This description seems to fit my Olive Python fairly well also. She glass surfs at similar times each day. It had me worried initially but I appreciate that it means she usually seems to want to come out and interact with me.
My M.Imbricata window surf also. Especially when wanting out of their enclosure to go outside on yhe lawn to deficate, or even just to explore around the outside or onto of their enclosure.. More positively, they move toward me and into myself sitting beside them. Thank you for sharing your video
Thank you for sharing that! I would love to see a video of this behavior, you can always email it to me or share through FB or Instagram Messenger. It would be interesting to see since we do not have Imbricata here in the United States.
You might have touched on this already, but do royal pythons exhibit this same behavior for similar reasons? I often see my female royal doing this in the afternoon after she's had time to wake up. I've always assumed she wants to come out and when I open the door she voluntarily comes out.
I have not specifically researched it in Python regius but if she is coming out when the door is open, for that snake the function of the behavior is likely freedom-seeking.
My 7 month old Python Regus, Luna just started this new behavior of glass surfing 2 weeks ago, when I put her back into her enclosure after she's been out for a couple hours.
My python regius does this when he wants to come out and explore. When doing this he usually tries to put as much of his belly against the glass as possible, climbing straight up and often falls over and does it again and again until I let him out. His enclosure is 5x2x5' so just imagine 3-4 ft of snake going straight up against the glass.
My ball python does this excessively. I just got it a week ago. I tried attempting to feed it live but it just ignored the mouse and continued to glass surf. I eventually took the mouse out and returned it to the shop. I did some tank improvements but it still continues to glass surf all the time. Any advice on what to do?
Royal Pythons (Python regius) are very sensitive and prone to stress compared to many other snake species. You have only had your snake for a week which is a very short time, The snake has no idea where it is or what has happened to it and based on data of wild snake translocations, it will be disoriented and have the innate desire to return to its home range, a familiar place, that last home it knew and where it felt safe and secure. When snakes are translocated in the wild 50% or less survive for many reasons which include disorientation, being unaware of where to locate resources in an unfamiliar habitat, and being killed while trying to move back to their old habitat. In captivity snakes will often move around new enclosures excessively because it is strange and unfamiliar to them, they have an instinct to leave and get back to what is familiar. Once they realize they cannot do this, some snakes will move around the enclosure to learn the environment and some male snakes scent mark territory. Once they are comfortable and feel safe they usually revert to behavior considered normal for their species which for Royal Pythons would be to hide more, settle into spots where they now feel safe. Python regius are easily stressed and one of the impacts of a stress response for them is to not eat. In addition to that if the snake is fearful of the prey, you mentioned feeding it live, then it will attempt to escape and avoid it and will be averse to eating in the future. Was the snake eating live before? We offer only frozen-thawed prey to our Royals here, never offer live, even if they were eating live before. While some Royals eat fairly quickly after arriving at a new home, many takes weeks or months to eat for the first time. Leave your new snake alone, allow it time to settle in and start to realize this is its new habitat, feel at home, and start to feel safe and secure. If you can recognize natural hunting behavior from your snake, that is when I would offer food again, and not live. Also do not bring the food towards the snake as that can cause fear, offer the food nearby and allow the snake to come to it, sometimes slowly backing the food away from the snake will trigger a hunting response to move toward the prey. If the snake is in good body condition and your vet gave it a clean bill of health during its initial wellness exam, there is no hurry to have it eat, let it settle in.
