BP basking under heat lamp but ignoring hot hide..

[kiiarah]

I have only noticed this once, but it was enough to make me concerned. After feeding the other day, Shesha spent about five hours coiled in the top of the climbing branch under the heat lamp. Normally he goes into his cool hide and stays there for the next couple of days (in fact he hasn't used his hot hide that I have seen since discovering the cool one). I am running a thermostat so the temp in the hot hide remains at 90 and the bedding layer is thinned out so he should definitely be able to tell it is warmer there, but for some reason he just isn't interested. I had asked about this a while back and everyone basically said to trust him and that if he feels that he needs the heat he will use it. The prolonged basking under the lamp the other day makes me think he needs heat, but isn't basking under top heat unhealthy? I don't want it to dry him out or anything, and it seems that he still isn't getting the belly heat he needs that way. The ambient temps are never lower than 78 so he shouldn't be cold.

I had tried switching the hides before. Both are half logs but one is smaller than the other. Oddly enough, he seems to prefer the larger one over the tighter fitting one. I figured maybe he just didn't like the hide on the hot side, but even after putting his preferred hide on that side he still went to the cold side. The only other thing I can think is just that for some reason he likes the corner the cool hide is in. Would it possibly be a good idea to flip the tank around so that the heat mat is under the side he prefers and the inside of the tank still looks the same to him? I am confident that he would remain on that side with or without the heat mat under it, but I wouldn't want to "force" him into using the heat mat all the time. I guess basically what I am asking is would it be more dangerous to leave it as is and risk him not getting the belly heat or would it be worse to risk him being on the heat mat 24-7 by changing the side. He spends all his time in that one hide so if the heat mat were under it he would be on it constantly. I wasn't concerned before, but since he is showing signs of trying to thermoregulate to get that heat it seems like I may need to intervene somehow.

[I-KandyReptiles]

I'd suggest buying new hides. The two openings on the log hides tend to stress snakes out and it's possible that maybe he doesn't feel comfortable in them.

You want to find a hide that is snug fitting with only one opening.


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[Spoons]

I'd suggest buying new hides. The two openings on the log hides tend to stress snakes out and it's possible that maybe he doesn't feel comfortable in them.

You want to find a hide that is snug fitting with only one opening.


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Genuinely curious, I'm sorry if this is a dumb question. But if the snake isn't comfortable in his hide because it's not closed in enough... Surely he wouldn't be comfortable just totally out in the open? Not secure maybe but if the snake wanted to be secure, a log hide is better than no hide, isn't it? The hide has heat, so it seems that if he wasn't happy with his hide and was stressed out because of the openness, he wouldn't prefer to laze out in the open, because that's even more open (and thus more stressful if that was the case) than the hide.

[I-KandyReptiles]

It's not so much that it's not closed in enough, but that there's multiple openings. A lot of people will agree that the log hides are pretty much useless.

A stressed out snake will be much more active than one that is "content". I do have two ball pythons in PVC enclosures and never see them out. They're always in their hides.


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[kiiarah]

The odd thing is that he has always seemed fine in the hide, goes right into it and curls up usually after feeding or handling. For two months he has spent 99% of his time in his hide, just suddenly seems to think he is a tree python. lol The log hides do of course have two openings, but I have one end of it pushed against the glass and three sides of the tank are lined with bubble wrap with cardboard around the outside of that. So the "back" entrance to the hide is completely darkened and closed off. He really seems to prefer it as I have tried giving him a smaller hide and he went right back to the larger one. I am going to pick him up two new hides soon actually, but not so much because he seems to mind these ones as that I am concerned about keeping them sanitized long term. I want to get him something that can be easily disinfected for health reasons, but the ones I am looking at are a reptile cave and they do have one hide and I think will be cozier for him. Oh and I can no longer say I have only seen him do this once. I just got home and guess who is in his branch again. I just hope he isn't struggling to digest or anything, that is my only concern. I just can't see why he wouldn't just go to his hot hide, it's right there! Oh well, guess I will have to let him do his thing, still though it would be interesting to know what prompted the change in routine.

[200xth]

Doublecheck the temps on the substrate. If he's avoiding the hot spot all the time, it's possible the temp on the ground is hotter (or cooler) than you think it is.

[kiiarah]

Well I have the digital thermometer probe on the glass inside the tank under the hot hide. The substrate is quite thin on that side so I doubt it is much lower than the glass temps. I don't have a temp gun just yet. The probe is reading about 90 so it must be warmer at least than the cool hide.