hot/cold

[jalisco milk]

how much time should a snake spend on hot side and cold side.the reason i'm askin is i have a jalisco milk i used to have her tank set up with a heat lamp i'd leave it on all day turn it down at night,she seemed to spend most of her time on the hot side,i recently switched over to a heat pad which i leave at the same setting all the time and she spends alot of time on cool side and she really hasent eaten since, it looks like she should be sheding i didnt see her in her blue fase but the way her skin looks to me it seems she should shed,i'm not too concerned about her eating yet but the sheding part i am,today i left her in a wet box for 5 hrs guess i'll see if that helps and i'll do the same for her tomorrow maybe longer.she seems tobe active moves around alot like shes hungry. any tips or help would be greatly appreciated

[vanderkm]

First question would be what are the substrate temps on the hot and cold sides of the tank - knowing those for sure could help sort out why she is where she is. Second is what are her hides on each side - I have found that my milks prefer a secure hide over temperature regulation almost all the time, so they need small tight hide areas in both warm and cold zones (perferably that span both - we use tubular hides the length of the cage) to feel secure.

On the non-feeding, a coming shed is a possible cause, but also if it is a male, it could be the influence of breeding season - many will go off feed and cruise around a lot looking for girls. Females are generally better about feeding in the spring, but I have had females that are going to lay clutches (even unfertilized ones) that will cruise a lot and stop eating.

mary v.

[jalisco milk]

as far as the temps hot side 86-88 cold bout 10 deg less.and the hides little ceramic caves i guess, they have been in there for sometime now, i dont know the sex of it.i use aspen shavings,you said tubular hides would that be like a paper towel roll?thanks for the help

[vanderkm]

We use lengths of PVC pipe but paper towel rolls will work fine depending on size of snake.

I am not too familiar with Jalisco milks, but many of the milksnakes come from higher elevations and the hot side may actually be too warm for her - not sure if that is the same temp range you were getting with the overhead light, but aspen can be quite insulating so the temps in the bedding may be higher on the warm side with the UTH than they were with the light. We find some of our milks seem to consistently prefer temps in the high 70's to low 80s and not higher.

mary v.

[jalisco milk]

ok so maybe its too hot how do i know what temp to set it at?thanks again and what about her shed should i put her in the wet box for a few hours maybe over night?

[Pinto2]

Putting her into a box before a shead isn't neccisary unless your snake has really bad sheading problems. Usually you can just up the humidity and your snake will do fine. You can do this by misting her cage, puting a water bowl under the light, or buy puting a wet cloth in one of her favourite spots to be.