Help!

Ok so my wife and I just recently bought 2 red-tail boas. I already have ball pythons but these are my first boas. I have their tempatures set to 82 on the cool side, and 92 on the warm side. Their using plain substrate newspaper, and there are hides on both sides. Yet for some reason, both of the boas are soaking in their water bowls. I know ball pythons do this from time to time, but these guys arn't taking a small dip, they've been in there for two or three hours already, am I missing something? Any help is appreciated!

How are you reading the temps? With a analogue or digital thermometer? Take your hand and run it down the snake and look for red smears on your hand afterwards. What is the humidity at? What do you use for heat? Everything and anything you can tell us about your enclosure and the habitat they are in is key to pointing out what is up with them. Are they in the same enclosure? etc? etc?

The most common cause of soaking like that is mites.. As Jim said, run your hand down the snake and see if you find red or black dots or smears on your hands. You can also check for mites by looking closely around the eyes, mouth and vent. They look like little black or red moving dots.. very small.

Overly low humidity or too warm temperatures are the other reasons I can think of.. sounds like your temperatures are good though.

If smears...buy some Provent a mite (pam) from a reputable reptile supply dealer and treat the enclosures as directed because you have mites. If the humidity is below 50% you need to adjust the setup to contain humidity better and up the humidity to 50-60%.

They were in the same enclosure because we got them last night (spur of the momment) and only had one cage currently set up, and one set of heat supplies. They're now currently in seperate cages but both are resting in their water bowls. Im using a digital thermometer, and a ceramic heating bulb. The Humidity is running a little low currently at about 45% although that reading could have something to due with the fact that I had the cage lid off for about 10 or 15 mintues while I tried to figure out if anything was wrong in there.


Any other information let me know

I would say it's likely mites.. and if not then they probably just like to soak.. perhaps they were dehydrated from their previous environment and are just soaking to rehydrate.

What size enclosure & what size ceramic heater are you using?

My wife just said when she first got home and checked the humidity it was at 53% at the time, also having balls I checked for mites when I found them in the same bowl eairlier (before we switched them to their own cages) and neither came back with mites when I checked their eyes, nose, and no red dots.

I've also read sometimes they'll soak when they're nearing shed (just read that in a RTB care sheet) so could that be it?

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Originally Posted by Holbeird

They were in the same enclosure because we got them last night (spur of the momment) and only had one cage currently set up, and one set of heat supplies. They're now currently in seperate cages but both are resting in their water bowls. Im using a digital thermometer, and a ceramic heating bulb. The Humidity is running a little low currently at about 45% although that reading could have something to due with the fact that I had the cage lid off for about 10 or 15 mintues while I tried to figure out if anything was wrong in there.


Any other information let me know

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They are stressed for two reasons 1) the move to new environment 2) being in the same enclosure together. They also probably have mites or the humidity needs to be upped more...which could easily be due to the ceramic heat, I've never heard anything good about them. Is it regulated by anything?

If they are in shed, then yes, that could cause them wanting to soak as well. Sometimes boas just like to soak.. unlike balls which tend not to soak unless something is wrong.