Ugh, she regurged again*

Move the hide she likes best to the warm side. Maybe that will coax her over there. Mine hangs out in the tightest fitting hide most of the time. He tends to burrow down to the mat for the first couple days after eating. Otherwise, he is on the cool side most of the time. It is only 72 to 74 degrees.

What type of substrate do you use?

Forgot to mention. I have a 3rd hide in our tank. It is right in the middle. It sits just off the edge of the heat mat. Temp is in the 75 to 78 range. It is his favorite. It is a tight fitting hide.

Originally Posted by Chip

You have a UTH set to 80 on the cool side? Sounds like overkill, but would be a good backup in case the main ever went out!

The cool side's thermostat is set to 80, but the actual heat averages around 73 - 77 because the UTH turns off once it reaches exactly 80 and it cools quickly.

Originally Posted by Todd120

Move the hide she likes best to the warm side. Maybe that will coax her over there. Mine hangs out in the tightest fitting hide most of the time. He tends to burrow down to the mat for the first couple days after eating. Otherwise, he is on the cool side most of the time. It is only 72 to 74 degrees.

What type of substrate do you use?

I'll have to try that!

I use shaved aspen.

A UTH isn't necessary for the cool side, if the warm side isn't sitting at 85-87° consistently then I would blame a faulty UTH or one that is too small. What size is the viv, and what is the size of the UTH?

Even if the cool side dips dramatically, as long as the warm side is in the mid-upper 80s the snake will find his happy place.

And tight fitting hides are best. They like to feel something on their sides and back while they are in the hides. If a hide is a little large, a piece of crumpled up newspaper or paper towel in there with him will make him feel more secure.

Keep us posted, I am interested to see how this pans out.

Originally Posted by smigon

A UTH isn't necessary for the cool side, if the warm side isn't sitting at 85-87° consistently then I would blame a faulty UTH or one that is too small. What size is the viv, and what is the size of the UTH?

Even if the cool side dips dramatically, as long as the warm side is in the mid-upper 80s the snake will find his happy place.

And tight fitting hides are best. They like to feel something on their sides and back while they are in the hides. If a hide is a little large, a piece of crumpled up newspaper or paper towel in there with him will make him feel more secure.

Keep us posted, I am interested to see how this pans out.

Viv is 27 gallon and I use the medium-sized Reptitherms.

It worries me, because when there's no heat, the temperature can get as low as the 50s within the viv, so that's why I have two UTHs. I had just changed them about a month or two ago to a larger size (it might have been you or someone else on another thread who recommended going up a size when I had to resort to a heat lamp to get temperatures up), but it looks like one of them is indeed faulty. No matter how high I set it to, the temperature wouldn't get above the low 70s. I just received its replacement in the mail today, however.

Last night she moved from the cool hide to the warm and this morning has relocated to the cool side. I switched out the warm hide for something smaller today to see if that changes things.

I would say wait with feeding at least until you have stabilized the temps... not sure if that has been mentioned here but that's what I woudl do at this moment.. good luck!

Update!

She spent the last two days hunting, which I haven't really seen her do in several weeks; possibly related to the prior lack of heat? She made a little poo/urate again today (about the size of an M&M). I fed her a hopper head about 20 minutes ago. Her favorite hide is on the warm side and a piece of mailing tube serves as the new, smaller hide on the cool side. An infrared reading tells me that the temps are currently at 76 (cool) & 84 (warm) and right now she's substrate diving.

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that she doesn't spit up that head! I'll be spending the next two or three days in suspense.

Sounds good. It's good she is more active now. You would think that she would be fine now.