I just got a spider ball about the same size as yours about 2 days ago. He has been in hide for the most part. I have the same style gauge to and he hasn't been climbing on it. I'm mainly just using it for humidity til my digital one gets in the mail. I do however have a digital thermometer laying under his hide so I can monitor belly temp. If I had to guess I'd say its that substrate thats not letting him/her keep warm. As the saying on here goes a hiding ball python is a happy ball python. So somethings up.