Soaking in water for days

Hey everyone!
I just got my Bp's a week ago.
And the darker male has been soaking in his water bowl for days.
Soaking so much even his head is underwater.
Last night i checked on them and he was totally under water and his head was no where in site.
I was afraid he drowned himself but i picked him up and he was totally fine.
I was told to check for mites, but i looked over him and found nothing.
Now we have them both in plastic bins with paper towels on the bottom, hides, and then a water bowl. And we have the heating pad on the bottom outside under the hides.
Should i be concerned that he is soaking 24/7 and most times his head is totally under water? or is this normal?
I have searched info but some people say its bad, while others say not to worry.
TY

It's not normal..

Keep an eye on them but other than mites I'm not well versed in BP soaking reasons.

Could it be going into shed?

What kind of hides does he have? Sometimes ball pythons will "hide" in their water bowls because they don't like their hide boxes.

My pastel het pied did the same thing for days.. I thought something might be up as well. He's probably going into shed. After mine shed he stopped.

His hide is just a dark black hide. The ones you buy @ the reptile shows.
He is in there now only because i took him out of his water bowl and changed the water and put less water in.
I though he was going into shed also but his eyes arent a blue tint yet.
I dont know maybe he just likes his water.

you may not want to shake the mite thing just yet. i just treated my ball for mites and just because you cant see them after checking a couple of times..does not mean they arent there. especially if you got him from a pet store, i wouldnt rule it out just yet. if he has a minor infestation, there may not be many of them and they could be hiding in the folds of his belly scales or his heat pits. the paper towel and quarantine thing is a good idea. you should get a rubbermaid container that has a lid and submerge him but leave enough space between the surface and the lid so that he can leave his head out of water. make the water about 105 degrees. leave him for 30 minutes or so...and if he has mites...you will surely find at least one mite that has drown. thats a good way to tell. it worked for me....and once the snake sheds, he will shed his mites. they will quickly find him though and get back on him so you need to be on top of things. get the skin out immediately and let him soak again. also..if he does have mites, you can bake your wood products at 275 degrees for 3 hours in the oven to rid it of any mites hiding in the cracks. the heat will kill the eggs as well. hope this helps you...and i hope your snake doesnt have mites. hopefully you are right and he just likes his water. i am a firm believer in that we cant know everything there is to know about snakes..or any animal for that matter. who is to say that one is exactly the same as the other? you cant hop on google and find the answer to everything about your ball python when you need to. he may just be a water junkie. :)

when i was working bps, i had one that did that all the time,,,for about a week to 2 weeks and then i found out that he had a respiratory infection,,,, and i had treated him and he finally became better , had another one do the same thing , i later found out he had mites,,,, so i wouldnt wit to see whats happening and find out its to late and he passes,,, i would take him to you local vet and have him checked out up and down,,, hope every thing goes well,,,,

How do you check you temps? is it possible that its too hot and he's in the water to cool off? Just a suggestion.

Hi,

Sorry but I disagree with some of this.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tarakatrine

you may not want to shake the mite thing just yet. i just treated my ball for mites and just because you cant see them after checking a couple of times..does not mean they arent there. especially if you got him from a pet store, i wouldnt rule it out just yet. if he has a minor infestation, there may not be many of them and they could be hiding in the folds of his belly scales or his heat pits. the paper towel and quarantine thing is a good idea. you should get a rubbermaid container that has a lid and submerge him but leave enough space between the surface and the lid so that he can leave his head out of water. make the water about 105 degrees. leave him for 30 minutes or so...and if he has mites...you will surely find at least one mite that has drown. thats a good way to tell. it worked for me....and once the snake sheds, he will shed his mites. they will quickly find him though and get back on him so you need to be on top of things. get the skin out immediately and let him soak again. also..if he does have mites, you can bake your wood products at 275 degrees for 3 hours in the oven to rid it of any mites hiding in the cracks. the heat will kill the eggs as well. hope this helps you...and i hope your snake doesnt have mites. hopefully you are right and he just likes his water. i am a firm believer in that we cant know everything there is to know about snakes..or any animal for that matter. who is to say that one is exactly the same as the other? you cant hop on google and find the answer to everything about your ball python when you need to. he may just be a water junkie. :)

---

The water in any tub like this should be about 86 degrees F - you really don't want it to be as hot as 100f at all. And if you are going to use water that deep it is really important that you supervise it constantly. But, to be honest, if the snake has been sitting in his waterbowl and there are no dead mites in that I would skip the bath alltogether.

The female mites lay the eggs away from the snake and possible even outside of the enclosure so while cleaning everything inside isn't a bad idea it certainly won't kill all the eggs. This is what makes mites such a pain you think you have got them all then 30 days later a new load hatch and you are back to square one.

If you have mites pay the $18 get Provent-A-Mite and treat the enclosure following the instructions exactly. Repeat in 30 days and your mite problem will be gone.

You don't need much of it at all so the can will last you for ages even if you treat all the enclosures as a preventative measure (which is a good idea for anyone with more than one animal who discovers they have mites ).


dr del

its actually a good preventive measure to treat any new snake for mites when getting them home. also if you have others already, keep the new ones quarantined for 3 to 6 months in a different room. usually when a ball is soaking for that long its because they have mites, the bowl against them gives them a false sense of security ( more so then their hide ), or the air in their enclosure is too dry. some balls like to soak a lot but don't usually spend days in their bowls.

as far as the RI thing goes i cant help you there as none of mine have ever had one so i have no experience there.

btw. cloudy eyes is not the only sine of shedding. also you will notice their skin feels dryer ( almost crisp ) compared to normal and their bellies will turn a pinkish red hue. occasionally they can be pretty grumpy during this stage.

I agree, provent-a-mite is a GREAT product.
I also agree that you may have mites even though you think you don't. They can be sneaky little devils.
You can often see them in the water bowl and they look like little tiny specks of pepper. They like to lay their eggs in the upper corners of cages so you have to clean really well.

I have had mites. Most people who have snakes deal with them at one point or another. This is why you should always quarantine new animals. On top of everything else my little A.T.B. rescue had wrong with her due to horrible care, she also had mites. They are a pain in the A__ but you can get rid of them.

http://www.vpi.com/publications/the_...of_snake_mites
read this about mites. i found it to be very informative.
edit: also this
http://www.reptilescanada.com/forums...ad.php?t=36068

Thanks guys/gals!

So we ended up drilling some more holes into his container and everything seems to be alright. I really think it was just a little to hot in there for him, and he was in his bowl to cool off. I also added a bigger stack of paper towels between the pad and between the 2 snake cages since they are stacked on top of each other. I thought that maybe the heating pad from the upper cage was all warming his cage to so he was getting double heat.
After making new holes he hasnt touched the water bowl again.
Everything seems totally fine now :)

Does microwaving enclosure furniture work?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PolkaDotPenguin

Thanks guys/gals!

So we ended up drilling some more holes into his container and everything seems to be alright. I really think it was just a little to hot in there for him, and he was in his bowl to cool off.

---

"Thinking" the temperature is too hot tells me you might not be using a thermometer?
A thermometer is a must, and so is knowing the temperature the snake is living in.
Yes snakes will soak to hide from the heat, and also from mites, and also to shed(I have several that soak every time during shed) but you have got to know your temperatures not just think you know ;)

And to the poster who said 105 degree water to soak in a closed tub :confused:
That is 20 degrees hotter than necessary.
85 degrees of 1 to 1 1/2 inches of water in a closed tub with a towel at the bottom for the snake to rub against.

It could be mites, but I have had balls do this without a mite problem. Sometimes they just do this kind of stuff because they want to.

im not saying its not mites, but when i go to a few of my buddies houses whom have a carpet and some balls, most always the carpet is always fully submerged aside from his nose.
the balls usually take a dip as well.
i wouldnt freak, may be about to shed:weirdface ?
but i would for sure switch to paper towel just to see what may pop up so you can have a better time trying to feel out what your dealing with here.


i can only hope you didnt buy him from a pet store, ive seen some horrible things on balls and snakes in pet stores, even some of the best ive been too.
:salute: