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I have asked this before, and I got no real answers, but now I am very concerned and may have to sell my boa because I am tired of worrying about her. She is about 3' and I have her in a 3'x1.5' vision cage. Plenty of room. I have a heat pad and a regular 75W softlight bulb on the warm side. The temps read like they should for a boa (90-80), but she absolutley refuses to leave the cool side. She stays squeezed tightly to the wall of the cool side, and does not ever move to the warm side. I have tried lowering the temps on the warm side to barely 5 degrees F warmer than the cool side, but she still refuses to move. I refuse to lower it any more because it would then be just room temp in the whole cage. She is never warm to the touch like she used to be. I worry because she seems to take too long to digest her food. And for the past week, she has been very cranky and even snapped at my hand, barely missing. Up until then she has always been the sweetest thing. I plan to take her to the vet, but I doubt I will get any good advice. Can anyone please tell me what is going on?
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-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.1.0 Leucistic Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

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BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com

well how long have you had the snake for?
is there any hides in the enclosure?
a hide on the cold and hot side is a good idea

also does the snake eat? does it digest ?

She never used her hides, so now i have branches and lots of leaves. I've had her 1 year, and she eats fine. She digests fine, but it takes about 4-5 days (small rats).
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-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.1.0 Leucistic Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

My Home Page

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com

well, the only thing i can think of is that its breeding season.

...in her enclosure.
The light bulb and no hide on the warm side might be making her feel vulnerable, especially considering that she is backed up into the corner of the cool side of the cage. She seems to be intentionally staying away from the other side because she is nervous or afraid. When she snapped at you, she was defending herself (get a snake hook to take her out). She feels like she is out in the open and can't hide from predators.
Can you turn the light bulb off and the heat pad up and maintain an appropriate temperature? If so, try that, and put the hides back in. Possibly, the light bulb was making the temps in the hide too warm and she couldn't stay inside without over heating.
If you are not using a temp gun to measure the temps, then your thermometer might be reading the ambient temp in the enclosure, but the actual floor temperature could be much higher which would be the reason that she is avoiding that side, especially inside the hide.
Good luck!

Now that's some good advice. Many thanks. She hasn't shown any aggression until recently though. I will try what you say though. I plan to order a new thermostat and get her some nice size hide boxes though. You may be right about the light also. I will try the lights off thing if the hides dont fix it.
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-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.1.0 Leucistic Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

My Home Page

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com