Roaming Ball... Please help

[Mindibun]

I've had my little girl for just short of 2 weeks now. She's is about a month old and came from a private breeder. She's shown no signs of dehydration, mites, any sickness what-so-ever. But she's constantly roaming!

She'll hide out during the day for a few hours, but early morning she's usually out and by seven at night she's on the go. She's kept in a 32 qt sterilite tub with an UTH; high side is set at exactly 91 degrees, and the low side is in the low eighties. Humidity is at about 45%, and she has a "hide" on each side of the tank, sticking out from under some fake foliage. (The hides are boston market gravy containers turned upside down. They're exactly the right size for her to squish herself into.) She has a few tiny grapevine pieces stacked in there and usually she gets under those instead of her hides.

The substrate is newspaper, she's already eaten a mouse for me AND pooped, she's not aggressive at all ...

In short, the tank and the snake are perfect. Minus her roaming.

What do I do?

[Mindibun]

Forgot to mention there's a small water dish between the two hides.

[Freakie_frog]

Eenjoy your ball python...Their nocturnal, all of mine roam as it starts to get night time and don't go up till morning.. Its normal

[Mindibun]

That's what everyone keeps telling me but this is NOT how my other ball acts at all.

I said she's up early morning and by 7. I forgot to mention that she comes out occasionally for an hour or so at a time during the day. I guess I wasnt clear (Or if I was, then I guess it really doesnt matter). she does not sleep all day, roam all night. She goes in and out of her hides throughout the day.

Is THAT normal?

[Freakie_frog]

That's what everyone keeps telling me but this is NOT how my other ball acts at all.

I said she's up early morning and by 7. I forgot to mention that she comes out occasionally for an hour or so at a time during the day. I guess I wasnt clear (Or if I was, then I guess it really doesnt matter). she does not sleep all day, roam all night. She goes in and out of her hides throughout the day.

Is THAT normal?

Depends on the animal.. but sounds to me like she is thermo-regulating. Must move from the warm side to the cool in the morning..

[BiG~PUN]

Is it eating regularly? I have one bp. He likes to roam to. Mainly when someone is in the room. I enter and out comes monty. I also notice he roams more and more the closer to feeding day we get(I should put in a hamster wheel for him). My humidity is 50% temps around 91,82. Healthy and eating weekly. Yet he still roams.

So I say as long as it eats, perfect husbandry, and a happy snake, let it roam like the buffalo do.

[python.princess]

they can have vastly different personalities/habits. some just roam more than others..... floyd is out all the time but tank only usually comes out for a drink or when he wants to let us know he's hungry!

[bearhart]

There are a few old threads on this. lots of people call it "cruisin". Mine was just like that at first and I thought it was normal. As time went on and I improved his cage all of a sudden he quit coming out and I started freaking out. Turns out he was just getting settled in. Honestly, I liked it better when he was out and about every evening right after dark. Now he's just a lazy so-and-so

Anyway, depending on the temps, mine will go back and forth between the warm and cool side. That's pretty business like though. He makes a straight shot each time - there's even a little trail in the substrate.

Then, sometimes, he'll just hang out on his jungle gym. That's pretty relaxed and involves holding a position for several minutes, crawling around a bit, repeat...

And finally, there's the escape plan mode where he's holding his head way out and looking at the lid, etc. This is what he used to do every night but now he only does it when I put him back in after holding him. Those times, I think he just wants more time to try to get away from me and explore all those places I won't let him go like under the bed.