Ball Python Uses Small Hide. Is She Stupid?

[Gobuchul]

I agree with Malum. If you post pics of the entire enclosure, I may have suggestions as to how you can set it up better.

Here are a couple of pictures of the whole enclosure. The snake actually did move into the bigger warm side hide last night, so it seems that she is indeed not stupid. If there are other ways to optimize the enclosure though, I'm happy to hear them.






Ambient temp is 81-82 on warm side, 79-80 on cool side / very near walls. Surface temp is 77 on cool side, 88-89 on warm side at the plastic. I could turn the heat pad thermostat up another degree to hit 90 inside, but it seems to overshoot and get slightly too warm. The overhead lamp thing is a ceramic heat emitter.

Humidity can be a little tricky to stabilize since the enclosure's volume is small relative to the lid/substrate surface area, so it's easy to overshoot when mixing in water. It's pretty stable once it gets going though, and I might add a bit more substrate to help with this.

[Malum Argenteum]

I'm sure others will have other comments, but: that style tub (lid) will not keep a snake in reliably. They can and will push their way out. Snakes are both not stupid and not weak, and they have lots of time to combine their cleverness and strength to make an escape.

[Bogertophis]

I'm sure others will have other comments, but: that style tub (lid) will not keep a snake in reliably. They can and will push their way out. Snakes are both not stupid and not weak, and they have lots of time to combine their cleverness and strength to make an escape.

Maybe with a number of binder clips holding the top to the bottom? Snake escapes are best prevented, for sure.

[Gobuchul]

I'm sure others will have other comments, but: that style tub (lid) will not keep a snake in reliably. They can and will push their way out. Snakes are both not stupid and not weak, and they have lots of time to combine their cleverness and strength to make an escape.

I have some extra clips to hold it shut, but stopped bothering with them because they're a pain to deal with and the snake hasn't seemed interested in escaping. I had kind of forgotten about this issue altogether. I'll add some extra latches when I get the chance, and try to use the clips in the meantime.

[Malum Argenteum]

I've had snakes exploit enclosure shortcomings in the first day of my keeping them, and also after years in my care. They're not all that predictable.

[Bogertophis]

I've had snakes exploit enclosure shortcomings in the first day of my keeping them, and also after years in my care. They're not all that predictable.

I was thinking the same thing, especially when the OP said

...I'll add some extra latches when I get the chance...

[Gobuchul]

Security upgrade, the lid now hinges on the far side and has some bolts which must be pulled out on the near side:




I didn't have the materials on hand to make proper latches, but the bolts are solid and should still be more convenient than clips. The leftmost one looks loose because I didn't line the holes up right, but it seems stable enough.

[Bogertophis]

There's many ways to secure a snake enclosure/tank/tub...the main thing is to do it before the snake figures out how to get out.

[Homebody]

Security upgrade, the lid now hinges on the far side and has some bolts which must be pulled out on the near side:

Your set up seems adequate to me with the security upgrades. My first snake was an adult bp and I kept him in a very similar set up for about a year before he began pushing to get out. He managed to escape a couple times before I found spring clips that were secure enough. Unfortunately, that didn't stop him from pushing and he started to injure himself. I solved that issue by building him a larger enclosure.

So, I suggest you start planning for a larger enclosure. Your bp is a baby so you've got time. You'll know your snake has been pushing when you see swelling, usually on the lips or the top if the head. Even if your snake doesn't start pushing, a larger enclosure is worthwhile. With more space you can provide a healthier and much more enriching environment.

But that's down the road. What you have is perfectly adequate for now. Take this time to get to know her. The better you understand her, the better job you'll do when the time comes to upgrade.

P.S. What are you regulating the heat mat and ceramic heat emitter with?

[Gobuchul]

Your set up seems adequate to me with the security upgrades. My first snake was an adult bp and I kept him in a very similar set up for about a year before he began pushing to get out. He managed to escape a couple times before I found spring clips that were secure enough. Unfortunately, that didn't stop him from pushing and he started to injure himself. I solved that issue by building him a larger enclosure.

So, I suggest you start planning for a larger enclosure. Your bp is a baby so you've got time. You'll know your snake has been pushing when you see swelling, usually on the lips or the top if the head. Even if your snake doesn't start pushing, a larger enclosure is worthwhile. With more space you can provide a healthier and much more enriching environment.

But that's down the road. What you have is perfectly adequate for now. Take this time to get to know her. The better you understand her, the better job you'll do when the time comes to upgrade.

P.S. What are you regulating the heat mat and ceramic heat emitter with?

I'll be ready to upgrade the enclosure when the time comes. In the meantime I want to replace the paper in this enclosure with better looking fake foliage, but I consider it low priority and haven't gotten around to it. I have a nearly unlimited supply of used notebook paper, so it's easier to just keep replacing that for now.

I'm regulating the CHE using a thermostat with a probe suction-cupped to the warm side short wall, and the heat mat using a thermostat with a probe between the mat and the bottom of the plastic. This setup seems to keep the temps within 1-2 degrees fahrenheit of target values when the room varies by 5 degrees either way. The ambient temps rise when the room temperature increases, so I hoped putting the CHE probe very close to the wall (which should have its temperature affected more by the room than the middle of the enclosure) would mitigate this, but I think putting the probe in a hide or something might also be effective.

My only issue with the heating is that the surface temp of the plastic beneath the hides is 88, but ticking the thermostat up a degree brings it to like 93. I figure 88 is fine even with some variance and preferable to potentially getting too warm by sitting around 93, but it annoys me that I can't bring it to 89 or 90. I have a spare thermostat, so I might try making some sort of "and" gate to improve it.