Hey all. So I'm new to the forum and sorta new to snake keeping. This one's a bit of a saga that's been going on for 6 months.
First up I own a marbled children's python, she's just about ten months old now. I have her housed in a 3x2x2ft melamine enclosure with hardwired ceramic fittings for 2 globes (i use only 1 with an infrared, 60w) into an IMIT thermostat and a flourescent tube for lighting. I have the enclosure sectioned off so that she can grow into it and so she does not feel exposed/vulnerable, and the temp range i aim at with a thermometer is about 30-32.
So to get to the point of this; I got her around April this year, had her housed in a click clack for a couple months before she outgrew it. The first week I got her she ate, the second she went into shed and she stopped eating from then on until early Oct. I thought it would have been brumation but I didn't lower any temps and kept it as steady as I could. When she outgrew the click clack I put her into a glass terrarium (stupid me), inevitably had a lot of issues keeping her warm. I've ran infra-red globes on top of the mesh lid and inside the enclosure, I've used a heat mat and I had no choice but to use both a mat and a globe because it just would not stabilise. I had readings from 28-38 almost constantly throughout the day/night with both on though and if I ever left the mat off for the globe to do its thing it wouldn't even come up to 25. Same goes with the mat on its own. I'm aware that heat rises but everyone else seems to not have this severe an issue with it as i do.
i got her to eat once early October and now she has stopped again. I just switched her over to a melamine enclosure hoping the temperature would be more stable because it isn't pure glass, but once again running the 60w globe alone and it won't come up above 24. I've just slid the heat mat under it to pick up the slack. she's stopped eating again and I've used up maybe three or so packs of ten trying different feeding methods and only one worked, but has failed to ever since.
I've gone to specialists, the people I got her from and another reptile place to see if anyone can help and I always get the "snakes don't eat in winter it's normal" and no help with actually fixing the heating problem. I switched out the infra red to a ceramic heat emitter once and that did absolutely nothing different. Idk what else to do at this point except run the mat and globe and cross my fingers.
I'm debating if I should give her away to someone I know can look after her, since clearly I am doing something wrong somewhere. But if anyone can help me identify whats going on that would be really helpful, I do want to be the one to watch her grow but I'm also aware that if I can't give her what she needs then I should not own a snake.
First up I own a marbled children's python, she's just about ten months old now. I have her housed in a 3x2x2ft melamine enclosure with hardwired ceramic fittings for 2 globes (i use only 1 with an infrared, 60w) into an IMIT thermostat and a flourescent tube for lighting. I have the enclosure sectioned off so that she can grow into it and so she does not feel exposed/vulnerable, and the temp range i aim at with a thermometer is about 30-32.
So to get to the point of this; I got her around April this year, had her housed in a click clack for a couple months before she outgrew it. The first week I got her she ate, the second she went into shed and she stopped eating from then on until early Oct. I thought it would have been brumation but I didn't lower any temps and kept it as steady as I could. When she outgrew the click clack I put her into a glass terrarium (stupid me), inevitably had a lot of issues keeping her warm. I've ran infra-red globes on top of the mesh lid and inside the enclosure, I've used a heat mat and I had no choice but to use both a mat and a globe because it just would not stabilise. I had readings from 28-38 almost constantly throughout the day/night with both on though and if I ever left the mat off for the globe to do its thing it wouldn't even come up to 25. Same goes with the mat on its own. I'm aware that heat rises but everyone else seems to not have this severe an issue with it as i do.
i got her to eat once early October and now she has stopped again. I just switched her over to a melamine enclosure hoping the temperature would be more stable because it isn't pure glass, but once again running the 60w globe alone and it won't come up above 24. I've just slid the heat mat under it to pick up the slack. she's stopped eating again and I've used up maybe three or so packs of ten trying different feeding methods and only one worked, but has failed to ever since.
I've gone to specialists, the people I got her from and another reptile place to see if anyone can help and I always get the "snakes don't eat in winter it's normal" and no help with actually fixing the heating problem. I switched out the infra red to a ceramic heat emitter once and that did absolutely nothing different. Idk what else to do at this point except run the mat and globe and cross my fingers.
I'm debating if I should give her away to someone I know can look after her, since clearly I am doing something wrong somewhere. But if anyone can help me identify whats going on that would be really helpful, I do want to be the one to watch her grow but I'm also aware that if I can't give her what she needs then I should not own a snake.
