Worried about Bob

[MacWin]

This past weekend we had to turn on our AC, both Bob and Nanners stay in the basement and the side that Bob's cage was on it got too cold. So I ended up moving his tank over on to my computer table on the other side of the room.

Well I also tried a different substrate called eco-earth it turns out it was not going to work so I switched back to the reptile carpet and his temps are good and humidity is good as well.

But he is acting strange he won't go into his hides and yesterday which was feeding day he refused a Gerbil :shock:. Thats fine I understand that he is a Ball Python and sometimes will not eat it's not the first time that it has happened.

But he is just acting different right now he is laying on top of his cool hide and he is cool to the touch. He has been doing this for a while now I don't know what his problem is. He is not wheezing or anything like that he is just not himself I know that sounds crazy but I just have this gut feeling something is not right. As crazy as it sounds he is acting like he is depressed. Has anyone witnessed this behavior before? I have moved his tank furniture around before and he has never acted this way. Just worried about my big boy thanks for any ideas or suggestions

[JLC]

How old is Bob? Is he old enough to be pining for a girlfriend? When they reach sexual maturity, they may act a little depressed for awhile, until the mating urge passes.

I'm sure he's fine, but only he knows for sure. Without any actual symptoms to talk about, the best you can do is continue to keep an eye on him and double-triple check to make sure his temps and humidity levels are spot-on.

Just out of curiosity...why didn't eco-earth work out for you? I use it for my cape and love it...but I keep it very dry because he doesn't need any extra humidity.

[MacWin]

I am gonna hazard a guess and say that he is between 1-2 years old. At what age do they reach sexual maturity? He's just acting weird I just cleaned out his tank and stuff real good and he felt a little chilly to me (he was riding on me while I cleaned everything he loves to do that) and I put him back in his tank right into his warm hide and he went in but didn't really seem like he wanted to.

The other day he was doing like I described before laying on top of his cool hide (it's a really neat cave) and when I put him into his warm hide because he felt cold he went in really quick. It's almost like he forgot where his hot hide was. Snakes don't get mental illness do they?

Yeah the eco-earth just would not seem to transfer the heat very well sure why maybe it's because of the size of Bob's tank ( 40 gallon). I was thinking of trying Nanners on it but only if I can get the stuff to dry out properly. How do you dry yours out? I tried baking mine in the oven but it didn't do squat.

Ok he just came out of his warm hide again and he seems like he is looking for something but he has never really exhibited this type of searching behavior before at least not with with me around anyway.

[JLC]

Yeah....sounds to me like Bob is looking for Jane. :wink: I believe males can reach sexual maturity as early as one year, and certainly by two. I wouldn't worry too much about the temps...they know what they need. They don't have to feel warm to our touch.

When I set up the eco-earth, I got as much of the water pressed out of it as I could (this is the downside to this stuff...prepping it is a pain in the tushie!) and then put most of it in a bucket. The rest went in Caesar's cage...and just dried out over time. The stuff in the bucket dried, too. I've been using it to replace what I take out when spot-cleaning. It's about time to replace all of it though, so I'll soon be soaking a new brick and trying to get all the water out. I'll probably spread it out on cookie sheets and set it in the sun.

[MacWin]

I am gonna leave Bob on the reptile carpet,but I am in the process of putting it in Nanner's cage right now temps are slowly rising but even though the stuff is dry to the touch the digi monitor is showing the humidity
way to high :cry:.

I really would like to keep this stuff with him because of how much he poops and in small amounts it would be so much easier to spot clean. I guess I will try throwing a lamp up on it and see what happens.

[gozetec02]

I tried that ecoearth stuff and its messy. When i switched my boy did the same thing. It seemed like he didnt like the substrate.

[MacWin]

Yeah I am pulling it out now I think he likes it but it's to humid.

[JamminJonah]

I use coconut husk stuff. The cold weather may have sparked a mating instinct - I don't know but I have read stuff about cooler temps encouraging mating. You guys know better than I would though.

[MacWin]

Poor Bob maybe I should look in the yellow pages for a female "proffesional" ball python. :wink:

[JLC]

Poor Bob maybe I should look in the yellow pages for a female "proffesional" ball python. :wink:

LOL!!!