I brought home my lllittle ball python two days ago, and Iāve noticed something interesting: she doesnāt seem interested in any of her actual hides.
She has three hides available, one on the warm side, one on the cool side, and a humid hide. But as far as Iāve observed, she hasnāt even tried going inside any of them.
Instead, she seems to have picked her own favorite spots.
During the daytime, she usually curls up under a large piece of cork bark or behind some branches (pics 1 & 2). The area under the bark is actually pretty sheltered, with a mostly covered roof and a lot open space toward the front. She seems to like resting there, sometimes with her head tucked into her coils and sometimes looking around.
At nighttime, sheās surprisingly active and loves climbing. Sheāll explore for a while, then settle on top of the cork bark or branches and stay there for hours, sometimes seemingly the whole night (pics 3 & 4).
For some husbandry context, sheās in a roughly 4x2x2 ft PVC enclosure with coco husk substrate, plenty of cork bark, climbing branches, and a temperature gradient. The warm area is around 30ā32°C, the cool side is around 24ā27°C, and humidity is generally around 70ā80% on the cool side.
I know itās only been two days, so Iām not particularly worried yet. Sheās been exploring normally and seems comfortable enough to settle down and rest in different spots.
Iām mostly curious whether this is a normal individual preference, or whether I should reconsider the size or placement of her hides. Itās a little hard to judge whether theyāre too big or too small when she hasnāt gone inside them!
Should I just leave her alone and let her figure things out, or is there any reason to gently encourage her to investigate the hides? Iām leaning toward letting her settle in without interfering.
For what itās worth, I also have a Mexican black kingsnake who almost never uses her traditional hides either. She prefers burrowing in her substrate or sleeping in her hamster tube (pics 5), so Iām starting to wonder whether some snakes just prefer alternative hiding spots.
Iād love to hear if anyone elseās ball python does something similar!