Another BP Question

[bonbuck]

Hello again.. thanks again for the help with the Mite issue.. things are looking pretty good for George..

George is about 4-5 months old now and i've noticed a big change in his behavior . Im not sure if its good or bad First of all im noticing a huge boost in confidence and he wants to explore, he no longer stays balled up.. Which i know is a good thing.. hes maturing

but the one really weird thing is that he no longer uses his cave. he sleeps stretched out across the aquarium or tucks himself up against the glass in a corner.. I thaught at first it may be a heating issue so i raised the heating lamp up higher.. now the cave is right over a heating pad but its just "Warm"
so all i did was bring down the ambient temperature down a degree or 2

The only thing that has changed for him in the past few days is that i killed off the mites (which i just found out he has had since he was bought from the pet store) and he Shed yesterday morning. (i've had him now for 2 weeks)

btw, Pics coming soon.

[bigballs]

you cant be so sure that 100% of all the mites are dead within a few days. what product did you use to get rid of them? also mites and mite treatment must be pretty stressful on a snake so i would imagine that those two things may cause a change in his behaviour.

what are the warm and cool end temps and how are you measuring them?

[blackcrystal22]

Do you have two hides available? He may be trying to thermoregulate, but is unable to and hide at the same time. Put one on the warm and cold side so he can choose.

An active, unhiding snake, is often a stressed out snake.

[bonbuck]

i only have the one hide in the warm spot, i will get a second cave today to put in the cool area... as for temperature i've been going by feel so i am not sure exactly what the temperature is.. i will also pick up a thermometer today.

thanks for all the info guys!

[Hapa_Haole]

Make sure you get an accurate digital thermometer. The ones they sell at pet stores are trash.

If you didn't have a thermometer I'm guessing you don't have anything controlling the UTH? A cheap and easy way to regulate UTH's are light dimmers. They run about 10$ and act as super cheap thermostats.

[SecurityStacey]

i only have the one hide in the warm spot, i will get a second cave today to put in the cool area... as for temperature i've been going by feel so i am not sure exactly what the temperature is.. i will also pick up a thermometer today.

thanks for all the info guys!

If you are going by touch and it feels "warm" to you it is probably too hot. Remember our temperatures are in the 98 degree range so if it feels warm to you it is over that.

[bonbuck]

Well you guys were right.. temperature was too hot. I got a thermometer today (its just a cheap one for now) but i was reading just over 100 degrees.. I unplugged the heating pad and raised the light up and got the temperature down to 80/90 once again thanks for the advice..

[Hapa_Haole]

Digital thermometers are only ~13$ at walmart. Did you get a stick on thermometer? They are decent for reading ambient temps but what you really want to be measuring is the temps inside the hides as BPs will spend most of their time in them. Digital thermometers have probes that can be placed inside the hides so they work wonders!

The warm side hide tends to be hotter than the outside hot side temp because it traps in the heat. If you can't get a digital thermometer you should at least place your thermometer inside the hide. Just trying to give you some advice from personal experience here. : )

[bonbuck]

thanks, im going to pick up a digital therm probably tomorrow, i just havent had any time. the cheapy i got now is just one a buddy gave me when he dropped by. as for right now i turned the Heating pad off and raised the light more.. the ambient temperature is sitting at 90 hes been going back in the hide now so you guys were definatly right.. it was WAY too hot.