So my Ball Python Trooper keeps climbing onto his grow light at night.
How do I stop him from doing this. Any help would be amazing. I just don’t want him to hurt himself. He will climb up there then fall.
How do I stop him from doing this. Any help would be amazing. I just don’t want him to hurt himself. He will climb up there then fall.
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Sometimes they do this just because they want to. I have one male who just sometimes likes to lay belly up and always freaks me out when he does.
Is he being nippy at all if he’s up there? Or anywhere else in the enclosure if he likes to get a little higher up in the open like those elsewhere when he slips down. That’s usually a stress behavior.
If that’s the case…what I would make sure though is that there’s enough hides and clutter to make him completely comfortable in the rest of the enclosure and keep him from wanting to hide up there.
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Could be he just likes to do it.
But it could also be stress and trying to hide.
Also check temps and humidity. Sometime off could be making him want to get out of the situation.
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Do you have a lower temperature at night? or over head heating.
Maybe the night temperature is a bit low on the floor of the viv.
He might be trying to soak up some heat from the light or just go higher as its always warmer higher.
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He has never tried to bite me and he looks happy. So I am not sure.
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The temperature is set to stay the same day and night. He has a radiant heat panel and the grow light is just on during the day. It is a Arcadia Jungle Dawn grow light. Right now the temperature is 82 degrees in his enclosure. If need to turn it up I will definitely do that.
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That’s a bit low if its the hottest spot.
Oh and I just saw your new, welcome to the community 
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Thank you 
How warm should I have the warm side set to?
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I am confident that the hot end at 82 that you have is a bit too cool.
I personally prefer 88 Fahrenheit for the hot end and it works well with a thermal gradient down to the cooler end for me. My animals are healthy and eat and breed well with no slugs. (i give a fraction more for hatchlings.)
But there is some dispute regarding temperatures so maybe others will have better advice. So wait for others to check that.
However as I said I am confident that the hot end at 82 that you have is a bit too cool.
Other members please feel free to contradict me.
That’s the benefit of this site, there is a wealth of experienced members.
(Caveat: I work in centigrade so the conversions may not be 100%)
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Thank you so much. He is also refusing to eat too. So hopefully if I turn the the heat up he will start to eat again. He is a little over a year old.
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Actually I am not surprised he is not eating with a max temp of 82.
Also thermometers are not 100% so it might even be actually a degree cooler.
But other factors need to be right too, good humidity and hides as @armiyana and @d_y_python have alluded to.
also if he is not feeding, I would wait until he is feeding before any more handling.
Just out of interest, what is it? Hard to tell from the picture but the eyes look black on a white snake so maybe a super fire or super yellowbelly?
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Thank you. He is actually a blue eyed Lucy. His eyes are a dark blue.
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I have some of those, my favourites 
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He is such a good boy. I am hoping with his heat being up to 87 on the warm side he will eat for me again.
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85 degrees F is a perfect temp.
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So his hot side is now 86 degrees but he is still being a silly little monkey climbing on his light.
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Then he just likes to climb because he is indeed part monkey 
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I would leave it at 86 for now. The reason i shoot fornor tell everyone 86, is if it is off a couple degrees, then no harm. 88 also works, but gives little room for error. If youn know your equipment and have experience with it, then 88 is a good spot. For the average/beginner keeper, i feel 86 is best.
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Being to clold could be the reason for not eating. Wait a few days (once temps are up and stable) before trying to feed again. Let it settle in and relax.
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Thank you everyone for your help I really appreciate it. I did a lot of research before getting Trooper but I am still learning.