Why is my BP sticking himself to the top of his tank?

[BigCeC43]

He is small still and in a 10 gallon tank. He likes to climb to the top of the tank and wedge himself in between the screen and the small space/lip of the actual tank(which is only about and inch thick). It's hard to explain, but if you have a tank with a screen top I'm sure you can figure out where I mean. So he pretty much lines his body down this leaving the back half(or whatever he can't get up there) coiled around one of my stick on thermometers, with whatever part of his body is left on the groung or on a hide.

I first noticed this last week. When I noticed him doing it duirng the day, I decided he was hungry, so I feed him...he ate very quickly...then stayed in his hides for 2 days. I handled him today as it's been 48hours. Then, after I put his night light on he up there again so here's my theories...

1. The foil I have covering the top of the tank is not allowing enough fresh air (although he does this at every part of the tank not just at the opening)

2. He is a beast of an eater, and needs to eat more than one mouse every 6-7 days. (meaning that he's looking for food)

3. He is just a wacko. Maybe his crazy personality. I've seen him fall twice while typing this, but he keeps going back up there (I am a slow typer though). I feel bad when I here the little guy thump into the ground.

Any ideas or similar experiences would be great.

[dr del]

Hi,

It might also just be that it is a really tight hiding spot.

And yes on the falling - they tend to be quite clumsy and I always worried they might land on the edge of something and hurt their ribs.

The only time I used a tank that had a space like that I packed it with rolled up newspaper so he could no longer get in there - I also did the same for the spars spanning the tank so that he really couldn't climb on anything apart from cage furniture which was nice and low to the ground.

As another point as his size and strength increases that would be a possible place for him to try and force his way out.

I had a converted aquarium hood on a tank once ( it had contained leopard geckos) and put one of my females in for 5 minutes while I cleaned her tank -
she managed to get her nose out the edge of the hood opening near the hinge and managed to actually force the metal apart destroying the hinge completely and was half way out by the time I got there to investigate the sound.

It stunned me just how strong they really are - and she was only just over 3 feet long at the time.:eek:


dr del

[Kagez28]

sounds like he is trying to find away out, as he could be stressed out. but as long as he's eating, he'll settle down.

[BigCeC43]

The weird thing is he's really only doing this at night. Right now(10:30am), he's back in his cool hide and appears to be sound asleep. I would assume if he was stressed and trying to find a way out this would occur periodically day and night. He only did it during the day once, and like I said he ate very quickly that same day. Then, he was content in his hides for about 2 days.

dr del, I may try that newspaper idea, but I have a feeling he'll still try to climb. I saw him just chimey up the glass and try to move into some weird positions which resulted in a falls a few times last night also. I'm starting to think he's just a night time climber. I can't wait to get a larger tank. I think I'm going to put some fake trees or something that he can climb that's more stable. I saw the poor guy fall a total of five times last night (who knows how many more times he had fallen after I fell asleep). I do asmire his persistence after every fall he goes right back up the glass or whatever he can find. I just hope he's not hurting himself.

[West Coast Jungle]

BP's are nocturnal. Thats when they like to cruise around. I think he is just doing what BP's do at night. They really don't need high tanks or anything to climb on. Naturally they live in holes in the ground so at night they may come up to the surface when they feel safe. Your BP is probably following this instinctive pattern. They do like to wedge themselves in tight places. I used to house my snakes in Vision cages with front sliding doors and they would wedge themslves in the gaps over and under the door so I rolled up newspaper to keep them out. Anyway this is why many of us use tubs to aviod various problems and situations. Be careful of him opening the top and getting out, they do it all the time!

[BigCeC43]

BP's are nocturnal. Thats when they like to cruise around. I think he is just doing what BP's do at night. They really don't need high tanks or anything to climb on. Naturally they live in holes in the ground so at night they may come up to the surface when they feel safe. Your BP is probably following this instinctive pattern. They do like to wedge themselves in tight places. I used to house my snakes in Vision cages with front sliding doors and they would wedge themslves in the gaps over and under the door so I rolled up newspaper to keep them out. Anyway this is why many of us use tubs to aviod various problems and situations. Be careful of him opening the top and getting out, they do it all the time!

yeah, I was starting to think that was somewhat normal since they're nocturnal. It is entertaining to watch him crawl around. Although, it actually keeps me up sometimes due to my new found facination with snakes.

[bearhart]

Whenever I see a big tank full of new BP babies in the pet store it always seems like there are 2 or 3 that have managed to squeeze themselves up into some ridiculous spot by the light - wrapped around the power cord or some such. They could just be "climbers".

[Bright202]

Try filling the tank with crumpled up newspaper at night, that should settle him down..
Hope this helps

Mitch

[Tripppysmurf]

My boy does the same exact thing. I keep the cage so locked I can pick it up by the top so I have no worries but from what i can see I don't think he is in any danger as everything I keep is pretty easily non-threatening to him. But just putting in my two sense. My boy even managed to crawl up top and unlog the tape from the foil and crawl inside the foil before so figure that one out.

[BigCeC43]

My boy does the same exact thing. I keep the cage so locked I can pick it up by the top so I have no worries but from what i can see I don't think he is in any danger as everything I keep is pretty easily non-threatening to him. But just putting in my two sense. My boy even managed to crawl up top and unlog the tape from the foil and crawl inside the foil before so figure that one out.

Clever little guy huh?
I just feel bad, it's another night and here I am listening to him thump into his hides or drift wood after falling from the top over and over again. I would think he'd stop if it hurt when he fell, but who knows.