Diamonds Always Hiding

[Viking]

Hi Guys,

Since I put my two Diamonds into their new enclosure about three weeks ago they have spent about 85% of their time in the hide, which is the section underneath with the two wooden doors. The thing is that the enclosure is now a main feature in my lounge room and I never get to see my diamonds, it just looks like an empty enclosure most of the time.

They are both eating well, (One rat every 10 days or so), He has shed, temps in the enclosure range from 26 - 31 degrees. I'm just wondering if this is common behaviour.

Cheers,
Viking

 

[soulweaver]

1. if they have just moved in, then they are still settling into their new house, they need to put their scent on everything again.
2. you have put them into a high traffic area and they will need to adjust to that, they would be stressed atm.
3. snakes are nocturnal. most likely come out when you are in bed asleep.

 

[munkee]

sounds a little hot for Diamonds? aren't they the cold climate python.

 

[soulweaver]

depends on where the 31 degrees is........pretty big cage so if it is 31 at the top, should be rather cool at the bottom.

i agree could be a little bit too warm, might also explain why they are down on the ground hiding.

 

[Viking]

The 31 degrees is up towards the top of the enclosure and is the max temp that has been reached. At the moment the range is 25.2 - 28.6. I am only running the 4' UV light with no other lighting or heat source. I might try only running the UV for a couple of hours a day and cooling it a little more.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[munkee]

There is a very comprehensive caresheet for diamond that was put on APS. It may be worth a look too.....

 

[Craig2]

viking a fluro puts out very little if any heat

 

[celticskull]

try and slow the food down a hungry snake might feel more like wondering around
i find mine like to hide if thay dont need to look for food and there is nothing wrong with skiping a meal every so often

 

[Magpie]

Sounds like normal healthy pythons to me

 

[Viking]

Thanks guys, Just concerned as these are my first snakes and I just wanted to know that all is normal.

 

[Already_Gone]

how often were they out of their hide in the old enclosure??? How big are they??

 

[Viking]

I only got the snakes a little while ago and they pretty much went straight into this enclosure. After measuing the males last shed he is just under 7 foot and she would be about 8 foot.

 

[JasonL]

Yes, Just normal diamond behavour, They spend most of their time in the wild in tree hollows ect. might be worth putting a door on the entry to the hide box and you could stop them hiding when your expecting people over? The temp is a little concerning though, try to keep it around 25 if you can.

 

[soulweaver]

thats a bad idea, don't force the snake to change its behaivour just to suit you so you can show them off.........hate this attitude towards animals

 

[JasonL]

I do too, but it's better than someone losing interest in them and forgetting all about them, out of site out of mind. Besides most enclosures don't have hide boxes anyway.

 

[newtosnakes]

ALL enclosure should have a hide box or at least somewhere the snakes are able to go to get away from it all. This means much less stress to the animal. I shudder to think that people are forcing their snakes into being "on show" all the time when snakes will naturally hide from predators etc in the wild....

 

[soulweaver]

if they only have an interest in them because they can see them all the time, then isn't that the wrong reason to get them? Shouldn't we let them be as natural as possible?

and most enclousres should have hides, the only reason i wouldn't give a hide is if it was a benfit to the animal, i.e it was afraid of ppl and you are trying to get it used to you so that it would eat.

 

[reptililian]

I thought a hide of some sort was an essential in a snake's enclosure. Otherwise, wouldn't it get stressed being exposed all the time? Especially when it has "shed depression".

When I first got my diamonds they were quite reclusive and would hide out a fair bit. But now they seem quite happy to be out and watching what is going on, or just sleeping, but outside of their hides.

 

[Viking]

No Plans of blocking off the hide section, just wanted to make sure that it wasn't stressed behaviour to be hiding such a large proportion of the time. The temps that I quoted of 31 degrees was the max temp reached towards the top of the enclosure, most of the time it ranges from 26 - 28 during the day and a couple of degrees lower at night.

 

[JasonL]

A hide box is ideal (and what i would rather see), but isn't essential for a good captive bred animal that is feeding well. And soulweaver, as far as people getting snakes for the wrong reason, there are plenty of them and I don't like it either.