New Hide = No space

[GL6570]

Well, it seems like my big girl has outgrown her hides, but she seems to be fine. She's eating every week and isn't always out roaming her tank. Do I need new hides? Her behavior says no, but her hides fit more like a hat than anything else. If I were to get bigger hides that would leave absolutely no space left in the tank. Would this be ok? I know BPs like cramped spaces but that would seem like a bit much. I tried searching through the forums for a similar setup but it seems like no one keeps a BP of this size in a 20g long. I'm not sure about her weight but I did measure her yesterday and she's a little over 4ft.

[het.pied]

two hides arnt absolutely necesary. does she like to use both?

you could just get a bigger one and remove the other.

[Oxylepy]

In a glass aquarium like that, without it being blacked out or anthing I would think that the 2 hides would, in fact, be necessary. Some snakes are fine with just the one hide, but really you should offer more than one if your snakes are in open veiw like that, it lets them feel more comfortable.

As for the topic at hand, personally I'd say get her into a larger tank, or swap over to a tub. The floor space on that 20 gallon looks a little small for her and when I was using a tank I think I had a similar sized male in a 65 gallon (which, admittedly was a bit large).

Also, how is your humidity? It looks like your entire lid is open for airflow, which, unless you're in a humidified room, could be a bad thing. And what is the temperature under the hot side hide? The bedding looks fairly thick and the heat might not be getting to her.

Sorry, I can be a nit-picker, but we always like to check around here

As for the hide, yeah you need something bigger than that. Get a measurement of her under the current hide (how she is now, to find out the base dimensions you need for the hide) then buy one from there.

Oh and with all the nitpicking and questioning I just did I should probably point out I do love that you stuck with the "keep it simple, stupid" rule, most people like to cram as much in there as possible, while yours is more designed for the health of the animal.

[Spaniard]

Personally, I don't tweak a setup unless the animal gives me a reason to do so. If your snake is eating everyweek, doing the necessary and shedding well then I see no reason to change your set up.

I'm ok with snakes using the hide like yours is in the picture; I've had similar situations where I offer a bigger hide only to go back to what I thought was "cramped" aka the hermit crab bp. Your snakes behavior is the best indicator on what it needs and it seems that you are in tune with it.

I would leave everything as is until I had a reason to start tweaking. If you did want to add a bigger hide you could place it over the warm side and replace the cool side hide with some fake foliage. This will offer the snake some security without the rigid space requirements of a second hide.

That looks like the chunky butt of a healthy snake; keep doing what you're doing.

[anthonym]

Might want to move up to at least a 40 gallon tank. You can find them relatively cheap, about $100, maybe less. That should also make the larger hides a non-issue. As Oxylepy said, you may want to do something to the top. Unless you happen to live where the humidity is naturally high everywhere.

[GL6570]

two hides arnt absolutely necesary. does she like to use both?

you could just get a bigger one and remove the other.

She uses both fairly equally so I'm not too sure about just giving her one hide.

Also, how is your humidity? It looks like your entire lid is open for airflow, which, unless you're in a humidified room, could be a bad thing. And what is the temperature under the hot side hide? The bedding looks fairly thick and the heat might not be getting to her.

Oh and with all the nitpicking and questioning I just did I should probably point out I do love that you stuck with the "keep it simple, stupid" rule, most people like to cram as much in there as possible, while yours is more designed for the health of the animal.

I hate to admit it, but I honestly have never checked my humidity levels. I always figured that if she has full sheds and acts normally(not that they do much "acting" anyway, lol) that I would be in the clear.

I would leave everything as is until I had a reason to start tweaking. If you did want to add a bigger hide you could place it over the warm side and replace the cool side hide with some fake foliage. This will offer the snake some security without the rigid space requirements of a second hide.

That looks like the chunky butt of a healthy snake; keep doing what you're doing.

That sounds like an awesome idea, but personally, I'd prefer to have something a little easier to clean and disinfect. I like to keep it simple just like Oxylepy mentioned

Might want to move up to at least a 40 gallon tank. You can find them relatively cheap, about $100, maybe less. That should also make the larger hides a non-issue. As Oxylepy said, you may want to do something to the top. Unless you happen to live where the humidity is naturally high everywhere.

The holidays tend to do a number on the wallet, haha We'll what happens once the new year comes along though. I live in Southern California and she's actually gone through really cold winters without me doing anything to the tank and was shedding fine and was completely healthy.

[Oxylepy]

I hate to admit it, but I honestly have never checked my humidity levels. I always figured that if she has full sheds and acts normally(not that they do much "acting" anyway, lol) that I would be in the clear.

If the sheds are in full pieces and you have no dented eyes then you're keeping your humidity spot on

That sounds like an awesome idea, but personally, I'd prefer to have something a little easier to clean and disinfect. I like to keep it simple just like Oxylepy mentioned

Which is definitely the way to go. Its cool to put things like foliage in there, until you need to clean it. And I'm glad to see you agree

[vjb]

That's funny, I can imagine her thinking, "Noone can see me, 'cause I'm in my hide."

[dreese88]

I got my pastel when he was but a little fellow (100ish g) and he has the exact same hides now at 1100g as he did then. They fit him more as a turtle shell than anything, but he eats and sheds perfectly. I would follow Rich's advice...and the old saying "if it aint broke, don't fix it" and keep her like she is until she gives you a reason not to.

[GL6570]

Yeah, I'm just going to keep it as is. If anything, I'm just going to blackout the back and sides to make it little more secure for her. I'm probaby going to go with krylon fusion paint since it's latex based and easier to remove if necessary. The only thing I'm worried about is having to wait a week to put her back in the tank since it takes about 7 days to cure. Hopefully the temporary move won't throw her off. I don't want to ruin a good thing.

Thanks everyone for all the advice!