamp at full for a while. Then before putting decor back in, I'll crumble up and use that 1/4 brick to put a thin dry layer on top of the substrate.

[kiiarah]

This is what I am thinking of doing, mainly because I have been having really big drops in humidity a few hours after misting. I used the pre-bagged stuff and didn't add water to it (I was hoping just misting it would be enough) but I think once the wet surface layer dries out there is no mositure so after misting I will get a spike up to like 80% but once the water from the misting is dry it drops to like 40%. I would just go back to the aspen if it weren't for the fact that the aspen couldn't get the humidity high enough. So I think this is still the better option, I just need to figure out how to keep the humidity stable. He never did much cage exploration before this (spends most of his time in his hide anyway) so I don't think it will bother him too much long term. He already seems calmer about the whole idea, now it is just an issue on the husbandry side of things that I need to solve.