Kenyan Sand Boa displaying strange behavior (video in post)

[Spoons]

So I've had my little baby sand boa about two weeks. Captive bred. Old owner estimates 7 months. I have no idea how accurate - she is 9 inches long and 10 grams. Hasn't eaten for me yet but I hear she usually is a champ. She is on crushed walnut, UTH with thermostat keeping her hot half 90-93 degrees. CHE keeping the tank an ambient 75ish (I know this could be warmer, I'm working on it). Ambient humitidy 30-50. She is a very chill little snake. Has a water dish, half log hide (sand is thinner under it so the UTH can heat it better), and some plant decor, and a fake skull decor.

Sand boas are nocturnal, and from what I understand spend a lot of time under the sand. Which she does, she enjoys digging in her walnut sand. But she spends a ton of time above sand. Half the day I see her up and about. But the whole time she is above sand, she is pacing the glass, butting her nose against it. Trying to dig through it. It seems like a fixation, like she is baffled by this invisible clear barrier. She spends ALL of her time above sand doing this, never kist cruising around or exploring. Always pacing back and forth along the glass, occasionally stopping to run her nose back and forth poking at it, poking at the sand line, digging some sand away from the glass to butt at it. Here is a video of it, she's just sitting there running her nose along the glass, seeming like she's trying to find a way through, or she's just confused by it.

Is this ok? Think she will chill out? I don't want her overly stressed out by the fact that she is in a tank. It seems odd, I've never seen it before. I am just perplexed that a nocturnal snake with a reputation for "you'll never see them above sand" is spending half of the daylight hours pacing like a tiger in a cage. My fiance thought it was a thing with her reflection (you'll see you can see her reflection in the video) but even when I've wiped the glass down to minimize this, or the light is such that she really doesn't have a reflection she will do this. Maybe it's normal. I have no idea, I've never seen it!

Here is the video. Any ideas? Sorry it's a little grainy, I zoomed way in so she wouldn't see me get close and stop.

[Bogertophis]

Maybe she's not actually captive-bred? Or maybe she was kept in a tub that she couldn't see thru? You might put up a strip of dark colored paper about 5"
wide around the bottom of the tank, so she can't see thru the glass. (you could probably remove it after some time passes & she accepts the boundaries?)

BTW, I've kept many snakes, but not sand boas...this is just my 2 cents. IMO, her behavior is more typical of w/c snakes, but I'm interested to see what
K.S.b.-keepers think?

[Spoons]

The lady I bought her from works at a petco. That is where she came from. I guess I was just assuming they get their snakes from breeders, but maybe I'm wrong

[Bogertophis]

The lady I bought her from works at a petco. That is where she came from. I guess I was just assuming they get their snakes from breeders, but maybe I'm wrong

I think Petco buys from breeders & wholesalers, and there are perhaps a few unscrupulous breeders who can get away with passing off w/c as having been produced
by them, & if they bought from a wholesaler, it could be a legally-collected w/c? Was the snake labeled either way? (c/b or w/c?) It's rare to see snakes in pet shops
with records of any kind, feeding, hatch/birth date, source, etc., which is a shame, IMO.

[Spoons]

Also, to add, she's been in glass for at least a while. Petco keeps their snakes in glass and her last owner kept her in the same tank although not with ideal conditions, I've made a lot of changes since I brought her home.

Not sure of a concrete day of birth, breeder source, etc.

[Bogertophis]

Well, regardless the kind of snake, other possible reasons for such restless behavior in snakes is that their cage is too warm or that they are hungry.
And you said she hasn't eaten for you yet? Food generally settles a snake down, have you offered yet?

[Spoons]

I've offered twice now. previous owner says she has eaten both Frozen and live, but no interest whatsoever so far. I figured that was because I just brought her home and changed her tank around a bit.

[Avsha531]

From my own experience, I would suggest scenting a live mouse fuzzy with gerbil bedding to get her to start eating.

KSBs are capable of very odd behavior, they definitely seem to break all the rules. If husbandry is on point I would say she's hungry but that doesn't mean it'll be easy. My KSB typically fasts through the winter and he seems to get very restless during that time, even during his first year

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Spoons]

That could be, maybe she is just hungry. I just thought it odd that she exclusively is pacing the glass, instead of cruising all over the tank like my BP does. When I woke up this morning I found she'd paced a rut along the glass from going back and forth so much. I'll have to see if her demeanor changes at all post-feeding.

I will offer her a F/T pinkie once more before trying live. I am a little squeamish about live, especially knowing she has happily taken frozen, but if that is what I need to do I will.

[Avsha531]

That could be, maybe she is just hungry. I just thought it odd that she exclusively is pacing the glass, instead of cruising all over the tank like my BP does. When I woke up this morning I found she'd paced a rut along the glass from going back and forth so much. I'll have to see if her demeanor changes at all post-feeding.

I will offer her a F/T pinkie once more before trying live. I am a little squeamish about live, especially knowing she has happily taken frozen, but if that is what I need to do I will.

Try putting the fresh gerbil bedding in the bag with the mouse and shake it up. It took me over 2 years to switch mine to F/T but with the help of gerbil bedding, a hair dryer and switching to rat pinkies he's finally eating unscented F/T regularly. Please keep us posted