BP's and a bath wierd reaction!

ok so i gave both my BP's a bath tonight and they both acted very very different my male who is quite young probably about 6months old at the oldest when i put him in the tub he swam around very furiously running to every edge trying to get out and didnt seem to like it very much my female who is a little more than a year old when i put her in the bath she simply floated there slightly curled and almost in a ready to strike position and didnt move from that position the whole time she was in the bath and when i put her back in her tank she very quickly ran to her hide and didnt even use the entrance she just dove under the side of it and pushed her way in like she was very scared and just wanted the safety of her hide how does every one elses BP's act during a bath were either of these reactions a normal one? thanks for your help!

I had one that didn't mind it. She would swish around a bit, and then just float. Another doesn't like it, but sometimes she has no choice.

The trick is to make sure the water is not too hot (remember, if it's warm to you it's close to body temperature: 98.6* which is too hot for snakes) and make sure there is not too much water. It should only come half way up their bodies. For most snakes that's only about an inch of water.

They can swim, but it's tiring. Try not to stress them out.

ok the water may have been a bit too deep it was about 3 inches deep and the temp of the water was luke warm a little warm to the touch but still could feel a little cold in it i want to get them into the bath a little more often this was the first time i have tried on either of them ill start doing it more often with less water.. now that i think of it none of my reptiles liked the bath even my CWD when i put him in there he was just playing dead and kept rolling over and floating upside down. my blue spiny lizard just puffed up like a baloon and floated there and tried to roll over and my beardie well he wouldnt even let go of me. that was the first time i tried to give any of them a bath

Stan (16 month male) went absolutely mental when I tried to give him a bath. He was swimming around furiously and trying to get out. When I reached down to get him he climbed up my arm like it was a life line.

Why would anyone think that reptile species, who normally wouldn't spend their time in their natural habitat swimming around, would even enjoy a bath? :confused:

I had to soak my young BP because of mites.

She reacted somewhat the same. I did put a wet washcloth in there with her so she had something to rest on. It was also the wet cloth that i wiped her down with when she was done. I just filled up the bowl with water as deep as she was wide (if that makes any sense) and she was able to rest on the cloth so she wasn't swimming.

Just wanted to give a suggestion. I know that bathing is NOT something they may enjoy. However, in the case of mites it was a neccesity.

I also give my ball python a towel to rest on when she needs a bath. Actually, I posted this picture last night:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...es/misc001.jpg

that's her "bath". You can see how little water is in there. Ball pythons are not swimmers by nature. There's no reason to give your ball python frequent baths. It'll do nothing except stress them out.

In some cases (mites, bad shed, etc.) it is necessary, but otherwise you should stay away from it.

When I've bathed mine...I've held her the whole time, and she didn't seem to mind at all. She had a good amount of blood on her belly from the mouse she ate and her towel was in the wash. I just checked the temp and made sure she didn't feel like she had to swim, and she was fine.