IlaandSnake

Hi y'all! I'm new to this thread, but figured it might be a good idea to sign on as I wasn't really planning on getting a pet, but when a sweet 5 year old cornsnake names Snake was offered to me, and after knowing that he had been moved around for pretty much his entire life I decided that I wanted to take him in and try and hive him a more steady and healthy environment.

I bought him a 4ft x 1.5 ft x 1.5 ft enclosure, as he came to me in a 20 gallon tank which was just way to small for him. Now his vivariumis pretty empty, he has a hide on the warm side and one on the cold side, a waterdish and 3 plants, so I have ordered more stuff for him so that he does not feel so exposed.

Now I am telling you this because after moving him into his new vivarium he has pretty much only been staying in his cave on the cold side (I use a 50 watt light because he doesent seem to enjoy the warm side one bit and I figured maybe a lower heat bulb would be better, but he still doesent seem to care for it). He only comes out of his cave when its feeding time or when I physically take him out of there. I am worried there might be something wrong with him as he was much more active in his tiny tank than he is in this one.

He was active at first for a week or two at dusk and dawn (as I have read is normal for cornsnakes), but now he doesent seem to move even then. I do believe he is about to shead, as his colour have become matted and a bit dull, especually on his underside. So may this be the reason as for why he is standing so still?

Thank you in advance for your help, he is my first ever reptile, and I have tried to read up on them as much as possible, this just got me very worried.

Another factor you maybe should know about is that my housemate recently got a blue tongued skink who we found mites on, the skink passed away last week, and we are not sure if that was because of the mites or something else. Now I have thuroughly checked Snake for mites without finding any, so I am pretty sure we lucked out there, however if the skink was sick with something else, could Snake have gotten it?

Thank you for your responses