Ball Python never goes to warm hide

[The Serpent Merchant]

My guy is currently doing the same thing. At first I thought it was because he preferred his old hide to the new one that was over the hot-spot, so I swapped them and he moved over to the hot side. Since he went through his shed a week ago, he's been hanging out in the "middle" zone in his moss hide. He just ate too so it's unusual to not see him on his hot side. The UTH is regulated by a Hydrofarm thermostat, and a probe in his hide on the substrate reads 86-90'F. Half of me is tempted to just let him self-regulate, but the other half is worried something isn't just right for him. He has grown a little too big for his old hide, but until last week he seemed to prefer it. Should I get an identical hide to the middle one now that he seems to like it and put it over the hot side, or just let him figure it out? How often do BPs do things like this?

It is always recommended to have identical hides on the cool side and hot side for this very reason.

I highly recommend these hides: http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes

I have found that less is more when it comes to Ball Python caging. This is how I set up all of my cages: