Randomly Active Python

[captainjack0000]

I've had her for about 1.5 yrs now, and she's not shown any signs of weight loss -if anything, weight gain. Her feeding has slowed down a bit. I have no intentions of breeding her, and I offer her a rat once a week, but she usually takes one every 2-3 weeks. E.g. I offered her a 56g rat today (she weighs ~1200g as of a couple of weeks ago). She refused, but normally refuses food when she's really active.

My set-up for her basically is the same as its been since April. I might move the water dish around, but she has two identical hides, one on a warm side (regulated UTH) and one on the cool side. Ambient air temps range are 80's during the day (plus her heat pad) and 74-76F at night (plus her heat pad). So she always has a spot that is at least 80F, and during the day her warm side is closer to 86 or 88F.

So she's been really active, off and on. Sometimes during the day, sometimes during the night (as I can see her substrate has moved around, and cage furniture is rearranged).

I used to think her activity meant she was hungry, but as I mentioned, she's been refusing food off and on ( I suspect because she's reaching maturity and would normally be slowing down her intake). Plus, after some months of effort, she recently got switched back over to rats from mice. So maybe the food item isn't her preferred prey item, but will eat it when she wants.

Should I be worried about her activity or do I just have a weird snake? It's usually a very calm exploration of the tank, she's just strong enough to move most everything around in it, except the water dish. There are no signs of panic.

Also, at night, I put a cloth over her tank to give her extra security and help keep some of the living room's light out of her space.

[Zombie]

I'd bump her heat up, try to get her warm side around 92. I wouldn't turn it down at night either. If you aren't goin to breed her, just keep her temps the same at all times. Some are more active than others and it seems that all mine get "active" after I do something in their tub (change water, clean, etc). Maybe try a slightly smaller meal to see if it gets her eating weekly (if that's what you would like to accomplish). I have a female that will only eat every 2 weeks regardless of what u feed her good luck to u!

[captainjack0000]

I can bump up the warm side a bit, but the changing night temperature is not really my control. She's in an apartment. I mean i could set the A/C or heat in the apt to 80 during the night, but I'd never be able to sleep. I leave the UTH on day and night to make sure she has a warm area to visit when she needs.

She's settled down now since posting the first message, even though it's getting dark out now. I misted her cage, which might have helped her. Post-tropical cyclone Sandy brought some cold dry air down here to FL. The humidity has been really low as a result.

How much smaller than 56g? That's already only 5% of her body weight. I figured that was a good maitenence diet.

[Zombie]

I can bump up the warm side a bit, but the changing night temperature is not really my control. She's in an apartment. I mean i could set the A/C or heat in the apt to 80 during the night, but I'd never be able to sleep. I leave the UTH on day and night to make sure she has a warm area to visit when she needs.

She's settled down now since posting the first message, even though it's getting dark out now. I misted her cage, which might have helped her. Post-tropical cyclone Sandy brought some cold dry air down here to FL. The humidity has been really low as a result.

How much smaller than 56g? That's already only 5% of her body weight. I figured that was a good maitenence diet.

Sorry, i should have done the math before answering. I don't go by the percentage of body weight thing. I usually just have certain sizes for weight that I stick to.

I would bump her heat up for sure. Try not to let the cold side get under 75 and u should be fine. Is the in a tank? You can try to insulate 3 sides of it to maintain temps. If its a screen top, u could cover half or more to help keep humidity up as well...

She may just not want to eat very often. U did say she used to be a mouser, how long ago?