Help!

[Nfoster0301]

I've had my pastel for about 3 weeks now. I got it as a hatchling. It has always been really secretive and shy until 3 days ago. I've came home and for the last three days he has been basking on top of his cave. Is he cold? Hot? I'm at 90 warm and 80 ish cold and 55- 60 humidity. He's definitely comfortable now, I've found him snooping around I'm the middle of the night and trying to escape etc. You know, the normal. But I always heard these snakes don't bask. Is this normal? I have a uth set at 89 and a 50 watt light. Uth has a thermostat with a thermometer probe. I've barried the probe under the mulch to get a good reading of temp as well as a close reading so incase it overheats it will be accurate and shut down. Then a thermometer probe mounted about an inch off the ground to get relative humidity of the tank. It's at about 87-90. I also have a great infrared heat gun that measures under his hide at 90 and about 88 everywhere else on the hot side. Except for the direct spot of the bulb can get up to 100 but that's just 1 tiny direct light Ray, like where you can see the light hitting the ground. Anyone have any I ideas on why he's basking? All my equipment is legit, no cheap stuff. This is my first snake. So I'm new to this. But he also hasn't ate yet. I've tried once a week on frozen and live fuzzies. No sign on respiratory infection or mites or any defect. Can someone help me on eating and basking info? He's fed in separate tank with heat as well. This post is more about the basking though

[Reed12321]

I've had my pastel for about 3 weeks now. I got it as a hatchling. It has always been really secretive and shy until 3 days ago. I've came home and for the last three days he has been basking on top of his cave. Is he cold? Hot? I'm at 90 warm and 80 ish cold and 55- 60 humidity. He's definitely comfortable now, I've found him snooping around I'm the middle of the night and trying to escape etc. You know, the normal. But I always heard these snakes don't bask. Is this normal? I have a uth set at 89 and a 50 watt light. Uth has a thermostat with a thermometer probe. I've barried the probe under the mulch to get a good reading of temp as well as a close reading so incase it overheats it will be accurate and shut down. Then a thermometer probe mounted about an inch off the ground to get relative humidity of the tank. It's at about 87-90. I also have a great infrared heat gun that measures under his hide at 90 and about 88 everywhere else on the hot side. Except for the direct spot of the bulb can get up to 100 but that's just 1 tiny direct light Ray, like where you can see the light hitting the ground. Anyone have any I ideas on why he's basking? All my equipment is legit, no cheap stuff. This is my first snake. So I'm new to this. But he also hasn't ate yet. I've tried once a week on frozen and live fuzzies. No sign on respiratory infection or mites or any defect. Can someone help me on eating and basking info? He's fed in separate tank with heat as well. This post is more about the basking though

1. Your probe should be outside of the tank. If your snake pees, or dumps his water on it, the probe will read the temperature way too low and kick the heat pad on until It gets to your set temperature. This will kick it on way too hot and the snake could be burned. Tape the probe to the underside of the heat pad, or peel it back and put it between the heat pad and the tank glass. Personally, I have mine taped with aluminum tape so it will conduct heat and only measure the heat pad. You will have to set your thermostat to a higher temp so that the bottom of the tank is at 90-91

2. Snakes are nocturnal, so he'll be more active at night naturally. I have a baby albino who was super active all the time. She wasn't eating for me, so I tried feeding her a live mouse. After about 15 minutes of her looking at the mouse, she finally struck at it and ate it. Hopefully this kicks her appetite into gear and then she'll start growing. After she ate, she was much less active. I think she even stayed in her hide for a solid 24 hours after eating. Make sure you get your little guy to eat because babies can't survive as long without food.

3. If you have him in a tank, he may feel exposed and whatnot. Small snakes are okay with being in a shoe-box-sized enclosure because they get overwhelmed with too much open space. You may need to put him into a small container with a heat pad underneath it and it'll make him feel safer. Once he feels safe, he'll eat.

4. Try cleaning everything in the tank prior to feeding. A snake won't eat if they can smell their own excrement or urine. My albino was really hesitant to eat, so I cleaned the tank, the hides, the fake plants, the water dish, and my moisture box. I replaced the paper towel in the bottom of the tank and I made sure it was warm before putting her back in.

5. Remove clutter from the tank when feeding. My snake wanted to stay in the hide with the live mouse running around her tank. Also, the mouse was burrowing in the fake plants that I have. I removed the hide and the fake plants so that she could keep an eye on the live mouse. At one point, the mouse was cuddling with my snake, but after I walked away, I heard the squeaks from the mouse being attacked.

6. Turn the lights out when you try to feed. The snakes like to eat in the darkness, so if your tank lights are on, turn those off too. Put the live mouse in there but keep an eye on it. If you're gonna try f/t, put the mouse on a piece of newspaper after you've warmed it up right outside of the hide the snake is in so that they're forced to smell it, and leave it overnight. Before putting the mouse in, use the hair dryer trick to waft the fumes from the mouse into the tank by blowing the mouse with the hair dryer. Put the hair dryer on full heat and heat the head up so that the snake will think it's alive and attack.

7. If you're using f/t and they're kept in a plastic bag, try rinsing the mouse with warm water. It'll get rid of "the freezer smell" and it might entice the snake to eat it.

8. Cover the tank with a towel so you can't see anything that's going on inside. It'll help the snake be more secure. I did this and I kept peeking to make sure the live mouse wasn't attacking my snake, and as soon as I put the towel down and walked away did my snake attack.

Good luck, hopefully this list will help you out!

[Nfoster0301]

1. Your probe should be outside of the tank. If your snake pees, or dumps his water on it, the probe will read the temperature way too low and kick the heat pad on until It gets to your set temperature. This will kick it on way too hot and the snake could be burned. Tape the probe to the underside of the heat pad, or peel it back and put it between the heat pad and the tank glass. Personally, I have mine taped with aluminum tape so it will conduct heat and only measure the heat pad. You will have to set your thermostat to a higher temp so that the bottom of the tank is at 90-91

2. Snakes are nocturnal, so he'll be more active at night naturally. I have a baby albino who was super active all the time. She wasn't eating for me, so I tried feeding her a live mouse. After about 15 minutes of her looking at the mouse, she finally struck at it and ate it. Hopefully this kicks her appetite into gear and then she'll start growing. After she ate, she was much less active. I think she even stayed in her hide for a solid 24 hours after eating. Make sure you get your little guy to eat because babies can't survive as long without food.

3. If you have him in a tank, he may feel exposed and whatnot. Small snakes are okay with being in a shoe-box-sized enclosure because they get overwhelmed with too much open space. You may need to put him into a small container with a heat pad underneath it and it'll make him feel safer. Once he feels safe, he'll eat.

4. Try cleaning everything in the tank prior to feeding. A snake won't eat if they can smell their own excrement or urine. My albino was really hesitant to eat, so I cleaned the tank, the hides, the fake plants, the water dish, and my moisture box. I replaced the paper towel in the bottom of the tank and I made sure it was warm before putting her back in.

5. Remove clutter from the tank when feeding. My snake wanted to stay in the hide with the live mouse running around her tank. Also, the mouse was burrowing in the fake plants that I have. I removed the hide and the fake plants so that she could keep an eye on the live mouse. At one point, the mouse was cuddling with my snake, but after I walked away, I heard the squeaks from the mouse being attacked.

6. Turn the lights out when you try to feed. The snakes like to eat in the darkness, so if your tank lights are on, turn those off too. Put the live mouse in there but keep an eye on it. If you're gonna try f/t, put the mouse on a piece of newspaper after you've warmed it up right outside of the hide the snake is in so that they're forced to smell it, and leave it overnight. Before putting the mouse in, use the hair dryer trick to waft the fumes from the mouse into the tank by blowing the mouse with the hair dryer. Put the hair dryer on full heat and heat the head up so that the snake will think it's alive and attack.

7. If you're using f/t and they're kept in a plastic bag, try rinsing the mouse with warm water. It'll get rid of "the freezer smell" and it might entice the snake to eat it.

8. Cover the tank with a towel so you can't see anything that's going on inside. It'll help the snake be more secure. I did this and I kept peeking to make sure the live mouse wasn't attacking my snake, and as soon as I put the towel down and walked away did my snake attack.

Good luck, hopefully this list will help you out!

Thanks a ton man, great response. Do you have any comment on the basking? And also, how long until I should worry about the snake not eating?

[Reed12321]

Thanks a ton man, great response. Do you have any comment on the basking? And also, how long until I should worry about the snake not eating?

Basking is okay...sort of. If it's night, he's just warming up. Remember he's a hatchling and still learning things. This may be his attempt at thermoregulating. How much does he weigh now? If he starts losing significant weight, then you should be worried. He ate once for you so that means he has the ability to do so. Some hatchlings need to be assist fed in order to be taught to eat. If you can tell me how much he weighs, it'll be easier to figure out when the danger zone comes. But if he's a hatchling and he hasn't eaten for 3 weeks already, you may only want to extend this another week before attempting an assist feed. But remember, ASSIST FEEDING IS A LAST RESORT.

[Nfoster0301]

Basking is okay...sort of. If it's night, he's just warming up. Remember he's a hatchling and still learning things. This may be his attempt at thermoregulating. How much does he weigh now? If he starts losing significant weight, then you should be worried. He ate once for you so that means he has the ability to do so. Some hatchlings need to be assist fed in order to be taught to eat. If you can tell me how much he weighs, it'll be easier to figure out when the danger zone comes. But if he's a hatchling and he hasn't eaten for 3 weeks already, you may only want to extend this another week before attempting an assist feed. But remember, ASSIST FEEDING IS A LAST RESORT.

I do not have a scale. And he hasn't ate for me yet, but he looked more interested in it last time I tried. He hasn't gotten any thinner and he is still active. I'm just worried about him being cold or something. When I look at my probed thermometer about a inch off the ground hot side it says like 83-88 normally. But when I measure ground temp with my gun it shows 88-100 depending on how close I measure to the direct rays. I know 83-88 is cold but his belly temp/ ground temp is perfect. Am I doing that right? And he is basking in the day. It's only been three days now on the basking though. But he is there right now, just chillin.

[Reed12321]

I do not have a scale. And he hasn't ate for me yet, but he looked more interested in it last time I tried. He hasn't gotten any thinner and he is still active. I'm just worried about him being cold or something. When I look at my probed thermometer about a inch off the ground hot side it says like 83-88 normally. But when I measure ground temp with my gun it shows 88-100 depending on how close I measure to the direct rays. I know 83-88 is cold but his belly temp/ ground temp is perfect. Am I doing that right? And he is basking in the day. It's only been three days now on the basking though. But he is there right now, just chillin.

How thick is your substrate? and is the hide right over the heat pad? If so, check the ground temps inside the hide. It might be cold in there and that's why he's on top of it

[Nfoster0301]

How thick is your substrate? and is the hide right over the heat pad? If so, check the ground temps inside the hide. It might be cold in there and that's why he's on top of it

My substrate is maybe half an inch deep. Not deep at all. And yes the hide is over the pad, and I'm at 88-low 90s inside the hide. Btw, thanks again for being to responsive and helpful, I'm learning more everyday about this little guy.

[KMG]

The substrate over a uth should be no more than 1/4 inch.

You want it thin so you don't have to ramp the uth up to reach the desired temp on top of the substrate. You also want to monitor the bottom directly over the uth as well as the top of the substrate. You do not want any portion of the cage to reach a unsafe temp. They can and will burrow and having a thick layer of substrate sets up the situation to put your snake at harm.

[Reed12321]

What I used to do before I had a thermostat is id check the top temps, and id leave one spot uncovered and I'd check the temps of the glass. Maybe if you got your ambient temps up you may have less problems. Did you cover your screen with aluminum foil?


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[Nfoster0301]

What I used to do before I had a thermostat is id check the top temps, and id leave one spot uncovered and I'd check the temps of the glass. Maybe if you got your ambient temps up you may have less problems. Did you cover your screen with aluminum foil?

No because I have a light to. I do have half the screen covered with a damp towel to maintain humidity.


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