[ladybird]

I got my two royals delivered by courier today, a CB07 male and a CB08 female, they were freezing cold when I took them out of the box, so I left them for a while to get to room temperature, then I put them in their temporary little setup, put them in the hide over the heat mat and left them for the day. Later on I checked on them, and the little one was hissing at me, and the bigger male was trying to strike! I picked them up and they felt quite hot (being on the heat mat all day) I'm wondering if this is just stress and they will calm down if I cool them/turn the heat mat down?

 

[Robbie]

You've had them less than a day. They're probably just scared.
You have the mat on a stat right? If they're roasting hot you need to check the stat is set correctly. What does the thermometre say?

 

[Doodles]

I have had quite a few captive farmed ones come in like that but after getting bitten for a week or 2 they calm right down. Just accept you might get bitten for a little while and they will be fine. Every royal I have had that has done it has been an amazing feeder so it might be a good thing once the scars heal ;-)

 

[Henhead]

As long as the heat mat is regulated so cant get too hot, and they have a hide in both the warm and cool end, they probably just need time to settle in after their journey.

I would leave them alone for at least 7 to 10 days before trying to handle them. apart from changing the water.

Are they both in the same viv, if so I would suggest separating them as this may may be causing them unnecessary stress and contributing to their behaviour

 

[Young_Gun]

I'd tub em both up an leave em well alone for 5-10 days, change the water, paper towel if needed but thats it.

They just sound stressed out.

 

[ladybird]

Ok thanks for the advice! I don't have the mat on a thermostat because the thermostat sensor is rubbish. It's a habistat mat stat, if you look at the sensor, instead of being a flat(ish) sensor on a thin wire (like a thermometre) it's a big chunky thing that won't fit into their flat faunariums. I just leave the mat on all the time and build up bedding deep enough for the right temperature. I got them identical hides on the cool end as well so they will be able to regulate anyway

 

[ratking]

mate u really need to get the sensor near the heatmat royals will an do move there bedding quite easy and if your keeping the 2 together they lie on top off each other the bottom 1 will cook trust me heatmats can and have killed snake in the past u have it so why not use dont risk ur snakes mate for the sake off drilling a hole also ive nown snakes that are too hot become agitated and more aggressive not havin ago mate just givein advise

 

[samroyal2]

they just need time to settle in just leave them alone for over a week just change the water and substrate when needed then you can try handleing them for short periods.

 

[Youngy]

Snakes are cold blooded animals, they shouldn't feel to hot, reduce your temp.

 

[sue]

:banghead: your thermostat is very important. The sensors are all like that and Habistat mats stats are very good. You need to make a hole in the side or lid of the Faunarium just big enough to fir your probe through and you also need a good thermometer to measure the temperature accurately. This should have been set up before your royals arrived.

If they arrived freezing cold and you have a very hot heat mat (which you will if it is unstated) they will have warmed up too fast and maybe become too hot. As said above, tub them, get the temp right and leave them alone to settle or the next problem will be how do I get my royals to eat!

Making the substrate deeper doesn't help as thick substrate makes an unstated mat overheat and your royals can burrow down to the hottest spot.

 

[ladybird]

Ok I'll see about that, but these sensors are vertical so do I push it down to the bottom of the substrate?

 

[rachel132002]

Just tape the sensor to the mat and keep checking the temp IN the viv on the floor so for example set sensor to 90degrees and if you have 2 inches of bedding in viv then make sure you take the temp of the inside BASE (undersubstrate) of the tank and change the stat temp to suit the need of the snake.

Rach

 

[ladybird]

Oh ok! I suppose people have different ways of doing it then