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Well, here's what I need to know. OK, I have a half log hide on the cool side and warm sides of my BP's tank. On the ground inside the warm side log it's been between 90 to 95. Cool side has been around 80 to 82 ground temp. But, outside of the log on the warm side the ground temp. has been about 82 to 85 on average. Is that Ok as long as I have the 90 to 95 temp. inside the log hide? Or should it be 90 to 95 in the log and outside of the log on that side? That would be tough to accomplish since if I warm up the ground temp. outside of the log that the inside will then get too hot.

I noticed too that even though I have the right temps on both sides that he's been spending all of his time lately outside of the log on the warm side. He hasn't gone to the cool side lately. Now, he IS about to shed so maybe he's just being real sluggish because of that? Do your BP's just before a shed spend all their time on the warm side and not move around much? Any answers to these questions would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Yes, they are usually a little less active before a shed; at least in my experience. Do you have a humid hide for him, along with the cool and warm hides? That's what he needs right now to help him through the shed.

Do you know what the humidity in the enclosure measures?

Denise
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I have the humidity in there at about 65% and I've been checking his eyes daily and once his eyes were going to go back to dark i was going to try and bump it up even further to maybe in the 70s or 80% until he sheds. Does that sound OK? That's what I've always done in the past for him and he's had pretty good sheds. Never any retained eye caps and all but maybe one or two came off in one piece. The others in 2 or 3 pieces but it all came off. What do you think?

If that's what has worked for you in the past, there is no reason to change it if he is having good sheds. There are plenty of people who don't use humid hides.

Good luck on the heat/hide concerns!

Denise
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Take care!

1.0 Ball Python - Roy (name change)
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1.0 Anery Kenyan Sand Boa - coming soon (completing brumation with present owner before joining our home)
0.0.4 Tanks waiting on us to decide what is going in them! LOL

Warm side 90-95
Cool side 80-85

With your current setup, if your BP wants to get warm you are forcing him to have to go into a hide. He may not like the hide. They seem to prefer round, snug, low height hides. Mine rarely goes in his half log, but will climb on it. I've heard others say their BPs will rarely use those half logs either. Basically you only have one place he can go to get warm - and that's in that hide - with the rest of your tanks having cool temps. I believe they need more choices of temps and hides. What are you using to heat the warm side? I'm assuming a UTH? Maybe add a second UTH to the warm side or position the hide so that it doesn't hog all the heat?
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Yeah, that's what I was kind of thinking concerning the hide and that's why I wanted some opinions on this. I basically have mine set up the same way you told me that you have yours set up. UTH on the warm side for belly heat and heat lamp on the cool side to keep the temp around 80 to 82 which is where it has been staying with the 50W red bulb I have in it. How are you dealing with that concerning your warm side hide? Do you have more than one UTH over there set at different temps for below the hide and elsewhere outside of the hide? I'll have to go back and look at the picture of your setup to see how you have the hides positioned for that kind of setup. Thanks

2 things that may be helping/working for me to keep the temps higher:

I am using a higher wattage (100-160) infrared heat bulb. If I don't use that my cool side gets below 80 even during the day. Now I'm pretty sure that is helping with the surface temps on the warm side - even though it's on the opposite end of the the tank. Granted with that high of a wattage the temps closer to the bulb do get pretty warm for the cool side, but my BP seems to enjoy hanging out under the bulb some nights (particulary the 2 nights before feeding day). As I've mentioned before, it kind of creates a criss-cross effect of temps in my cage. Warm side surface temps and cool side ambient temps are highest, while the cool side surface temps and warm side ambient temps are lower. I don't think it matters. Like I said, as long as they have choices of various temps and hides.

Also, I have the half log hide positioned such that it only covers 1-3-1/2 of the UTH. And the entire half log is not over the UTH. That leaves some of the UTH available to heat outside the half log.

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So you're saying that part of your "warm side" log is not over the UTH then? With my setup, I have plenty of UTH heating the floor outside of the log, but obviously it's going to get a lot warmer in the log with the heat being trapped in there. All of the log is over the UTH with mine so that's why it's getting much warmer in there then outside of it. So it's a catch-22 with mine as it stands. Either, warm log and too cool outside of it or warm outside of it and too hot in the log. Plus, he tends to move the log around sometimes when he's moving around so I hope he wouldn't end up pushing it all back over the UTH if I scoot it over a bit. I'm sorry for being such a pain about this, I just want to make sure I get the best possible conditions in there for him. I thought I had them before but after hearing more and more people on here talking about their setups I felt I needed to make some changes. Before I just went by air temps and that seemed fine.

Just the middle of his log is over the middle of the UTH - and the sides of the UTH aren't covered. Then I have the back corners of the log butted up against the tank so he really can't move it. Temps inside his log do go up to 95 at times, but he still uses it - mostly at night when he's out and about. At those times it's not that high in temps.

I noticed too that even though I have the right temps on both sides that he's been spending all of his time lately outside of the log on the warm side. He hasn't gone to the cool side lately

If spending most of the time outside the log on the warm side (82-85) but not on the cool side (80-82)sounds like he's trying to stay warm and the cool side may be too cool. But if he's not using the warm log (90-95), it's either too warm or he doesn't feel secure in the hide to use it.

An idea to get the temps outside the log higher while not raising the temps inside the warm log: raise the temps on the UTH, but place some folded paper towel(s) on top of the part of the UTH that is under the log (but not the whole UTH). This would allow you to go for higher temps outside the log while not raising inside. Or up the wattage on your cool side light - which I might recommend since he's not really hanging out over there anyway - may be too cool.

Took some experimenting and playing around with me too. You're not being a pain, just trying to be a good parent.

When they are shedding they are less 'energetic' as they feel vulnerable and uncomfortable.
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proexotics has a good FAQ's section in wich a video shows how to use plant bases as hides. In my experience and others these seem to work like a charm. Balls almost liked to be really smashed or couped up in there hides to truly fell secure.
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proexotics.com/FAQ_answers_Hide_Spots.html
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