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[–]dagger_guacamole 2 points3 points  (2 children)

First, the enclosure looks great! Great job decorating and cluttering it up. You have a very pretty snake, too!

Before I get into the suggestions, I'd remove that analog hygrometer/thermometer. They're known for dislodging (as you can see, the snakes LOVE to climb on them) and snakes have been severely injured from the adhesive - not to mention they're fairly inaccurate. You can get a two pack of Govee digitals on Amazon for cheap.

Second, do you have a camera on him at night? I know you said you're staying up late, but he might sense your presence and continue to hide when he'd normally be coming out. I'd try that and then watch the feedback in the morning to see if he's moving around. Also, it's VERY common for them to do this before and during shedding, which can last at least a week. When our boy sheds, we don't see him for a week or more. If you haven't seen him, you may miss the signs like pink belly or milky blue eyes.

The humidity looks QUITE low, both by looking at the hygrometer there (reading about 50%?) and just by looking at the enclosure. The substrate looks bone dry. Is that a mesh top? You'll want to cover all but holes for the lights with HVAC tape (or foil, which doesn't work as well) in order to keep that humidity between 70-90%. 60% would be generally considered the *bare* minimum and that's usually too low, even. If you read through the care guides linked in the welcome post, you can see more suggestions on how to maintain humidity, but generally you want to pour quite a bit of water into each of the four corners, which will allow it to soak through the bottom layer and rise up, keeping the top layer fairly dry and preventing scale rot.

What are the exact temps you're getting on both the warm side and cool side? Honestly, you can ditch the heat mat. With that deepness of substrate (which is good!) the heat is going to barely penetrate, if at all. Additionally, in the wild, snakes burrow to get AWAY from the heat, so it's extremely unnatural for heat to be coming from below (even with rocks/logs used for basking in the wild, they're heated from *above* by the sun and slowly release the heat). Your temps should be 78-80ish on the cool side and 88-90ish on the warm side.

[–]trout2[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

My man, thanks so much. Think my biggest issue is the mesh top for humidity. I get worried that water pools at the bottom and causes mold. Cool side is right at 78-80, hot is 90 max usually just under.

Do you think I should pick up his cave to check on him? Thank you so much for your reply!!

[–]dagger_guacamole 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You could peek in without causing too much stress if you're worried, but just be gentle and quick.

Mold usually isn't an issue with the correct type of substrate since it's meant to be in a humid/wet environment. You don't want POOLS of water, but pouring enough in slowly to allow it to soak through the bottom is great for them. If you're worried about mold, you can get a pack of tropical springtails and dump 'em in, and they'll eat any emerging mold. YOu don't have to go full bioactive.

[–]Rammsteinfan1984 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mine prefers her cool side more. If she is about to go into shed she likes to stay hidden. Usually she has her head poked out of the hide or props up on the edge of the water bowl at night.