Reptile & Amphibian Forums

for the last two days i thought my cali king had escaped his enclosure. after all the stress i found him right where i left him, in his tank. he's been borrowed under his aspen for days, he usually is pretty active though. i did notice the humidity dropped slightly the pass few days. so am i just a nuerotic new snake owner or is this uncommon behavior or a sign of something.

Keep a good temp and humidity gradient and even a humid hide in the enclosure and all should be fine. Your snake should hide most of the time, after all thats what it would be doing in the wild all day, hiding.

Hiding is a good thing. If your Cal king is active all the time, it means it is searching for something or trying to escape something, and this can mean something lacking in your husbandry.

Providing a humid hide when the air gets dry is one of the best things to do. Cal kings go under ground to escape dessication, among other reasons. A plastic tub filled with moist sphagnum moss (cut a hole in the lid or just cut off a corner of the lid) works really well.

I don't bother with humid hides very often in Summer when the ambient humidity is already high enough. However, the air is very dry right now where I live as it often is this time of year, and humid hides are relished by my herps right now.

thanks. the humid hide sounds like the way to go. i've only had him for six weeks and he was always out and about. the humidity dropped 10%(32)and he's been scarce ever since. i got myself a little project to work on tonight.