How long can a bp breathe underwater? +2nd Question

I know they can be underwater safely for a while but how long? Also my hornet sometimes gapes while underwater but I feel like it's just his spider gene at work since he does a lot of weird things while taking a bath. He also has some loose skin just at his neck he went through shed but he didn't do it all in one piece it like started at his belly then after awhile he finally started to shed above his belly. His humidity is 60% he has a waterdish that's always full. I know I could rise it, but it doesn't seem like shedding and I've even given him 3 baths but his loose skin is still there on his neck.

BP's can't breathe under water.

just make sure your husbandry is on point during shed (high humidity) and u don't have to worry about give your BP baths.

I give him the baths since I read dehydration can be the cause of wrinkles it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't drink when water is 2 inches away.

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And I meant stay not breathe lol.

Ball pythons should not be submerged in water. Period. If you need to soak a snake because of stuck shed, the water should only come halfway up their sides. They should never be under the water. Soaking should only be done a few minutes at a time and should not be your go-to unless the dehydration is severe/chronic. Soaking can be stressful for a snake and compound an already existing problem. If it needs to be done keep sessions to 15 minutes, 30 at the max.

Dehydration can cause wrinkles, but dehydration is caused by poor husbandry. If you are having to soak your snake often there is something wrong with your snake's environment and you need to correct it.

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Originally Posted by Naraku

my hornet sometimes gapes while underwater but I feel like it's just his spider gene at work

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That's not the Spider gene...that called drowning.

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Originally Posted by Slim

That's not the Spider gene...that called drowning.

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Might just be the British sense of humour but i laughed :confusd:

I did something silly at the last feeding - my BP was very keen for her rat and came out her hot hide and passed over the water dish to get to where I was offering the rat. She struck and pulled the rat back in - she swallowed in the water bowl and at once point her whole head and the rat were underwater! I panicked but about 20 seconds later she readjusted to lift her head.

I've seen my girl decide to bathe in her water dish once, but the humidity was spot on and it caused me to get a magnifying glass out to check for mites - none on her and none in the water. So I just put it down to a random thing she decided to do once.

But, as others have said - forcing them to soak isn't the done thing.

They should never get a "bath". But if you truly feel it has to be done why don't you just get a deeper water dish. Let the snake handle it, by themselves.

Also, based on the description you gave, I feel you need to bump up the humidity. Should solve most of your problems.

I call shenanigans. My Albino will dunk his whole head in to drink for an extended amount of time and so far he hasn't drowned. I got video proof too ;)

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I think there's a difference between a snake being goofy and choosing to dunk it's own head (which I have seen other snakes do), and an owner fully submerging their snake for a "soak" because it looks"dehydrated". I like going for a swim or taking a nice warm bath, but I wouldn't like other people throwing me into deep water with no way to escape it until they decided to have mercy/pity on me.

You could try bathing your snake in warm, shallow water mixed with olive oil to remove the loose skin. I took a gamble with this on my own snake as I have been told olive oil is safe to use on snakes. It worked and left her fresh scales looking shiny and smooth too. The oil does not "mix" with the water but some of it id deposited onto the snake while bathing.

In answer to your first question, a long time as there are lot of posts online from people worried when their ball pythons submerge their heads for ten minutes plus.

Sorry, I realised after I started typing that the post is almost a year old but hopefully it will help other people who find this question. :)

???? This post was made yesterday?:confusd:

Are you looking at the user join date? I kept doing that when I first joined here too, lol

If your snake is dehydrated - fix your husbandry. Others have said it but sometimes it takes hearing it the 13th, 23rd, or 3 4th time before it sinks in. if you are measuring humidity with one of those little dial gauges they are notoriously inaccurate. Bump your humidity and stop giving your snake bathes or soaks or whatever you want to call them. THAT is why you're having a bad shed - you washed away all the snake's natural oils. Give the poor thing a humid hide if necessary but for the love of Set stop dunking it.

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The real issue with this site is the straight assumptions. My baths are half way up his side but he can still dunk his head under it, and as I said he already shed so you can shut it about natural oils being washed away. I did this because I noticed his loose skin and not much on it besides it's a showcase of shedding which he already has done. The other said it's dehydration so I let him soak. Also for another assumption I'm not using a circle hydrometer never even posted a image of his cage lmao. This site just showcases the poison of this community if anything. No wonder people are so hesitant to get a snake. If someone asks a question answer it don't assume, ask. Simple. Also it wasn't drowning I believe as I said he was gaping so he willing opened his mouth half way up the dry side and half way inside the water. I don't know where you guys got the assumption it was a whole submerge bath though I guess maybe I take baths differently and don't fully do it myself.

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Originally Posted by Pug50

I did something silly at the last feeding - my BP was very keen for her rat and came out her hot hide and passed over the water dish to get to where I was offering the rat. She struck and pulled the rat back in - she swallowed in the water bowl and at once point her whole head and the rat were underwater! I panicked but about 20 seconds later she readjusted to lift her head.

I've seen my girl decide to bathe in her water dish once, but the humidity was spot on and it caused me to get a magnifying glass out to check for mites - none on her and none in the water. So I just put it down to a random thing she decided to do once.

But, as others have said - forcing them to soak isn't the done thing.

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My Jimmy done the same thing, but he didn't constrict the mouse, he drug it over to the water bowl and drowned it. I was worried about him under the water, but he came up after about 15 seconds and went back under. He kept dunking his head and the mouse under water until it was well drowned.

1.0 Normal - Jimmy
0.1 Normal - Lola

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Originally Posted by Naraku

The real issue with this site is the straight assumptions. My baths are half way up his side but he can still dunk his head under it, and as I said he already shed so you can shut it about natural oils being washed away. I did this because I noticed his loose skin and not much on it besides it's a showcase of shedding which he already has done. The other said it's dehydration so I let him soak. Also for another assumption I'm not using a circle hydrometer never even posted a image of his cage lmao. This site just showcases the poison of this community if anything. No wonder people are so hesitant to get a snake. If someone asks a question answer it don't assume, ask. Simple. Also it wasn't drowning I believe as I said he was gaping so he willing opened his mouth half way up the dry side and half way inside the water. I don't know where you guys got the assumption it was a whole submerge bath though I guess maybe I take baths differently and don't fully do it myself.

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ok but a shallow bath still doesn't change the fact that your BP is dehydrated and did not shed in one piece. that's still a husbandry issue.

Edit: how is your BP with the torn skin and large wound BTW? is it feeding, did it shed and heal? we would love an update.

And here we go again, this is a public forum if you cannot handle replies outside of just what your looking for a public forum is not the place for you... No one said you had a dial guage it was mentioned that if you are it should be replaced because they are inaccurite, this information was based on your snakes bad shed witch is a sign of poor humidity in the snakes enviroment. Something as snake lovers we are well within reason to comment on. There no poison in this hobby, people get scared off because they dont want to hear the truth, they dont wanna hear information that they didnt specifically ask for, new memebers always expect everyone to hold there hand and be as kind as possible... Sorry to burst the bubble but the only responsibility we have is to the snakes and to make sure their care is proper and correct regardless of whos soft feelings get hurt... No one on this forum is rude in the information we give, we are just blunt and not looking to baby people just because they a new to something

You aksed a question about how long a ball can be underwater, and then went on to talk about how he gapes his mouth underwater.. Your description makes it sound like your fully submerging him... No assumptions on our part just lack of proper description on your part.

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Originally Posted by M.P.C

You aksed a question about how long a ball can be underwater, and then went on to talk about how he gapes his mouth underwater.. Your description makes it sound like your fully submerging him... No assumptions on our part just lack of proper description on your part.

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Exactly this. The description provided made it sound as if the snake was being fully submerged for its soak. Also echoing Ax01 here: if you have a dehydrated snake with bad sheds, you need to figure out what's wrong with your husbandry. Baths are for emergencies or removing super stuck shed because they can be stressful on the snakes, and as pointed out earlier, washes off their natural oils. Both these things will lead to future bad sheds and you will be perpetuating a cycle of ongoing problems that will escalate to needing more interventions.

Consider providing your animal with a large water bowl so he can choose when and for how long to soak on his own volition, if he even wants to (some snakes do, some don't). Also consider adding a humid hide to your set up. Both of these will allow the snake to maintain it's proper hydration without you needing to intervene and it lowers the animal's stress by giving it more control over it's environment.

Man, Naraku has had nothing but issues with their snakes. FIRST iirc it was that baby who had their back tore to shreds and then they argued about taking it to the vet, now this? Starting to wonder if maybe this person just should not own snakes...

Snakes cannot breathe under water but they can certainly hold their breath under water. Mostly due to a reptilian reflex that closes off the airway initially but can allow for exhalation evidenced by bubbling seen under water sometimes. Especially if the snake is making a kill in the water. They also only have one true functioning lung that is very efficient when the snake is healthy to assist it in remaining under water for extended periods of time. Because of the only one functioning lung the capability of that lung is maximized to compensate for the vestigial lung. On a side note though op should switch to a higher humidity capable substrate to help alleviate future shedding issues. Hope this helped.

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

Snakes cannot breathe under water but they can certainly hold their breath under water. Mostly due to a reptilian reflex that closes off the airway initially but can allow for exhalation evidenced by bubbling seen under water sometimes. Especially if the snake is making a kill in the water. They also only have one true functioning lung that is very efficient when the snake is healthy to assist it in remaining under water for extended periods of time. Because of the only one functioning lung the capability of that lung is maximized to compensate for the vestigial lung. On a side note though op should switch to a higher humidity capable substrate to help alleviate future shedding issues. Hope this helped.

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Well as you seem to know your stuff ..... are the people above correct in saying that snakes have their natural oils washed from their skin when they soak ??? Just wondering .... as many snakes chose to soak in viva and in the wild as I understand .

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Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

I think there's a difference between a snake being goofy and choosing to dunk it's own head (which I have seen other snakes do), and an owner fully submerging their snake .

I like going for a swim or taking a nice warm bath, but I wouldn't like other people throwing me into deep water with no way to escape it until they decided to have mercy/pity on me.

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You must have some pretty horrific bath-times when you were a baby :)

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Well as you seem to know your stuff ..... are the people above correct in saying that snakes have their natural oils washed from their skin when they soak ??? Just wondering .... as many snakes chose to soak in viva and in the wild as I understand .

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Well thank you but alot of my knowledge came from the mods here and other members who know more than I do. But yes they are correct in saying that. And it's why everyone here wants you to troubleshoot your husbandry as it relates to humidity percentages. That is the real way to avoid shedding issues in your animals. Try purchasing some 100% cypress mulch as your main substrate and you will see this problem go away. You can use the 100% cypress mulch in your reptiles hide to start. Also, ball pythons are mainly terrestrial and don't really remain in water for extended periods. They don't even drink that much water really. They love inhabiting termite mounds in the wild and are really at home on land and in the dark.

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

Well thank you but alot of my knowledge came from the mods here and other members who know more than I do. But yes they are correct in saying that. And it's why everyone here wants you to troubleshoot your husbandry as it relates to humidity percentages. That is the real way to avoid shedding issues in your animals. Try purchasing some 100% cypress mulch as your main substrate and you will see this problem go away. You can use the 100% cypress mulch in your reptiles hide to start. Also, ball pythons are mainly terrestrial and don't really remain in water for extended periods. They don't even drink that much water really. They love inhabiting termite mounds in the wild and are really at home on land and in the dark.

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Thankfully it's not anything I have to worry about , I spray randomly and use orchid bark which holds moisture well . Then when their colour goes normal I spray once daily and they shed perfectly each time soon after .

All my Problems with Humidity ended when I went from Aspen To Forest Floor and reptile bark chips made all the difference in the world . Im also all for big water dishes for soaking when they choose not me. I Lightly Mist everyone daily.

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Originally Posted by Lady mkrj58

All my Problems with Humidity ended when I went from Aspen To Forest Floor and reptile bark chips made all the difference in the world . Im also all for big water dishes for soaking when they choose not me. I Lightly Mist everyone daily.

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Aspen is nasty stuff :). It doesn't hold moisture , It also get everywhere as well , the wife used to go bonkers so I changed to beech chippings which look far more natural AND stay in the viv :)

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Originally Posted by Naraku

The real issue with this site is the straight assumptions.

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Negative!

The real issue is the lack of details given in the post by the OP(I say OP referring to all of the OPs here). The OP of each thread has a very clear picture in their head when they are asking questions because they can see what they are talking about. The issue is they leave out important facts that would paint a better more complete picture for those trying to help without realizing it.

When the facts are left out it leaves those trying to help filling in the blanks with what they have most commonly seen here. This may or may not be correct but its all they have since the actual facts were left out.

To the OP that title freaked me out at first glance I had this horrible Visual, so I read further and I could see we were not dunking the BP under water.. Really everyone just wants to help, I admit you get the facts from Members no sugar coating I say Stay with BP and share your experience we all learn in our own way.

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Aspen is nasty stuff :). It doesn't hold moisture , It also get everywhere as well , the wife used to go bonkers so I changed to beech chippings which look far more natural AND stay in the viv :)

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I actually haven't had any problems with humidity in my tubs with aspen. It stays at an even 50% humidity most of the time and I start misting every couple of days when I see one of them going into shed so it gets bumped up to 70%. Everyone has had perfect sheds since day one. Don't know if that will change if/when I upgrade from tubs to AP T8s though.

I can only go by my experience with the Aspen The Bark and Forest floor .

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Loving my forest floor substrate. another perfect shed today from my Brooks King

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Did anybody answer the op's original question? Or did I miss it?

I tend to bath my BP a day or two after they have had a really messy meal.

We like to handle him and let him roam around while we clean his tank and water dish.

I guess it is really up to how they are feeling cause there are times that he freely dunks his head while moving in and out of my hands and there are times that he does seem to "swim underwater" with his head under for longer than a dunk. Admittedly, I don't think that it is more than 10 seconds but it doesn't seem to harm them.

I never force him to keep his head underwater...it's all him.

If I want to "force" him to soak, I just make sure that there is only enough water to cover half his body and stick his hide in the water. He just goes in there and coils up with his head at the top.

Here's a picture of him soaking outside. I had his hide on top of his water bowl and he stayed put (hide taken off for picture).

Bit more water here cause it was a warm summer day.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7113/...c26cd90f_z.jpgDSC_0140 by closhusan, on Flickr

I believe he/she must of read this thread .

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Originally Posted by Sonny1318

Did anybody answer the op's original question? Or did I miss it?

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Concerning how long they can hold their breath underwater? That, I can't find any reliable information on.

My Brazilian Rainbow Boa that I had for a little while would occasionally curl up in her water bowl. More like a water tub, really. Felt the need to do the poke test to to make sure she was alive lol. She would be just sitting completely submerged with her head under her coils (not squishing, just the way she usually preferred to sit even when above water) when I checked on her a couple of times. I figured that at these times I should leave her alone so I never stuck around to see how long she stayed under but she seemed to get fairly cozy in there. If it was just a quick dunk, I don't think she would have been coiled with her head under her body. I would easily believe 5 minutes, probably longer but I never saw her getting in so I couldn't possibly get an accurate time anyway.

Obviously BPs are completely different animals than BRBs though and I don't think they tend to go in water as much as part of their natural behavior so their breath holding time may be significantly shorter than a water-loving boa such as a BRB. My BP personally doesn't seem to care for soaking. I've only seen her put her own head underwater once and that was when I had recently gotten her and was not keeping the humidity high enough. When she did it, it was only for a second.

There was Member here that posted a video of her BP swimming underwater in her tropical fish tank.

The snake would crawl up on the top of the tank and dive in.

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Originally Posted by Reinz

There was Member here that posted a video of her BP swimming underwater in her tropical fish tank.

The snake would crawl up on the top of the tank and dive in.

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Haha I would love to see that :) sounds like a cool video to watch. Let us know if you come across it eh?

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Oh man, just found it on YouTube. Users name is Alexandra and the video is called Swimming ball Python, pretty interesting

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Originally Posted by scottprotege

Users name is Alexandra and the video is called Swimming ball Python, pretty interesting

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Must be those Spider genes...:rofl:

Lol :)

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Originally Posted by scottprotege

Oh man, just found it on YouTube. Users name is Alexandra and the video is called Swimming ball Python, pretty interesting

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That's a great video :)

Looks like everyone was correct after all Royals - clearly get so very distressed when they're in water ..... NOT .

:)

My Ball Python, s do not like getting in the water how ever my Blood and Borneo Short tail live in the water, my conclusion is it seams not the Breed but what each snake decided what it wanted.

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

That's a great video :)

Looks like everyone was correct after all Royals - clearly get so very distressed when they're in water ..... NOT .

:)

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There's a difference between a snake choosing to go into the water of his own free will and being stuck in something to soak that he has no control over or ability to escape from. We never said 'Ball Pythons can't swim or go in the water', just that forcing them to soak/bath/whatever wasn't in their best interest and stresses them out. Just because you can take a bath or go into a swimming pool doesn't mean you enjoy it when someone else makes you and you have no control over the situation.

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Originally Posted by SmoothScales

There's a difference between a snake choosing to go into the water of his own free will and being stuck in something to soak that he has no control over or ability to escape from. We never said 'Ball Pythons can't swim or go in the water', just that forcing them to soak/bath/whatever wasn't in their best interest and stresses them out. Just because you can take a bath or go into a swimming pool doesn't mean you enjoy it when someone else makes you and you have no control over the situation.

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Ok. It was a simple throwaway comment to kinda highlight how uptight some people get about bathing / soaking snakes but I seem
to have stressed you out instead . Apologies .
Just a different take on things I guess . Things that many people over this side of the pond think stress snakes out are seen as acceptable even commonplace here.

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Looks like everyone was correct after all Royals - clearly get so very distressed

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Clearly all...