Bp hiding under water bowl

[Brandiii]

Help?! My bp has very suddenly become obsessed with burrowing under his water dish. He has 3 hides, a hot at 90, one in the middle, and the cool is 80, the humidity is always at 60-65. Thats perfect right? So why is he doing this?? And Tuesday night I fed him his f/t rat, he ate it no problem, it is now Friday night and I haven’t handled him since, but I looked in his tank and there was a huge pile of blackish goop and I think he threw up the rat?!? I’ve only had him a few months, he is my first snake, I have no idea what’s going on. But I think bc he’s staying under his water bowl he wasn’t getting hot enough to digest his food. So WHY is he staying under there???

[Bogertophis]

Your nose should tell you if it's a regurgitated rat or poop...while poop never smells "good", a regurge generally makes you want to gag. Is it possible the rat
was bigger than he's used to eating? It's possible he wasn't "warm enough" to digest, but that was probably by his choosing: sometimes you can feed a snake
that is going into shed & their body cannot do both very well (both shedding & digesting require extra hydration from the snake's body) so they regurge the
rat instinctively. Watch & see if he doesn't start clouding up in a few days now. Snakes can sense an impending shed before we can see any obvious signs, so
don't panic & think he is ill...this may be "normal" under the circumstances...rats aren't so easy to digest. What size is your snake & what size rat did you feed?

Another reason snakes go under their water bowl is because it provides "back pressure"...the sense of security they get being in a tight cave, safe from predators.
If their hides are too large, open (large doorways) or lightweight, this may be why he sought to go under the water bowl. If he has larger hides, you can also
stuff some paper in them to make them fit "tighter".

BTW, clean up the mess...

And at least yours is a snake...pretty normal for snakes to like tight places. I actually have a dog that does the same thing...even in hot weather, if he
doesn't have a "blankie" over him, he burrows under his dog bed!? Maybe he was a snake in a "previous incarnation"? LOL

[Brandiii]

It’s definitely not too big of a rat, he’s on fuzzies right now and I’m waiting on hoppers to come in the mail. It could’ve been that it wasn’t warm enough so i will definitely be more careful of that! I laid some pieces of wood flat around his tank to see if he is looking for back pressure like you said, and I will keep an eye out for any shed. Thank you from me and Mango

[Craiga 01453]

The hiding under the water bowl is nothing to worry about. Snakes love tight, secure fitting hides and beneath the water bowl provides just that.

Now for a little confusion...are you're sure you're feeding rats and not mice? Mice come in fuzzies and hoppers while rats come in fuzzy, pups and weaned.

HUGE difference. If you're feeding fuzzy mice and waiting on hopper mice they are WAY too small.

Lastly, it's extremely important to distinguish between poop and regurge. If it's poop it's nothing to worry about. If it's regurge you need to determine why it happened.
You'll also need to give the snake AT LEAST 2 weeks to recover since regurgitating can beat up their insides.

[ballpythonsrock2]

.... So WHY is he staying under there???

I hear ya. Mine did that for a while when it was just a wee lad/lass. I didn't like it either, (as you don't). It was spilling water and like you say they can't be getting the warmth they need.

I fixed mine from going under by getting some better hides, that changed that problem. Mine really likes the solid black plastic hides like you get at Reptile Basics and Amazon. It means you could use some better hides maybe? Can you post a pic of your enclosure and the hides you have. Maybe that is the problem.

I have the large Zoo Med resin bowl. I started pushing the substrate away underneath and put it on the glass which made it harder for my not so little one anymore to get under. But now it would just as soon go into one of it's 2 hides since it is now happy with them.

[Bogertophis]

The hiding under the water bowl is nothing to worry about. Snakes love tight, secure fitting hides and beneath the water bowl provides just that.

Now for a little confusion...are you're sure you're feeding rats and not mice? Mice come in fuzzies and hoppers while rats come in fuzzy, pups and weaned.

HUGE difference. If you're feeding fuzzy mice and waiting on hopper mice they are WAY too small.

Lastly, it's extremely important to distinguish between poop and regurge. If it's poop it's nothing to worry about. If it's regurge you need to determine why it happened.
You'll also need to give the snake AT LEAST 2 weeks to recover since regurgitating can beat up their insides.

All this ^ ^ ^ but especially the last part. Can't emphasize that enough...if a regurge, feeding too soon will only get you another regurge, & another...& can kill a snake.

[dr del]

Hi,

Everyone seems to have the poop/ regurge question covered so I'm going to look at other things.

The security of the water bowl is almost certainly why your snake is using it. So if you want to alter where he spends his time you need to replicate that in the hot and cool end hides, depending on the size of the snake I have found plant pot saucers to be really good as low, tight, dark hides available in a range of sizes. Simply cut a hole they can enter through and sand away any rough edges.

You could, once you have hides they like, replace the waterbowl with something like a ceramic dog bowl they cannot fit under.

But I would add the more secure hides at either ends and make sure they use them before removing the current hide/ bowl to avoid problems.

Hope this helps.

[Brandiii]

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0gqM...JiIXVvUUtPattw here is his enclosure. The hot hide is on the right and cool on the left. I got him in March and he has always used his hides and I could tel he especially loved his hot one. That’s why I’m so freaked out it’s like all of a sudden he doesn’t want to be in them and prefers the water bowl. Also I checked and I had the rat and mice names mistaken. They are the correct size rat. He is also a GREAT eater, I was very worried that bc he was a bp he wouldn’t be but he is always super excited to eat. The last time he was going into shed was around May 26th and he even ate then. But of course that doesn’t mean he always will and he should be due for another shed soon right? So maybe it is the shedding? And I am certain that it was regurge bc his poop is always very small and this pile of goop was literally the size of a rat. All of this is very helpful thanx