r/SandBoa • u/WinterBeetles • 10d ago
Snake’s Behavior Has Changed?
Hello! We’ve had our female sand boa for about a year. Currently she eats a frozen/thawed fuzzy every ten days. She is set up in a 40 gallon tank with hides on the warm side, cool side, and in the middle too. There’s fake plants and whatnot.
She typically stays buried almost all the time, but she’s a great eater (has never missed a meal). She’s about 3 years old and she recently completed a healthy shed.
In the last week or two, suddenly she comes out every night. She is just sort of lazily going around the cage and then burying herself again. We are used to never seeing her besides feedings, so this is a big change. I’m worried something is wrong, but she seems healthy and ate just fine less than a week ago. Any ideas?
She’s our first snake ever and we love her. I’d been wondering if she should be eating hoppers now because she seems to have hit a growth spurt of sorts, but there’s nothing else I can think of and I’m not sure that would explain the difference in behavior anyways.
In the picture, the thermometer says over 100 but it’s not that temp by the time it reaches the hide, it’s more about 90ish. I have another thermometer probe set up over there.
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u/CoffeeFae18 10d ago
When my 10 year old ksb hit 3 or 4 she started roaming and climbing up to the top of her enclosure(sand boas dont climb yada yada), specifically during the winter. I wondered if she had maybe been sexed wrong and she was actually a male but her vet at the time confirmed she was female. She turned 10 this year and every other winter she still will roam and climb. I just say she's looking for a boyfriend. She eats like a champ and has never had an issue.
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u/Impossible_Price7667 9d ago
I second this. Three years sounds like it's enough to hit maturity and when nature calls, nature calls.
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u/robotneonunicorn 10d ago
Is your home warmer than usual? Could be that the ambient temperature is higher at night than before
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u/WinterBeetles 9d ago
Oh that’s a good idea, but no our home is pretty consistently 70-71.
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u/robotneonunicorn 9d ago
Guess she’s just in a curious mood 😊sometimes I see mine every day and sometimes not at all
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u/MasonP13 7d ago
My two sand boas will go times they're just chilling and then times they feel safe enough to come out. Usually it'll be when it's night time or when I can tell they're hungry
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u/Neat_Ad_1984 10d ago
It sounds like your snake is happy and healthy! They definitely do go through different behavior phases and being out more than usual is not a bad sign at all.
Did you recently change anything about the enclosure? Mine tends to come out a little more when I add new things to the enclosure. Also does she have a water bowl - the picture doesn’t show the whole enclosure.