My baby BP Isn't Basking

[RoyalGuardian]

My sweet little Kyna(BP) doesn't bask at all.. She is always in her little hide box.. I'm worried that she is getting to cold.. In fact she prefurrs the cold side of her cage out in the open by her water dish... Why is she doing this?

[Freakie_frog]

Balls are nocturnal so their not going to bask. Second you need two hides in the cage one on the hot and one on the cold. How hot is the hot side? If its to hot then she will migrate to the cool side to help regulate her body temp. Being out in the open will stress her how and you will have feeding problems.

hope this helps.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

My sweet little Kyna(BP) doesn't bask at all.. She is always in her little hide box.. I'm worried that she is getting to cold.. In fact she prefurrs the cold side of her cage out in the open by her water dish... Why is she doing this?

BP don’t bask.

BP are nocturnal creatures and in the wild they spend 80% of their time in tight burrows so in captivity they will spend most of their time in their hides.

Now if a BP spending most of his time on the cold side that might be the result of couple of things.

1/ You do not have 2 identical tight hides one on each side (All sides must be touching the body of your BP so avoid log hides) and your BP is choosing security over thermo-regulation.

2/ Your warm side is too hot. Warm side should be between 90-94 degrees.

3/ If the above are fine then your BP just prefer to be on the cool side, some just simply spend more time on the cool side then the warm one.

[recycling goddess]

and... it's amazing what your ball is doing when you are asleep!

[daniel1983]

Balls are nocturnal so their not going to bask.

BP don’t bask.

Ball pythons and pretty much all reptiles bask. Just because an animal is nocturnal does not mean that it never basks.....their methods are just different.

Basking by definition is "to lie in warmth'. Not all basking is done via an overhead lamp or light source as you seem to think.

Nocturnal animals generally bask by laying on warm surfaces. That is why you will see snakes and lizards on blacktop roads at night......they are basking in the heat being put off by the pavement.

[daniel1983]

My sweet little Kyna(BP) doesn't bask at all.. She is always in her little hide box.. I'm worried that she is getting to cold.. In fact she prefurrs the cold side of her cage out in the open by her water dish... Why is she doing this?

First you need to be sure that your temperatures are correct. If the enclosure is too cold....ball pythons will sometimes seek the cold side (don't ask me why...they just do). It could also be your enclosure is too hot. Get your temps 92-94 hot side/82-84 cool side....and let the snake do the work

If your temperatures are correct, your snake will do as it pleases....and unless you are watching it 24/7 then you really have no idea what it is doing when you are not around. The snake will thermoregulate when it needs to....after all, reptiles are living thermostats....it knows when it is getting too cold alot better than you do

Some of my snakes would seem as if they have not moved for months.....the only way that I ever know they move is because their substrate, hides, water bowls, etc.....never stay where I put them. That is just the nature of the creature...no need to worry. Ball pythons are solitary, like to hide, and are nocturnal......not the ideal 'display' or 'I want to watch it' type snake.

[Freakie_frog]

Ball pythons and pretty much all reptiles bask. Just because an animal is nocturnal does not mean that it never basks.....their methods are just different.

Basking by definition is "to lie in warmth'. Not all basking is done via an overhead lamp or light source as you seem to think.

Nocturnal animals generally bask by laying on warm surfaces. That is why you will see snakes and lizards on blacktop roads at night......they are basking in the heat being put off by the pavement.

Yea I know.

When most people think of basking they think of a directed focused beam of light or emitted heat.

Thanks for the clearafacation Daniel.

Always helpfull. !!

[rmune0750]

its not a lizard....its not gonna bask....

prolly 90% of the day it'll be in its hide