Submerged?

Hello! I haven't been here in so long I had to make a new account lol

So I up-sized my 5 year old ball Mowgli's tank at Christmas last year and he's been comfortable and eating well since January, after our crazy ice-storm disruptions.

In the new tank I finally could give him a soaking dish, if he so chose to soak, with a separate fresh drinking water dish. He has used it only once for an afternoon a couple months ago.

Yesterday he soaked ALL day. I woke up- he was soaking. In the afternoon he went into his warm hide for about a minute and went right back to soaking.

He is going into shed in the next week probably- his belly is getting pinkish, the rest of him darker, and he's on schedule to shed. Even though I've never seen him soak so much I figure it's not unhealthy, right? And the rest of his humidity and temps are good and constant.

BUT when I was going to bed- hadn't looked at him in a few hours- I go to turn off his lamp and his head is fully submerged. I didn't freak out but I did gently take him out of his soaking bowl. I know they can swim well and hold their breaths but wtf, isn't that kind of weird? And could maybe lead to water getting into his lungs and an RTI..?

The bowl is slightly heated, but the water is coolish to touch and his warm hide is a good temp. Maybe he would get some heat resting directly on the bottom of the bowl....

Today he had been soaking again ALL day so far.

Thanks for reading this far if you're still with me.

Any info would be appreciated.

My male BCI (redtail) lives in the "drinking water" He has a 5 quart bowl on the cooler side but lives in the water directly in his hot spot. I couldnt figured out why I found shed and no poop... He waas relieving himself in the drinking water. Make sure you check it for any leftovers... :)

Check for mites, and that your humidity is not just constant but bumped up to 60-70% if he's going into shed.

My humidity while he sheds is 75% hygrometer reading. I'm not too worried he's in the water a lot right now- I don't see any mites on him or in the substrate.

I am kinda worried about his head being submerged for potentially a long time.

Thanks

Snakes can hold their breath for a long time! :) How long is "long" to you?
Also, because they are cold blooded, reptiles in general do not need as much oxygen as mammals, and so they don't breathe in as often.

I have seen my ball python dunk his head before, just checking out his water dish. Even stuck his tongue out under there. His head was submerged for about two minutes it seemed; I've never seen him soak, but I think he was just curious.
Have you seen the video of the diving ball python? Search that -- it's adorable, and may put you at ease.

If you are still worried though, I'd just say to put less water in the soaking dish; maybe only have about an inch of water in there at any given time. I would also take your snake out and do a very thorough check for mites and any other abnormalities which could be causing her/him to soak. Otherwise, it may just be a shed thing, as you've suggested.

All the best!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheMoeMan

My humidity while he sheds is 75% hygrometer reading. I'm not too worried he's in the water a lot right now- I don't see any mites on him or in the substrate.

I am kinda worried about his head being submerged for potentially a long time.

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The first time I saw mine with his head under the water blowing bubbles I freaked out. The nose would pop up, BP would take a breath, nose would go back into the water, BP would blow bubbles... and repeat.

If you are concerned you can decrease the amount of water in the soaking dish.

Oh and definitely check it daily - the few of mine that do soak periodically also "go" in the water. At least clean-up is easy.

its fine. they can hold their breath for much longer than humans can. and they have no problems with vision, eye caps make sure of that, i think they can even smell under water.

i think this is just one of the things some of them sometimes like to do. ive seen videos of a BP diving into an aquarium and hanging out with the fish, cruising around in the water and exploring it all the way to the bottom of the tank. and yes they can stay submerged for times that seem frighteningly long to a human.

Thanks guy!

Yeah sounds like the reasonable facts and reassurance I was looking for! :P I will definitely check him out thoroughly for any bad signs. And for sure I'll keep that water bowl clean.

It only ever has maximum an inch of water in it anyway as it evaporates decently quickly. So his head was just barely submerged but definitely under.

I wonder if maybe he has stuck scales in his nose ..? That are right right now just before he sheds? Would I be able to see any in there, or would it look abnormal at all?

Thanks again

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pythonfriend

its fine. they can hold their breath for much longer than humans can. and they have no problems with vision, eye caps make sure of that, i think they can even smell under water.

i think this is just one of the things some of them sometimes like to do. ive seen videos of a BP diving into an aquarium and hanging out with the fish, cruising around in the water and exploring it all the way to the bottom of the tank. and yes they can stay submerged for times that seem frighteningly long to a human.

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i've seen this video too! also i had my bp around my wrist and i was using that hand to keep the lid open of our acquarium so i could feed the fish, and she very slowly dipped in.. not all the way, though. i watched her for a few seconds and then took her out when i saw her nose bubbles. that scared me o_o

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheMoeMan

Thanks guy!

Yeah sounds like the reasonable facts and reassurance I was looking for! :P I will definitely check him out thoroughly for any bad signs. And for sure I'll keep that water bowl clean.

It only ever has maximum an inch of water in it anyway as it evaporates decently quickly. So his head was just barely submerged but definitely under.

I wonder if maybe he has stuck scales in his nose ..? That are right right now just before he sheds? Would I be able to see any in there, or would it look abnormal at all?

Thanks again

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if he had stuck nostril shed you can sometimes hear a whistle when they breath

about blowing bubbles.... i think its quite normal that it happens long before they go up to inhale.

i did some rudimentary freediving on vacation. basically i see something interesting down there, and want to get there, without scuba diving experience or equipment, just swim fins for the feet. so you try to enrich your body with oxygen, then inhale, not too deep because i didnt have lead weights either, and then you go down. now after a while that air in your lungs turns bad, and for me this was the time to get back up, so you exhale, then go up. the thing is, when the air in your lungs goes bad and you cannot gain any more oxygen from that, you just exhale it. and depending on your physiology, you still have extra time after that.

you see that in many water-loving species that have lungs, like whales and seals and also aquatic reptiles like anacondas. they go down, stay down, exhale, stay down some more, then come up. you see the same in human freedivers that do it the natural way. the profesional record hunters are a different story because they use pure oxygen, so they exhale on the way up. but for people that just have fins and use regular air and that just want to hang around at 20 feet depth its normal, they exhale when the air in the lungs gets too bad, but still hang around a bit longer before they go up.

BPs are just like that. apparently they just have the evolutionary programming to get it right. so when they do the nose bubbles, it means they are maybe two-thirds done, but can still stick around for a little while longer. i dont have data on this, but i would not be surprised to hear that BPs can dive for really long times, their metabolism has advantages in this area.