To Hide or not to Hide?

[BooRadleyAMG]

Lately my BP has been sleeping a good 3-5 hours with just her head sticking out of her hide. She does this on both sides. Her hides do not seem too big nor too small. Temps are fine (I check them what seems like every 2-4 hours) Humidity is anywhere from 45% - 65%. Her enclosure is clean (I spot clean daily if needed). At first I thought it was a hunger issue, but I noticed she even does it after feeding.

Is this something I need to be worried about, or is it just part of her personality?

Any insight would be helpful

Thanks.

[Drew87]

All of my snakes do the same thing, kinda depends sometimes i think they just like to watch whats going on, other times there all the way in there hide. I dont think its a big issue at all. hope this helps sounds perfectly normal to me

[katiadarling]

I'm not very experienced, but my snake does this too. Most of the time he's all the way inside of the hides, but frequently in the evenings he has his head poking out and watches things. I'm not too worried, he eats fine, etc!

[Spaniard]

Nothing to worry about. I actually take it as a sign that they're comfortable with their hides; just waiting for a snack to run by

[missi182]

Nothing is wrong, that is very normal behaviour for a bp. It just means hes comfortable but he wants to know whats going on around his home.

[SlitherinSisters]

Nothing to worry about. I actually take it as a sign that they're comfortable with their hides; just waiting for a snack to run by

That's how I see it.

Mine do it quite often, but my snake room doubles as a rat room. So I'm not surprised by their behavior at all

[JohnNJ]

I'm confused about the whole "hide" concept.

I had a BP back in the late 80's and I did not have a hide in the 20L tank. I had a driftwood branch, which was used often, a heat rock in the tank and a water bowel. The snake just layed around flat, never coiled or in a ball in the corner. Just very relaxed and a great snake. Never tried to strike at me or anyone else. Great eater, etc. You get the idea.

A few weeks ago I helped my niece get a BP and housing. We bought the snake at (gasp) Petsmart. I had a choice of two and picked the one I thought was more relaxed. This time around I read about hides on this forum and about how BP's are so shy and want to feel secure, etc.

This snake does not use the hides either and lays around just like my snake did 20+ years ago. The big difference is now the snake is in my nieces room with tons of noise/music and kids running in and out, ferrets and hamsters in the room, cats and a chinchilla running around - nothing bothers this snake. Back then the snake was in a quiet room and I didn't have kids yet but they act the same.

What gives? Why don't my BP's fit the stereotype?

John

[Mindibun]

Both of mine sleep with their heads peeking out, but the female takes it to the extreme. She'll leave the top half of her body out, or she'll just uncoil herself and have her hide sitting on top of her instead of her being "in" it. She's really ridiculous sometimes. -lol-

[reaxion07]

^I bought mine a fancy new hide from Reptile Basics. He had a cottage cheese container that I cut an opening in before that. I also had a container of Spaeghnum (sp?) moss in there, on top of it. Instead of giong in his fancy new hide, he pushed it out enough to make a roof out of the Spaeghnum Moss, and sleep between the glass and the Reptile Basics hide

[Spaniard]

I'm confused about the whole "hide" concept.

I had a BP back in the late 80's and I did not have a hide in the 20L tank. I had a driftwood branch, which was used often, a heat rock in the tank and a water bowel. The snake just layed around flat, never coiled or in a ball in the corner. Just very relaxed and a great snake. Never tried to strike at me or anyone else. Great eater, etc. You get the idea.

A few weeks ago I helped my niece get a BP and housing. We bought the snake at (gasp) Petsmart. I had a choice of two and picked the one I thought was more relaxed. This time around I read about hides on this forum and about how BP's are so shy and want to feel secure, etc.

This snake does not use the hides either and lays around just like my snake did 20+ years ago. The big difference is now the snake is in my nieces room with tons of noise/music and kids running in and out, ferrets and hamsters in the room, cats and a chinchilla running around - nothing bothers this snake. Back then the snake was in a quiet room and I didn't have kids yet but they act the same.

What gives? Why don't my BP's fit the stereotype?

John

You could have just been lucky. There are some bps that fare well in situations like you've described and some that won't. You're basing your decision off of 2 snakes though. Of my 8 snakes 3 are extremely shy and the rest are no problem. Some use their hides religiously and some barely spend time in them.