Ball Python Help (Shedding and Soaking)

[curiopossum]

Hi there! I'm new here and am very excited to be part of this community.

Introductions aside I just wanted to ask about my ball python, Edgar, soaking. He always soaks before a shed and I'll give him a little "bath" and spray his tank extra around those times. However he has recently been soaking even more than usual, and his shed has been taking longer to come off (he hasn't even started rubbing on anything to get it off, but his eyes are very blue and the skin is starting to loosen). I did get him a new light and I suspect its drying out his tank more than the last because the humidity has gone down a bit. I have been spraying him to make sure this shed is fine, but I was wondering what you all recommend that I do to keep the humidity higher. Is there any affordable humidifiers that work with ball pythons, or should I maybe try to cover some of the lid of the tank (which is screen).

He is my first snake and has been doing well for the one and a half years I've had him and I want to keep it this way! Thank you for your help, even if there is nothing to worry about as a crazy snake mom I have to make sure, of course!

-Ashley

[melcvt00]

What are your temps and humidity, and what are they measured with?

[curiopossum]

His basking spot averages around 95ish, and the cooler side around 80. The humidity stays around 63%. I measure both the heat and humidity with one digital reader, though I cannot think of what brand it is at the moment.

[melcvt00]

I would drop the hot side to 90. The extra soaking could be from being too hot, or extra soaking could be related to mites.

[Yzmasmom]

If his hot spot is 95 then he may be soaking to cool down. Did you change places from where you normally get his bedding? Maybe he has mites.

[curiopossum]

Thank you so much! That makes a lot of sense, and luckily it's very unlikely that it is mites since I have no clue where they would've come from.

[curiopossum]

I don't think its mites as I have one huge back of bedding that hasn't run out yet, so I havn't gotten more yet. What other ways could mites have gotten in? I don't have contact with any other reptiles except my own if that helps.

[cchardwick]

I just went through a plague of mites. If you visit a pet store or reptile show those little buggers can just crawl up your shoe and hitch a ride, they can come in from anywhere. Even if you sit on a bus next to a snake guy that has mites in his snake room LOL. You could put him on paper towels for a day or two and if he has mites you will see little black specs crawling around.

Personally I would change the the bedding to Reptichip, a coconut husk substrate. It eliminates smell and holds tons of water without being 'wet'. I have it in my whole rack and I'd never go back to anything else unless I had a mite problem again, then back to paper towels for a bit for treatment...

[curiopossum]

Thank you so much! I'll do this immediately