I never see my ball drinking water...

And she is dehydrated. Her eyes have the denting and her skin is dry. I've been having this problem awhile now. I give her clean fresh water every other day, I use bottled water. I used to give her tap water but the problem was even worse with that. At first the bottled water was helping but now she just looks terrible and that makes me feel terrible! I mist her tank every day but I don't mist the bedding a lot because she always has a pink belly and I don't want to bring on belly rot or anything.

Her water bowl is large and halfway under the lamp and she's in a 10g tank. She's just a baby right now so that's her temp home. I just recently covered her screen lid with plastic to keep in moister but I don't know if it's working. Can someone help me out please?

Try soaking her in tepid water - barely warm. If she has a pink belly and dents in her eyes she probably needs to shed. Get her out of her tank and into a tub of lukewarm/tepid water, and leave her for a half hour or so (Watch her!) and don't put so much in that she has to swim.

Let her soak, she should shed soon, and hopefully be more receptive to water and not being dehydrated.

What is your humidity in the tank?

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Originally Posted by Xotik

Try soaking her in tepid water - barely warm. If she has a pink belly and dents in her eyes she probably needs to shed. Get her out of her tank and into a tub of lukewarm/tepid water, and leave her for a half hour or so (Watch her!) and don't put so much in that she has to swim.

Let her soak, she should shed soon, and hopefully be more receptive to water and not being dehydrated.

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This problem has been going on awhile, even after she sheds she still looks bad. I make sure she gets her eyecaps off too. She always has a slightly pink belly too.

I'm not sure what the humidity is, I've yet to get a hygrometer? since all my money gets taken from me it seems... I might be able to get one from a friend though, I'll have to see.

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Originally Posted by SnakeKittyFishy

I'm not sure what the humidity is, I've yet to get a hygrometer?

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i would get one asap, i went a while without one and i regret it, because i had the same problems, and after i threw it in there, i found out that the humidity in my tank was at 30% or so, even after spraying daily.

i covered my screen lid in foil, and sprayed the entire tank down, for like 20-30mins straight to soak everything well, and now im able to keep it up, but i still need to do a deep spraying of everything once a week or so.

what substrate do you use?

I use Cypress Mulch from Zoo Med and just found out my friend doesn't have it anymore... how much do they usually run?

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Originally Posted by SnakeKittyFishy

I use Cypress Mulch from Zoo Med and just found out my friend doesn't have it anymore... how much do they usually run?

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idk how cypress mulch works humidity wise, i use coco cause it holds ALOT of water for a while.

i got mine form walmart for ten bucks:
http://i972.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/SSPX0571.jpg

be sure to do a salt humidity test though:
http://cigars.about.com/od/humidors/qt/hygrometers.htm

and you'll need to find out what kind of salt you have too:
http://www.cigarpass.com/forums/inde...howtopic=33711

hope this helps

Yes thanks cmack, in the meantime is there anything else I could do for her?

you could make a humid hide

I'm interested, how would I go about doing that?

i think whats recommended is some kind of moss, but im sure paper towels will work just the same, once they get dry, replace them with new ones, just soak them, ring out some excess water, and place them inside a hide, and hope your snake uses it

Ok thank you! I'll get on that now :)

Soak her, check your humidity. If the problem persists take her too a GOOD herp vet. Good luck! :)

You can make a humid hide for well under $10, more like $6. Get a cheap tupperware that she can fit into snugly and some sphagnum moss (available at any pet store, usually where they keep the substrate). Wash the tupperware well and put a layer of moss inside it and wet it til it's moist, not sopping. Cut a hole in the tupperware lid big enough for her to fit through, put the lid on and place the tupperware over or under the heat source in the tank. I surrounded mine with a piece of driftwood and a plant so it felt like a little burrow and she couldn't see out of the walls. Add more water to the hide as it dries out and replace the moss and clean the tupperware every week or so, depending on how much she uses it. Sphagnum moss can actually be washed and reused if you like, but I usually just replace it.

Do not be discouraged if you go through all the trouble to make this hide you don't see her use it. I am not even kidding, for weeks, I would be sitting on my couch and hear this banging from inside her tank and she would be trying to flip the tupperware over and against the wall so she could lay UNDER it instead of IN it. She was making me crazy, that is one of the reasons I put the drift wood on it, so she couldn't mess with it! This week is the first time she went in it finally and now she loves it, she is in it now actually. :) So just offer it and let her crawl around it and mess with it for as long as she wants before she decides that it's awesome. When she out grows it, get a bigger tupperware, cheapest humid hide ever. Easy to make, easy to clean.

I do use a plastic hide for her and I just put a wet paper towel in it. She went in there after I gave her a good soak and she's still in there after 2 hours :)

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Originally Posted by SnakeKittyFishy

I do use a plastic hide for her and I just put a wet paper towel in it. She went in there after I gave her a good soak and she's still in there after 2 hours :)

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good to hear she already likes it, does she still have the dent in her eye?

She looked a little better after the soak but still had denting. Her skin felt better too though. Maybe I should soak her more often?

idk, you could, but you may not need to, once you know what humidity is at and can keep it stable, she should be fine. mine absolutly hates soaking, so i never do it. but with proper conditions plus the humid hide, there shouldnt be a need that i can see to soak her

Alrighty, I'll work on getting that. She doesn't care for it either but she tolerates it. I'd like to soak her as little as possible anyways. By the way, I like your avatar picture :D

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Originally Posted by SnakeKittyFishy

By the way, I like your avatar picture :D

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thanks! its the only tongue pic i have right now

Awe, glad she likes her hide! And glad she looks better! I only soak for a bad shed, but if you find it helps with her dehydration, then do what works! You could also try a bigger water dish, that definitely helps with humidity at least. :)

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Originally Posted by SnakeKittyFishy

in the meantime is there anything else I could do for her?

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I use cypress mulch as well. I had a humidity problem and it was because my heat lamp kept drying out the mulch. Instead of spraying down the top layer, I actually just filled up a water bottle with warm water and poured it everywhere. The mulch holds in water very well because its mulch (earth material).

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Originally Posted by jackiechan

I actually just filled up a water bottle with warm water and poured it everywhere. The mulch holds in water very well because its mulch (earth material).

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Watch out doing this, if you keep your bedding wet all the time, your snake will get scale rot. Use humid hides instead, and mist twice a day if you have to. Or do what I'm going to do, and swtich to a tub, I'm giving up on tanks, they are too much trouble.

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Originally Posted by pigfat

Watch out doing this, if you keep your bedding wet all the time, your snake will get scale rot. Use humid hides instead, and mist twice a day if you have to. Or do what I'm going to do, and swtich to a tub, I'm giving up on tanks, they are too much trouble.

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Thanks for the heads up. Tanks are a pita, but they look so nice!!! Haha

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Originally Posted by jackiechan

Thanks for the heads up. Tanks are a pita, but they look so nice!!! Haha

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X2
I solved my humidity problem with a beast of a water dish. I was misting, but I realized to keep up the humidity with misting made the environment wayyy to damp and that can have dire consequences. Now I only mist when she's in shed.

I've placed a wet towel over the top cover with 4 layers of foil then another towel over that and that keeps my humidity just right. I had to play with how much to wring it out put thats the only thing that would work for me other than standing there all day and misting. I also leave a space for ventilation

She seems to be doing better and spending a lot more time in her hide. Today I actually caught her hugging the wet paper towel. It was kinda cute lol but I don't see her drink like I see Darigan drink. I caught him doing it tonight and got a pic
http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/...W/100_3657.jpg
Why can't she be more like him? lol