Favorite hide

[bhsurf4]

I have 2 absolutely identical hides in my tank. One, in one corner sitting on top of the uth plugged into a thermostat set at 90 and reading 90 on my temp gun, and another in the other corner. My girl very rarely will go in her warm hide. The ambient temp in the tank sits around 82 (I've got an overhead dome with a 60W CHE). I don't think her warm hide is too hot, but I can't figure out why I never see her in there. I don't know whether I should drop the thermostat down and keep her warm hide cooler or ditch the overhead completely, but that would probably drop my ambient temp down in the mid 70's and I'm concerned that may be too cold. She seems happy and eats great and I'm probably just worrying about something that doesn't matter but I thought I would mention it and see if anyone has had an experience like this.

[Phillydubs]

She eats every time offered?

Poops? Urates? Good sheds??

i don’t see why you would change anything if your numbers are spot on...?

you don’t watch your snake 24/7 right ? She could be in there more than you even think or know.

When you take her out for some handling. Ease her into the warm hide. Show her it’s there. But I bet she knows it and uses it when she needs to.

Does she feel cold when you handle her??

my snakes are mostly in their cool hides

[Godzilla78]

Try dropping 2 degrees, 88 hot and 80 cool, instead of 90 hot and 82 cool.

I keep a thermal gradient between 91 and 79, for them to choose from.

[bhsurf4]

Never refused a meal! She was 225 grams before I fed her an adult mouse today, which is what I've fed her every 5th day since I got her last month. She had gone a couple weeks without doing her business but she shed last week and took a man size dump right after. My humidity has been running at 50% which I think is too low so I'm gonna change from aspen shavings to repti bark or eco earth. But like I said, I'm probably just over thinking it, but this is my first snake so I'm gonna ask questions on everything right now!

[Alter-Echo]

I find that temperature preference varies greatly, even within a species, and while most of my bps like to stay in the warmest spot they can find and rarely leave, I have one that likes temps a bit cooler than the rest, and is far more active and spends more time on the cool side of her tank.

[Craiga 01453]

Try dropping 2 degrees, 88 hot and 80 cool, instead of 90 hot and 82 cool.

I second this...

Try it out, see if it changes anything. My snakes rarely use their warm side hides and I keep my temps towards the lower end of the spectrum. For example, my BPs hot spot sits at 88-89. He really only uses it after he's eaten, and not every time.

[bhsurf4]

What temp should the snake itself be at on average if I use my temp gun to measure? Just for kicks I gave her a quick scan and she was about 84.

[Godzilla78]

What temp should the snake itself be at on average if I use my temp gun to measure? Just for kicks I gave her a quick scan and she was about 84.

Perfect. 80-85 is good

[Crowfingers]

If the temps stable and in the range you mentioned then I don't think there is a problem. Mine is defiantly a "cool preference" snake. His hot hide is 88/90*F, he has a medium hide that is 83 /84*F, and a cool hide of 79/81*F. He is almost always in the medium or cool hide. He also has a moist hide that is around 84ish that he has maybe used once in the past 4 months (that I've seen). All three main hides are the same, the moist one is a terra cotta pot.

I think some just don't read the books on what hides they are supposed to use lol

They know what their bodies need, we should just trust that and give them options