Bedwetter! How to clean a stinky snake?

[cristacake]

At some point relatively recently, Donuts peed in her hide that she always pees in. As a matter of fact, I put a hide in that spot because she would go to that corner to pee every time.

Anyway, she usually doesn't get herself dirty. I always find the urate in the back corner of the hide and have never noticed Donuts being soiled, but today I picked up her last hide and slid her out of it (it's a narrow box, like an angular tube really) and she came out smelling not-so-fresh. The urate was in the back of the hide but the whole floor was soaked and, atypically, Donuts was just laying in there with the pee /:

So, is this behavior a sign of something troubling her about her environment, or do they just 'wet the bed' sometimes?

How should I clean her off? She smells like urine and I can't imagine that's comfortable for her. Regular run through the wet paper towels or is there something more effective?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Wipe her down with a wash cloth and some chlorhexidine solution.

[DennisM]

^^ this. or some hydrogen peroxide if it's more readily available at the moment. even a damp cloth or paper towel is better than nothing, but you'll want to get some kind of snake friendly disinfectant on hand at all times because it will happen again. when you're in an enclosure it can be hard to get away from your pee. snakes in shed are reluctant to leave their hide even when they mess it.

[cristacake]

^^ this. or some hydrogen peroxide if it's more readily available at the moment. even a damp cloth or paper towel is better than nothing, but you'll want to get some kind of snake friendly disinfectant on hand at all times because it will happen again. when you're in an enclosure it can be hard to get away from your pee. snakes in shed are reluctant to leave their hide even when they mess it.

I think we have hydrogen peroxide, I'll try that when I get home.

Wipe her down with a wash cloth and some chlorhexidine solution.

I thought I had seen someone mention wiping a snake down with chlorhexidine on here before but I wasn't sure about how to do it safely and I can't find any info on it. Do you have to dilute the solution or is it already safe to put on the towel from when you buy it? I feel like if it's concentrated enough to be a cleaner for their housing then it might be strong enough to hurt their skin, I don't know.

I'm assuming I can get some at PetSmart, but if you guys have an online resource or something then that'd be great to know about too Thanks!

[cristacake]

Oh, and I forgot to address the other part of the convo. She's not in shed and I usually find her in one of her other hides when she's peed the corner one, but I guess maybe today she was just feeling more comfortable there.

I have one hot spot hide, one that's about halfway on the hotspot and halfway off, and then the cold one which she pees in. So maybe she was just not feeling like going to her hot hides? Temps look good on the hot spot so I don't know what else it could be. I'm thinking maybe it was just a one-off occurrence, her being particularly lazy today.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

You probably can get store at local farm supply stores or here http://www.reptilebasics.com/chlorhexadine-16oz , you dilute according to the instructions.

It is safe can be used to clean enclosures, surfaces, wiping down snakes, cleaning wounds etc.

That's what I use for all my need including wiping down my females after they lay to remove the egg scent from them.

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[cristacake]

Thanks so much Deborah!