Gatorade & A Dehydraded Ball

Brad, according to my vet there IS some absorption of fluids through the skin (which is why she had me soaking the dehydrated ball for an hour a day), so yes, adding Pedialyte or Gatorade to the water could cause absorption of some of the electrolytes as well. However, as Damien points out, a well-tended snake will not normally get dehydrated -- that pretty much requires prolonged neglect, illness, parasites (which can take both water and nutrients from the host), or similar and does not happen in a matter of hours or days as it can with humans. Because of that, there's no need to add anything to the drinking or soaking water of a healthy snake, and it may even be detrimental by throwing electrolytes out of balance.

Thanks for the clarification Marla, I had read contradicting articles on treatment for dehydration; perhaps the one I was looking at was in the context more severe cases when a direct fluid injection was required and that soaking would not be sufficient on its own.

Most likely that's exactly what you were seeing. It really should be made clear as possible at what point intervention is really called for and what kind of action should be taken at that point. On the one hand, I was angry that Snyder was so neglected that she needed intensive care when I got her, on the other hand, I'm glad I got her and was able to bring her back to health and learn some valuable lessons in the process.

Its really unfortunate that people let their pets get to that point. I mean, I don't feel like bps are difficult to care for AT ALL. Just mist when humidity is needed, clean the cage every few weeks, keep water in the bowl; its like an average of less than 5 mins of my time per day. SIMPLE. As far as keeping hydrated, Amber does that on her own, I've been catching her drinking a lot more recently, mostly right after meals. I'm guess thats because fur going down their throat (or whatever u may call it) probably drys things out in there a little bit.

ive never had a snake that didn't drink water after a meal.

It is unfortunate that they let animals get to that point, but to be fair, she was a pet store snake, not somebody else's pet. My ex roommate gave her to me for my birthday and didn't know enough to recognize the condition she was in before buying her.

You read the gatorade thing here. Gatorade and pedialyte are for more efficient at treating dehydration via soaking then water alone.