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My gopher has been pacing her tank for a week now.I fed her so its not like she is hungry.I thought maybe she needed a humid hide since I keep her on a dry substrate.But she doesnt want anything to do with that either.She has been digging out the corners of her cage...Makes me worry she is unhappy(you know what I mean, not unhappy but not content).

She is in a 4x2x2 wood enclosure, naturalistic with eco earth sand substrate about an inch or so thick and stacked slate hides.I use a 60 watt bulb for hot spot of 85-87.Maybe its not hot enough?
I turn off the light and she has no heat at night.

Not 100 percent sure if its a female either.She had been on a hunger strike for about a month.Now decides she wont touch frozen thawed and only wants live mice.So I have to cater to her a bit and let her hunt(my bad)..

What are the temps on the cool side?
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Randy Whittington

The reason I ask is because I would guess it's looking for access to a cooler area than it has available as opposed to looking for more warmth. In my opinion under the cage heating is a better option for terrestrial snakes such as yours. It doesen't dry the cage out as much and it won't heat the whole cage as much but instead keeps the heat more localized. I personally prefer the cool side in the low 70's if not brumating at even cooler temps this time of year.

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Randy Whittington

Taken this morning before it warms up, I need to take the temps again this afternoon, thats when she is the most restless and I can feel the warmth when I open the cage...
I need to redo the inside of her cage.I was actually wondering about the cool end too because thats the side she was mainly digging around on.
Under tank heat is not really an option on this cage because its a homemade wood job.

I would take the temps again after the light has been on for several hours. The fact that she is digging on the cool side later in the day after the cage warms up would lead me to think that it is getting too warm on the side away from the light. As I mentioned, it's really hard to keep one side much cooler when heating from above with a light. If you can't change to UTH you could see what happens with the temps when you change the bulb to a lower wattage one.
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Randy Whittington

Heat will radiate through wood if it's not very thick but just not as well as with some other materials.
You could go ahead and cool (brumate) her as I do my adults this time of year but you still need to figure out how your going to fix the cage issues so you would be ready when she comes out.
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Randy Whittington

and it was 88 hot spot and 77 on the cool side.
And she is trying to get out on the cool side right now.I turned off the light right away.

I dont know how to brumate, the temps have been swinging so wildly here in kansas lately there would be no place to put her safely that would stay cool but not freeze or heat up.

When I had a lower watt bulb she stopped eating for a month that is one of the reasons I put in the higher wattage.
If I put in a lower wattage the hot spot will probably go down to 85 or less would that be okay for her to be able to digest?

A thing I did to provide a hot spot in this screen cage for my bulls is I attached a Zoomed UTH to a square of plastic from a cut out tub lid and put it in the cage with a hide over it, and ran this with a thermostat and monitored with a thermometer probe. It never got too hot to ignite the aspen bedding. I checked every day! The snakes could lay on this and be nice and warm even when the ambient temperature in the room, hence the cage, would drop into the mid 50's at night. I have since scored a bunch of great large glass cages, but would utilize the screen cages again if needed. The screen cages were all I had for a few years.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

I would consider that too warm for the cool side. 84-85 degrees for the warm side would be fine and it would get the cool side temps down 3 or 4 degrees. Ideally you should be able to keep the warm spot on 24 hrs. a day.
I can totally understand if you want to keep using that wood cage but if you can swing it financially I would consider switching to a plastic storage box or a aquarium that you could heat from below.
If you do keep using the same cage I would place the light as far to one end as possible and even tilt it a little towards the very end of the cage to help keep the heat directed as far to one end as possible.
If you start to consider brumating her it's not really difficult if you have a basement or a closet on a exterior wall that stays fairly cool and stable.

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Randy Whittington

Is that a bimaris Randy? Those are way under represented and can be shockingly awesome ...as that is ...kind of looks like a P. d. deppei X P. d. jani X P. c. vertebralis mutt
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See all my snakes at SerpenTrack.com

It's pure bimaris.
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Randy Whittington

Lovely! I don't see enough of those so I wasn't perfectly sure. Wasn't seriously suggesting a mutt.
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See all my snakes at SerpenTrack.com

I agree with Randy! Sounds like she is too warm. Pits do better with cooler temps.
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Genesis 1:1

Yeah, I don't ever have temps any higher than 80 for all of mine and they seem to do good with that (corns too).

PS Pituophis

She may well be searching for a suitable hibernaculum to brumate in. e.g., Probably a good time to put her/him in small box with a little water dish in a dark, cool place for a month or two.
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See all my snakes at SerpenTrack.com

I moved the light but I found her still digging today. I left the light off all day today too.I worry she will get a nose rub before long.

So I bought a bin and filled it with aspen.I have one closet that stays pretty cool.Its probably low 60's...Is there a range of temps I need to keep her in? What if it gets too cold(that can happen here)? Shouldnt I reduce the temps slowly or something? Im kinda worried about doing this.

Thanks for putting up with all this stupid stuff.I really do like this snake, she is one of my favorites.

www.repvet.co.za/herp_photoperiod_hibernation_brumation.php

It is getting pretty close to spring now, though, when snakes will be coming out of brumation, not going into it like in late fall.

Another thing you can do is carefully check for a mite infestation. She may be waiting to escape because of irritation from mites.

If she is really a he, he may be getting anxious to seek a mate.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.

All this started after I moved his/her cage.I lost my snake room because my son moved back in. So I had to sell 6 corns and I only kept my favorits snakes(it was a hard hit for me but family first)..
So I moved her cage to the livingroom and its lighter and after her not eating anything the whole month of december she started eating again after the move.The snake room was darker because only one window. Now she has started eating again and is restless as heck.Maybe it is a male and he thinks its spring?????

Funny thing is my hoggy was moved out of that room and started eating after not eating the whole month of December as well..

I am not very experienced in practice but have read a lot and have a fair idea. BUT, there are many others here much more qualified to answer your question.

For what it's worth, some suspect an extended period of complete darkness in a small box is as important as temps although low 60s is probably the highest you'd want to try it, otherwise the metabolism won't slow down sufficiently to pacify the snake.

As our CB snakes tend to lose sync with real seasons, especially if not brumated regularly with winter, the time of year may not be so important. It is likely that IF the impulse is to brumate, then it will do so now if conditions are conducive.

If you do try this, be sure that it isn't still actively trying to escape after like a day or so. I suppose you could hear it rustling about if that were the case. If the brumation doesn't take, then maybe it is a male and is doing the 24/7 mate hunt ...one reason why I wish I had not gotten male snakes if not breeding ...they get hyper. I have a Glades Rat male which has gone off feed and is cruising 24/7 in the snake room where he is allowed to roam.

Best of luck with your situation and please follow-up on what you try and how it goes. The information helps us all sort things out and adds to our overall understanding of our animals.

Brad
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See all my snakes at SerpenTrack.com