BP interested in only escaping?

[bearhart]

"spot on", I love that phrase. We should adopt that in the states. I have a couple English clients that say that. It always makes me smile.

Me too. I worked in Australia for several years and it was a very common phrase.

"No worries" was also another favorite of mine that I hear more and more people use.

[rottendj]

No, it's because if your snake is training for the snake olympics, it's likely stressed out.

yea, when mine was younger, he had to do a big inspection routine anytime I changed anything around.

exactly bearhart. not being funny rabernet, i appreciate you keep a lot of bp's but i do know my snake

[West Coast Jungle]

No, it's because if your snake is training for the snake olympics, it's likely stressed out.

Constant roaming and trying to escape, without really settling into a hide for the majority of the day and only liesurely coming out in the evenings for a few hours,is a classic sign of stress and trying to get out to try to find a safer place to be.

Snakes in tubs feel much more secure, because tubs mimic a burrow effect. Remember, they aren't out during the day roaming in the wild, because they would likely be picked off by predators.

I'm much more concerned with my snakes if they are constantlty roaming than if they are tucked away in their hides.

Robin is 100% correct. Snakes that criuse around alot during the day are serching for a more secure place. You can tell your self what ever you want but when you have studied many snakes for many years you learn what makes them tick. Security is the #1 concern for Ball pythons. Now peoples concerns are very different.

[Ginevive]

See.. I would keep it simple. Two identical, snug hides; one warm, one cool. A water bowl in the center. I like the idea for tanks, of covering 3 sides.
If your snake is cruising and trying to escape: what hides are you using, and what temperatures do you read in the tank?

[littleindiangirl]

exactly bearhart. not being funny rabernet, i appreciate you keep a lot of bp's but i do know my snake

Well yes, whenever you move stuff around, they are checking it out. They need to learn their environment all over again before they can settle down and feel safe.

I remember a while ago, this guy said he switches up his bp's tank every week or so, and thought it was neat that his bp always came out and became very active when he did this. It's a sign of stress. Simple as that. They are stressed that the layout is different. What else could be different? Predators?

They need to feel safe. Hiding, maybe with their head out to watch, is a happy bp.

[NickP]

These suggestions should really help your snake to settle down!!
If you don't like the idea of balled up newspaper in your tank, you could also go with getting some fake vines/plants to help fill in some of the empty space (it's also much prettier!!). This is what I did with my tank (as well as covering 3 sides) and my girl seemed to settle fairly quickly. I would suggest going to either a dollar store or a craft type store, or even Walmart to pick up some fake plants. Much cheaper than the petstores and it is all basically the same thing. I would just make sure that if you do get some fake plants, run your hand over all of it to make sure that there are no sharp points/wires sticking out that could potentially hurt your BP.

But I do agree that BP's settle much quicker in tubs than tanks. My new girl is set up in a nice comfy tub and it took her maybe a day or two to settle in her hide, where even with the vines and stuff it took my girl in the tank a couple more days to get fully settled. But that is only my very limited experience.

Ok thanks. For the fake plants, do I need to disinfect or boil or bake? I keep reading about baking the plants but don't know why and at what degrees.

[Sunny1]

What I do with my fake plants is scrub them down really good with some dish soap, rinse them with really hot water (as hot as I can stand), and then I spray them till they are soaking with an antibacterial spray ( and let them sit for awhile... usually when I am disinfecting the enclosure the fake plants are sitting) and then I re rinse them really really well to make sure that all the antibacterial spray has come out. I am not sure about baking the plants, if you have any real wood peices in there then you can bake those to disinfect them, but I am not sure that I would bake fake plants. I would imagine that the plastic on them would melt (the stem parts). And I am not sure about boiling them, so I can't give you any suggestions on that.

[bearhart]

Yea, I think for plastic stuff a good thorough disinfecting cleaning should do the trick.

As far as I know, baking/boiling/steaming stuff is only needed for outdoor stuff that may contain embedded bacteria and/or parasites. I have a nice rock from the back yard that I boiled in a big stock pot when I first brought it in.

For baking stuff I think you would want to keep the temp low, but make sure it is at least boiling temp. So, perhaps 250-300 would work. Also, I would imagine you'd want to leave it in long enough to make sure whatever it is completely heated.

[brelea79]

So, if my snakes are more active and coming out more exploring the tank, this automatically means that they are stressed? My girl comes out late every evening and plays. She is trying the same thing to get out of the enclosure, but she eats and seems to be very happy. When I handle her she crawls all over me and flicks her tongue constantly. My boy is in a smaller tank and he says in except to come and and get into his water bowl for a while and slides around the tank for a bit then back to his hide he goes.

[kc261]

So, if my snakes are more active and coming out more exploring the tank, this automatically means that they are stressed? My girl comes out late every evening and plays. She is trying the same thing to get out of the enclosure, but she eats and seems to be very happy. When I handle her she crawls all over me and flicks her tongue constantly. My boy is in a smaller tank and he says in except to come and and get into his water bowl for a while and slides around the tank for a bit then back to his hide he goes.

The OP was talking about a snake trying to get out "all the time". Robin mentioned "constant roaming" "without really settling into a hide". What you are describing is very different. I think coming out in the late evening qualifies as normal nocturnal BP activity.

I've noticed my girl gets more active the hungrier she gets. I don't think going 7 days in-between meals is an unacceptable level of stress, not even close. But I do guess that she is more stressed when it has been 5 or 6 days and her tummy is empty than the first day or 2 when her tummy is full.