Under-Enclosure Retreat

I've been experimenting with under-enclosure hide boxes for reptiles. I just got a new Woma Python. Young adult. They spend a lot of time in burrows in the wild, like many reptiles do. The upper enclosure has a nice hot spot and hot side hide. The under-enclosure box is NOT heated as it would be in the wild. My question is this: Should I be concerned that my Woma spends too much time in the under-enclosure hide that is cold as opposed to staying warm in the upper enclosure? I took her out of the cold hide this morning and put her up top, but she immediately went back down into the cold. Should I trust that she knows what she is doing? Should I add heat to the under-enclosure hide?

What are the temperatures in each hide?

Mid 90s inside the warm hide. low 70s on cool side of enclosure, so plenty of gradient. Under-enclosure hide gets no heat. At night it gets down to 40s in my house. Right now it's about 65-70 degrees.

Maybe try creating a second under-enclosure hide that is heated, so that the snake can select an under-enclosure hide at the appropriate temperature. Snakes will sometimes choose hiding over appropriate temperatures, so it is possible that your snake may give up heat when she needs it if she really likes the under-enclosure hide better than her above ground hides.

I would decrease the warm hide to 88-92*F, as I think mid 90's is a bit high for this species to be comfortable. Then I'd add a heat pad under the other hide and keep it 78-80*F, especially if the ambient in your house can go down to the 40's.

Have you considered closing off the room that the snake is in, and putting a small heater in it so the ambient room temp stays in the mid-70's?

Originally Posted by elena

Snakes will sometimes choose hiding over appropriate temperatures,

That's the info I was looking for. I thought that may be the case. I have only had this snake for 4-5 days now. She is feeling more comfortable up top recently. But I'm still going to put a UTH under the under-enclosure hide. I actually planned for this possibility by putting glass under the tub. No problem!

Thanks everybody.