now this has to be wrong....

[FrankieCarbone]

i know a mad a post about this before and most of you agreed that this is not a problem, but...

My other post i said on how my BP is always on his hot side hide, even when he its, what i believed too cold. Back then i found him in the cold side hide even when the temps where like 80-82, and his hot side was about 88, yet he stilled stayed in his cold side hide. Well most of you thought that was fine.

OK, here in new york we are out of the heat wave and now temps are getting to normal. Yesterday i came home to find the cold side to be at a 73! that was ambient, so surface temps were prob lower, hot side was about 83, ambient and i know 92 surface because i have a UTH hooked up to a herpstat, yet he still stayed at his cold side hide. Now there has to be something wrong with that. Why would he choose that low of a temp? And before anybody asks both hides are identical. I thought at first it was maybe because the hot side hide was facing the fron of the tank a little bit more than the other, but i changed that weeks ago and the hot side hide actually faces more away from the front of the tank than the cold side hide.


here is a picture of the hides, the cold one is the one on the left

http://www.imagebam.com/image/491a93145476116

Anybody got any ideas?

[dr del]

Hi,

The temp they need their body to be depends on what they are doing.

After a meal mine tend to move to the warm end and stay there a larger percentage of their time for a few days.

Are the temp probes inside the hides with him?

How is he eating?

Basically the reason we give them the temp range is so they can choose - as long as your guy is eating, shedding and pooping ok he's probably choosing the right temps.


dr del

[RetiredJedi]

I don't think anyone will ever know what is going through a BPs mind. I have one that is always on his cool side no matter what, except after he eats and refuses to use his hide. He prefers to be squezzed between the hide and the side of the enclosure. I say, as long as he is eating, drinking, going to the bathroom, sheds well, isn't sick, and isn't aggressive then he is happy and doing what he likes to do.

[FrankieCarbone]

I say, as long as he is eating, drinking, going to the bathroom, sheds well, isn't sick, and isn't aggressive then he is happy and doing what he likes to do.

ummm, i got most of those, he hasent pooped in a while, and by a while i mean like almost 3 weeks, he is eating like a monster, he sheds fine, actually the last time he was in his hot side hide was when he was in shed, and i know this because i found his shed skin in his hot side hide. Dosent seem sick, has not shown any signs of RI or anything like that, i inspect his scales regularly for anything unusual, and nothing. Basically his love to be cold and the fact that he hasent pooped in 3 weeks is the only issues thus far. Hes never refused a meal.

And as far as the probe, its between the UTH and the tank, i had to mess with it to get the right temp to around 92, i set up the tank and the UTH days before i placed him in there, so i have the temps perfect. I still check them once in a while, and still the same, surface temps on the hot side hide in the 92.x's so says my PE2

[Saboduh]

i worry about my ball python too, he never uses his hides but he acts completly normal other than that. i figure now as long as your providing the correct environment he will do what he wants, althought that doesnt help us not worry. theres always general guidelines but every snakes has their own personality
i do know that you really dont want any temps dipping below 75. i had trouble keeping my cool side temp up so i got 2 UTH with thermostat and keep the cool side to 80-82 and the hot side 90-92. but i dont ever see my BP on the cool side. if your really worried and having trouble you may want to add another UTH +therm it helped me not worry so much

[RetiredJedi]

...he hasent pooped in a while, and by a while i mean like almost 3 weeks... Basically his love to be cold and the fact that he hasent pooped in 3 weeks is the only issues thus far...

Sometimes all they do is pee. I noticed my normal, Nibs, had a bit of a swollen tail because he was a little constipated and hadn't actually pooped in a while. I wasn't worried about not pooping until I saw his swollen backside, so I soaked him in warm water for about 10 minutes and that seemed to loosen everything up. Again, not pooping wasn't the problem it was the slightly swollen tail area.

I do want to say that the temps should be watched but if something like that happens and you get the temps back to normal, just be sure he does what he normally does and he should be fine.

[dr del]

Hi,

I didn't mean thermostat probe I meant the probes from the two thermometers on the back wall of the tank?

You want to find out what the temp is inside the hide where the snake actually is.


dr del

[FrankieCarbone]

I didn't mean thermostat probe I meant the probes from the two thermometers on the back wall of the tank?

You want to find out what the temp is inside the hide where the snake actually is.

these acu rite thermo i have have built in probes, hence the reason why there are 2....

And i know the temps of inside the hides, because i occasionally (usually when i handle him) open up the hides and check the surface temps with my PE2 gun, usually the surface temps on the cold side hide are about 2 degrees cooler than what the digital thermometer say, but on the hot side its always the same (92.x), being as its hooked up to a UTH with thermostat....

[rabernet]

Although the hides are identical, have you ever reversed them? IE, put the one on the cool side on the warm side, and vice versa? I'm wondering if although they appear identical to you, if maybe there's a perceived difference to your snake? Maybe smell is different, or something?

[FrankieCarbone]

i will try that, but i highly doubt it, because 1, when i bought them at the reptile expo i put them side by side and one on top of each other and they are exact, and 2, he used to do the very same thing with the older hides,in his old tank, those are the exo terra hides, u know the ones they sell in every petland, that re like a grand canyon type color? well it was the same deal with those hides as well, he would always choose the cold side even when it got too cold. But i will switch them and see what happens, but it wont be until another 2 days, its feeding day today so....