Question about my new BP

[ellencat]

Hi all! I have a slight concern (ish). My 1 year old BP (only had him over 1 week) keeps sitting in the cold corner of my vivarium. I was wondering why this is as I have 3 different hides in there and he just sits in the corner which is hard to spot clean etc. I have seen him on the hot side, mainly at night but occasionally in the day. My temps are fine as they are around 32/33C (humidity I don't know as I've ordered a digital hygrometer but could use some help raising it if possible!!). I've fed him a small mouse on Sunday and he ate it no problem but I haven't handled him at home yet. So, does anyone know why he doesn't seem to move from the cold side and out of the corner? Thank you!

[Reed12321]

You should have all of your hides be the same. Snakes pick favorite hides and will stay in them regardless if it's too hot or too cold. Make sure the under belly heat is at the right temp. Also, to retain humidity, cover your screen with aluminum foil and move the water bowl towards the heat lamp.


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[ellencat]

Okay thank you . He doesn't seem to go into any hide, he just sits in the cool corner even if I move the hide to try and spot clean anywhere. My hides are similar logs but they aren't the same however, he's never actually sat in the hot side hide only the cold one once (this is just what I've seen I don't know what he does when I'm asleep).

[SRMD]

You need hides that have only one entrance/exit, they need to feel secure in the hides.. As the post previous said you need to get all hides the same as your BP will pick security over warmth.


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[Kaorte]

Do you have a picture of the setup? He either doesn't like the hides, doesn't feel safe in them, or hasn't figured them out yet.

Eating is a good sign though.

[Reed12321]

Yeah post a picture of your setup. Your UTH/whatever you use for belly heat is regulated, correct?


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[ellencat]

http://41.media.tumblr.com/6b4177b77...iteo1_1280.jpg

I don't know how to post pictures (it won't let me use the url picture thing on my iPad sorry). The link is to the picture on my tumblr account. Sorry it's not the best quality.

My heat lamp is on a thermostat, the mat isn't but the whole thing (not the hides and plants etc.) was set up by my local reptile shop. I have plants in the back of the hides except the cold one because he used to just hide in the plants I had there and he pooped all over it...

[SRMD]

ooooookie doke. So your snake is eating so you are probably in pretty good shape, all things considered. I'm going to suggest getting different hides. Look for cave like hides that only have a small entrance. The snake should barely fit in them. The half log hides are just not going to cut it.

Do yourself a favor and plug the heat mat into the thermostat and move the probe to the outside of the heat mat. Or just turn it off completely. If the only thermometers you are using are those dials on the sides of the tank, I would suggest new digital ones that have probes to measure temp.

x2

[Kaorte]

http://41.media.tumblr.com/6b4177b77...iteo1_1280.jpg

I don't know how to post pictures (it won't let me use the url picture thing on my iPad sorry). The link is to the picture on my tumblr account. Sorry it's not the best quality.

My heat lamp is on a thermostat, the mat isn't but the whole thing (not the hides and plants etc.) was set up by my local reptile shop. I have plants in the back of the hides except the cold one because he used to just hide in the plants I had there and he pooped all over it...

ooooookie doke. So your snake is eating so you are probably in pretty good shape, all things considered. I'm going to suggest getting different hides. Look for cave like hides that only have a small entrance. The snake should barely fit in them. The half log hides are just not going to cut it.

Do yourself a favor and plug the heat mat into the thermostat and move the probe to the outside of the heat mat. Or just turn it off completely. If the only thermometers you are using are those dials on the sides of the tank, I would suggest new digital ones that have probes to measure temp.

[Reed12321]

http://41.media.tumblr.com/6b4177b77...iteo1_1280.jpg

I don't know how to post pictures (it won't let me use the url picture thing on my iPad sorry). The link is to the picture on my tumblr account. Sorry it's not the best quality.

My heat lamp is on a thermostat, the mat isn't but the whole thing (not the hides and plants etc.) was set up by my local reptile shop. I have plants in the back of the hides except the cold one because he used to just hide in the plants I had there and he pooped all over it...

Here's a few suggestions:

1. Plug the heat mat into the thermostat so that the bottom of the tank where the heat mat is located is reading around 88-91 degrees F
2. Put the lamp on the outside of the tank, having a heat source inside the tank is always a bad idea
3. Get rid of the skull - I tried it out with my BPs, it looks cool but they won't go into it because of that giant hole in the back that makes them exposed
4. push the half-log hides against the sides of the tank so there's only 1 way to get in and out. I use those hides, but I'll be looking for something different as my snakes have grown out of them

Here's my setup with one of my tanks:

1. aluminum foil is covering the top to hold in heat and moisture
2. I have a hide on the hot and cold side - unfortunately they are not the same, but my guy still thermoregulates using both hides.
3. I have plants just like yours
4. Get one of those Acu-rite thermometers/hygrometers from Wal-Mart. They're like $12 and they're amazing.
a. Put the "outdoor" probe against the side glass on the hot side using a hot glue gun (If the snake pulls it off, the glue won't adhere to their scales)
b. Use hot glue to stick the wire along the bottom edge of the tank to keep it out of the way and place the unit on the cold side of the tank. This is so you can have a hot side reading, a cold side reading, and you will have a humidity reading. Remember that the more humidity you have, the easier it is for the air to hold the heat
5. I created a humidity producer within the tank. Tear up paper towels and put them into a plastic container. Make sure when you do it, you put them in sideways so the paper towels are laying vertically on their sides (i hope that makes sense). Then wet them significantly and place the container under the heat lamp. The reason you put the paper towels in a certain way is because of a scientific concept called "Capillary Action," that causes the paper towel to draw moisture up, allowing it to be evaporated into the air much more easily. This is something I did in an attempt to create humidity when I was having humidity problems and placing wet towels on the screen wasn't cutting it. With this in the tank, I NEVER have to spray inside the tank, and the humidity has stayed above 70% for multiple days (which is great for shedding). You just have to make sure to cover roughly 95% of your screen with aluminum foil (If you even have one) so that the humidity stays in.
(The moisture contraption I have in the picture was the beta version where I just tore up paper towels and threw them in the cup all willy-nilly, and it is now located directly under the light where the water bowl is in this picture in order for it to get more heat from the lamp)