Hide or no Hide (or no brainer?)

[Wh00h0069]

The question should have read, "What type of hide should I use?" The reason is that the people you are asking may not keep their ball pythons in the same type of enclosure as you.

I do not use hides for my ball pythons, but I also do not keep them in glass aquariums either. I keep mine in rack systems.

If a ball python is kept in a glass enclosure, then it most definitely needs a place to hide.

[starmom]

My snakes in the rack system all get one hide and all of them use their hide.
My snakes in RBI cages all get two hides (one on the warm end and one on the cool end) and they all use both of their hides.
Of my three boas, one uses her hide sometimes and the other two never use a hide.
Conclusion: Always provide a hide and since your awesome set-up is on the larger side, I would offer two hides.

[bigballs]

For the most part, he seems to do fine, so apart from a difficult shed and a recent refusal to eat, he's doing well, moving around and laying stretched out along a log. Need I worry about putting a hide in at this point?

a difficult shed and refusal to eat are indicators of a snake that may not be doing so "fine". your ball python needs a hide or else these indicators may get worse until you cant do anything about it. youre going to have to accept that ball pythons are not the best display snakes and that they will hide all day and come out at night. its pretty much a no brainer to include a couple hiding spots inside the enclosure so i would put them back in and then read a few ball python caresheets and books.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Few things here

You need to do some research and understand what your animal needs are

You need to put your animal needs before yours

You need to reconsider whether or not you own a snake for the right reason?

As I have a nice glass-wall enclosure, only one snake, and want to show him off a little it was considerably annoying that he didn't want to show his face at all!

Owning a snake to be cool or to show it off without caring about it's need or well-being is selfish to say the least.

[RoyalGuardian]

I'm curious if many of you use a hidebox, have some partial shade/hide, or use nothing in your BP enclosure.

After a few weeks, I took the simple cardboard-box hide I made out of the enclosure. My snake had spent the better part of the week inside of it, and many more hours besides. As I have a nice glass-wall enclosure, only one snake, and want to show him off a little it was considerably annoying that he didn't want to show his face at all!

I have a young snake, so I thought he had better get used to the movement of one or two people outside his cage. He's already acclimated fine to the new environment and fed recently before I removed the box, and after.

For the most part, he seems to do fine, so apart from a difficult shed and a recent refusal to eat, he's doing well, moving around and laying stretched out along a log. Need I worry about putting a hide in at this point?

YES YOU NEED TO WORRY!!!!!!! Ball Pythons are burrowing snakes. They are happiest when they are hiding! Put a real hide box in there or your snake's health is gunna go down hill like it sounds like it already has. If you want a snake that would be out and about active you picked the wrong species. I suggest 2 hideboxes, some fake plants, and if you are using an old aquarium to cover three of the four walls with paper. If your not going to listen I would say that you need to give your snakie to someone on here that cares about the well being and mental health of the animal instead of themselves first. If you want a snake for show your best bet is a plastic snake. I implore you to give your snake what it needs, and I guarentee that you will have a better relationship with your snake because of it. I'm sorry for getting a bit defensive but one of my greatest pet peeves is when people think of themselves before their snake and or don't bother to research untill their brain starts leaking before bringing home a snake. I really really hope you will make the right choice.

[Samuel]

Did I just read that post?

Am I dreaming?

QUICK! SOMEONE POKE ME!


... sigh

Yes .. give him his home back, for the love of ..

[littleindiangirl]

The only place I wouldn't use a hide is in a rack system. In a vivarium or large cage, I would definitely give the snake his choice of many different hides.

How long have you had the snake? I guess only a few weeks. It takes them a little bit to feel secure in a hide, and will sometimes prefer to squish themselves between the waterbowl and glass, or something else that is tight... even though it's not your hide.

That behavior is them using a hide, even though it's not the conventional one you provided, at the time they obviously felt safer squished or next to the wall because they need to feel something surrounding them and touching them.

[carlthuringer]

Alright, folks. I did go to the store today and buy two smallish hides because I was anticipating a reaction somewhat like this.

But I think I should argue that owning a pet is a relationship. If the owner isn't happy, then how can he care to keep the snake happy? I noted that after I'd removed the hide he did feed twice with no real problems, though I still had it on hand if he refused to eat. Since there seemed to be no poor reaction, then I didn't replace it.

Other information:

The tank is a medium-sized tank, about 2.5' long with an open mesh top. I use a UV fluorescent fixture on the left 2/3 and have a ceramic fixture with an infrared bulb in it on the right. The pet store people said the UV was necessary. Too late to return it. I run it on a timer, 10 hours of light, 14 of night.
Below the bulb is a heating pad that reaches from front to back of teh cage, about 10" wide. A glass thermometer shows the temperature under the light at 95~ degrees. The middle of the tank is about 75-80 depending on ambient temperature and the far side is a bit cooler than that, around 71.
I have to take the thermometer out. It's a metal sort that hangs over the lip of the cage and my BP likes climbing on it during escape attempts, resulting in more than a few falls. If he keeps falling off of it I'm afraid he'll hurt himself.
The cage substrate is about 1/2 to 1" of newspaper pellets and he has a large exo-terra water dish that I clean/change around once weekly and top off if it evaporates quickly.

No idea about the humidity but I got a hygrometer today and want to re-vamp the cage similar to the glass terrarium instructions pinned at the top. Need a piece of plexi-glas and some more accessories.

[rabernet]

But I think I should argue that owning a pet is a relationship. If the owner isn't happy, then how can he care to keep the snake happy?

But a relationship that SHOULD be built on the snake's needs, not what makes the owner happy.

The snake owner should research exactly what species of snake will fill their desires appropriately, not buy a snake and try to make it behave in a way that is against its nature, just to please that owner.

If providing hides to your ball python makes you unhappy, perhaps you should find a home that would be happy to provide it exactly what it needs.

[Miller]

UV bulbs are a waste of money. The people at pet stores do not know what they are talking about most of the time. You really should have done your homework about caring for an animal before you bought it. You need to make sure that your temps, humidity, and cage are proper before even bringing a bp home.