My 17 years old female has suddenly taken to climbing, and won't come down!

[seercirra]

So if you check my profile you will see posts beginning in 2009 when I got this BP. I was referring to her as a male.. until she randomly produced eggs 3 years ago. So now it's definitely a she.

Anyway, she's been in this new Viv around a year, and I made her some shelves in the hope that she could potentially use them as for exercise or to better regulate her temp etc. Mainly just because the new viv was 2ft high and I thought the space would be wasted without verticality.

She didn't use the shelves much for a year.. But now, to my knowledge, she has not came down for 2 weeks.
Temps are fine, she's eating well. She is actually hunting from up there and is clearly showing excitement for food whenever I open the viv.

I think everything is OK, but this change of behaviour for an old female makes me wonder if I might be missing something? Maybe I have a blind spot? The temp where she's at is about 84-85f

Pics relevant.

[Homebody]

Anyway, she's been in this new Viv around a year, and I made her some shelves in the hope that she could potentially use them as for exercise or to better regulate her temp etc. Mainly just because the new viv was 2ft high and I thought the space would be wasted without verticality.

She didn't use the shelves much for a year.. But now, to my knowledge, she has not came down for 2 weeks.
Temps are fine, she's eating well. She is actually hunting from up there and is clearly showing excitement for food whenever I open the viv.

I think everything is OK, but this change of behaviour for an old female makes me wonder if I might be missing something? Maybe I have a blind spot? The temp where she's at is about 84-85f

I'm not surprised that your BP has suddenly decided to use a feature of her enclosure that she's only used infrequently before. My snake does that. I like to make hides for him. Usually, it's a long time before he'll start using them. Then, all of a sudden it's his favorite hide. Then, just as suddenly, he stops using it again. So, as long as your temps are fine, I wouldn't worry.

I am concerned about the location of that shelf. It allows your snake to get way too close to the heating element. You say your temps are fine and I trust that you're right, but I still wouldn't want my snake to be able to lie up against the heat guard.

[Lord Sorril]

Neat! She looks great!

The fact that she keeps her side pressed up against the heat emitter guard makes me think she is craving some belly heat. Do you have an under tank heater (uth) in the enclosure?

I run my uth's to heat up a section of the floor to 88F inside the enclosures and I keep ambient temps around 82F. Sometimes they want heat, and sometimes they don't.

[Bogertophis]

I've always provided "belly heat" for my snakes & I agree with above post on that. They need "options" when it comes to temps., along with a sense of security (hides) for each option. They may choose temp. over hiding or vice verse, if they don't get both in the same place.