Yea, he does have a sort of "chilled out" period when you first take him out and then eventually he starts getting more active. One thing we do is put a temporary hide in the area over a heating pad on low. Once he gets squirmy we let him cruise in there for a while. He eventually comes out and explores some more.

lord jackel:
Yes, the change is what drives me nuts. I have regularly improved his cage both for his sake and for aethesic reasons. I started out with the recycled paper substrate, an upside down coaster holder for a hide, and a cool rock I found in my backyard (and boiled for safety), and a little water dish.
Over time I've made the following changes:

* I switched to a spagnum/fir substrate
* Got a big water dish he could fit in and half covered it with a peice of cork bark. I also moved his dish to sit on the warm side next to his hide.
* I changed his hide to be an upside down peice of curled cork bark with pete moss to fill in the walls. This is right next to his water dish so he can snake back and forth easily.
* I got him this really cool peice of grape wood that has all sorts of ways to crawl on.
* I started misting his cage about once a day. He really seems to like drinking the droplets off the cage walls.

I've always had a 50W red heat lamp on most of the time. He's always had an under-tank heater.

The floor of the warm side it about 82-87 degrees. I keep the bedding very thin in his hide to let the undertank heat come through. I imagine its 90deg at least because sometimes when I take him out he feels about the same temperature as a person that's been under blankets. Nice and warm... (I should measure it though).

I just got a Hydrogemeter (sp?) that says about 50% but I don't have much confidence in it yet.

Perhaps he didn't like his cage at first and now he's happy and acting normal? Its pretty sweet compared to the pet store.