BP likes to ooze out from under hides

[pretends2bnormal]

My baby ball python Vega (about 241 grams) seems to have issues keeping all of him inside a hide. He just kind of oozes a coil out from under a side when I check in on him after he's been in the hide a while. I would think he's too big for the hide but a lot of folks here have said the RBI Small hide works usually up until 500g or so and I know he has plenty of vertical space he isn't using. He seems to only coil up with no overlap, haha.

I haven't taken a pic before, but tonight is only minor "oozing"


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[purpleroan]

My girl had this issue for a few weeks after I got her! So, last week I decided to weigh the hides down since the size and opacity was otherwise perfect. I figured she'd feel more secure. I went the route of using hot glue to attach polished aquarium stones to the outside so that each hide weighs about a pound now and actually looks nicer. I'm sure there are several other ways to secure them as well but this is what first came to mind for me! It is kind of funny to see them "oozing" as you put it haha...like...you comfortable there buddy?


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[CALM Pythons]

My baby ball python Vega (about 241 grams) seems to have issues keeping all of him inside a hide. He just kind of oozes a coil out from under a side when I check in on him after he's been in the hide a while. I would think he's too big for the hide but a lot of folks here have said the RBI Small hide works usually up until 500g or so and I know he has plenty of vertical space he isn't using. He seems to only coil up with no overlap, haha.

I haven't taken a pic before, but tonight is only minor "oozing"


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I start them all with a medium and then they last till 8 month - 1 yr depending on growth rate. That hides to small imo.


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[pretends2bnormal]

I don't think it is quite too small yet. When I lift it up there's still floor space visible between his coils. He just pushes out to the sides and lifts it up. I'll have to try some other weight, since I usually lay the thermometer on top of that hide, but he goes out, knocks it off, then squeezes under and lifts the hide up all over again, haha. (about 95% of the time he uses that warm side hide instead of the cool side)

Calm, I think I'll offer the bigger size after his next feed side by side with the current, but I suspect he won't switch yet. I'd just rather not force him switch sizes in case he decides to skip meals since he is still only on his 2nd rat now that I used up all the mice. It's nice having one BP who has been eating pretty reliably xD
He was using the small since the 12 qt tub he started in was too small for the medium and he fit into the small with a lot of space to spare at 160g.

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[Sauzo]

My 4.5 foot 4 year old girl is the same. She loved her large RBI hide even though she is clearly too small for it.

[CALM Pythons]

What I find is that mine don't like to be in front of the door so it isnt that my small hides were actually too small as hatchlings but rather they want to stay to the far Left out of the door area. The only other reason i start with medium is the size of the doorway. I could have stuck with a medium longer if the door was larger in the small. Mine are in large hides now and it doesn't seem to bother my girls as they are all off to the side not being seen anyways...
I was unaware your BP was just getting settled so I agree stick to what he knows for now


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[Hannahshissyfix]

Typical banana, thinks it needs to manspread.

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[Slicercrush]

I like how you explained this as "oozing", pretty good way of saying it. I feel as a community we are now obligated to make a name for this habit, or permanently call it such!

[pretends2bnormal]

I'm actually not 100% sure all of mine are RBI hides, now you mention the door. I have 2 pairs of small hides and one set has distinctly taller/larger doors than the other. They look the same size otherwise. The smaller doors are a lot shorter and would probably be more problematic for getting in very quickly, so I see you point there, Calm.

He seems pretty settled, but we bumped up his tub size about 2 or 3 weeks ago and are swapping over to rats, so better safe than sorry right now. His new tub probably has space to add the mediums as well temporarily, so I'll give that a go.

He's funny about how he ends up out from under the hides and with how squishy the parts he pushes out are, I couldn't think of a more accurate word than "ooze". He always seems to flatten out a lot; akin to a cat being fluid enough to fit into weird shaped boxes. That picture above, the part sticking out is nearly half as tall as when he's just cruising around, so it's pretty funny to see.

He seems to like balling up with his head near the entrance and will poke his nose or his whole head out after I've walked into the room to check out what I'm doing. (Probably hoping for food... I think he would be more than willing to take a 2nd mouse if it was offered)

Here's shots of the 2 different door sizes for reference.



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[Godzilla78]

I actually give my ball pythons slightly larger hides than most recommend. They are still secure and have a very small door that they can crawl in and out and peek out of but they have plenty of cave like shell structure to make them feel safe.