a few Q's about substrate/hides

[FusionMorelia]

Gday fellas
i got a few lil questions i have my 1st snake an MD shes about 10months i have only had her for a month or so and she never uses the hides,she only ever slips between the paper substrate and literally sits with half her body on the hot end and half on the cool end.

She moves about at night heaps and loves climbing heaps useing the whole area given to her, my question is can i take the paper out to induce hide usage and daytime movement by giving her only 1 option to hide, or would that stress her to much its not a massive hide and the opening to the hide isnt 2 big probably 2x her width at best, basking zone is 30-31 ambient temps about 23 24c i used doc roks home sweet home article then watched her reaction, she does not sit at the cold end to much or the hot end but stretched out in a big coil half on heat half off...right in the dead center under the paper, i would love to see her move a bit more during the day maybe actually see her from time to time between 4 am and 930pm lol

 

[Asharee133]

they are nocturnal mate

 

[FusionMorelia]

i realise that im asking if taking the substrate out to make her use the hides not the paper will stress her and i have seen MANY MANY pics here of their snakes basking in daylight hours not hiding mine however basks under the paper...
nocturnal or not, im fairly certain they bask out in the sun and move during the day......

 

[Ramsayi]

Let the snake do what's best for it.Trying to force it into doing things because it would suit you better isn't the best practice.

 

[redbellybite]

i realise that im asking if taking the substrate out to make her use the hides not the paper will stress her and i have seen MANY MANY pics here of their snakes basking in daylight hours not hiding mine however basks under the paper...
nocturnal or not, im fairly certain they bask out in the sun and move during the day......

yours is only a baby so naturally she/he will want to hide more to feel secure ...you will find when your snake is older and much bigger that you will see it more often ,,,dont worry yourself ... its a 'panteen ' experience, wont happen over night but it will happen

 

[FusionMorelia]

ok cheers red thats all i wanted to know, i assumed as much but u kno the old saying
seems a waste of hides lol but typical woman she likes the 2c a piece paper and hates the 40$ hides haha
shes not to happy on the floor at night i tell ya she will climb on anything and everything and wont even touch the ground after 930pm untill about 4 or 5 am i kno i have sat and watched her climbing ALOT!
ohh well thnx again red

 

[GSMenardi]

As redbellybite said, it's still only a baby, it will want to feel as secure as possible, but I don't think removing the paper would stress it too much. In the wild they see and experience different things everyday/night, so I doubt removing the paper would affect her much.

I used to have a lady MD, she quite clearly used to get bored in her enclosure and I'd have to change things about in it every week or so to keep her happy.

I have a 10 month old Darwin, and he only goes into his hide when he's getting close to shedding because he gets all sooky. Otherwise he sits on his branches, hides or under the towels (used as substrate).