So THIS guy is starting to outgrow almost everything he has. I have a cool side hide rigged up with two paper towel rolls at an angle with a "roof" of paper towel. It's not going to last, but he outgrew his other hide very quickly. And he apparently needs a new warm side hide as well.
Caught him exploring around in the middle of the day again, so I double checked all his temps.
90F inside his warm hide (ambient temperature reads to be 83-87F in varying areas within the hide)
71F everywhere else (ambient temperature is being regulated by the heater which is supposed to be on at 75F... but apparently it waits until 70F... but if I set it higher it skips 80F altogether and climbs to 90F...? Need a new heater with a thermostat. Could use suggestions!)
Still using paper towel as substrate for both my Corn and him. Until I can be 100% certain we are without bed bugs, I need to be able to see what he's laying on. The ones we see are usually very occasional starved adult bugs, and they may try and go for the snakes if they happen to wander in while we are out... I've watched a video of a bad infestation once and the snakes in the vid were anemic and also infested... (shudder)
^ this thermostat is wonderful by the way. Took the pic while checking up on my Corn. For a while I'd cross reference the temp I wanted it at and with my handheld thermometer, and it's pretty spot on (as long as the little stooge doesn't budge the probe...
So I know Cookie's thermostat is good. Doesn't stay off too long.
His body temp is at 75F, so I think he's a little cold to be exploring. But maybe it's because he's hungry. I've changed his schedule again. I started feeding him two large mice a week and noticed his poo took on a lighter shade of brown, and more gooey... so I went back to one large mouse every five days until I could re-measure him. Now he's currently on two large mice every two weeks per a suggestion. I only just started it. But I'd imagine a snake's metabolism is better suited for one big meal vs several mini meals. The opposite of us.
It's been a while since Cookie saw a vet. Need to take him to one soon. New town, new vet. I heard in Ohio that much like Kentucky has on call Vets for horses, Ohio may have on call vets for snakes.
He yawned for me, and the quick glimpse I saw was healthy gums.
But. Set him down to change his water and he went to explore around the room. I heard a noise. Like one I'd make through my nose when breathing in if I was startled. Which is reaaaaaally odd to hear from an otherwise silent noodle. I looked over and saw this:
The only thing I could find that could have startled him was a piece of shed skin from the corn I must have accidentally dropped when throwing it out a couple weeks ago....
It was the cutest thing. He's literally hiding his face like a kid. (If I can't see it, it's not there.)
Cute but he was not consolable for a while. Very jumpy and twitchy. I picked him up and waited for him to calm down and stretch back out before putting him back in his hide.
But other than that, nothing really new. Just a big baby.
Herp Derp
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