ball soaking way too much help!!

here's the run down something is up with my snake and i am very worried. i recently brought home this baby ball python. he had his neck broken and i adopted him from our local herp society. he has not eaten in about four or five weeks, which i understand is encroaching on critical. the tank is set up with a uth on the cool end. there are tiles, newspaper and coconut bark on top of that so that he will not burn himself. there is a moist hide box on that end. then i have a pyrex bowl with a lid. on the hot end i have a fake rock hide, which has extra rocks in it so it is snug for his baby size. the humidity has been just about 50-60...pretty good. i use wet towels on top and mist the coconut bark in the am. the temp is hovering between mid eighty to low ninety. the little guy keeps soaking in the water dish. it has to be too much. his eyes are not milky. i cleaned the bowl last night and no black flakes so i do not think he has mites. so what's wrong. i am really worried i am going to loose the guy if something doesn't change soon. thanks

Mites can also be red, were there red flakes or dots?

Ok first.. take a deep breath. I don't think it's so bad as you're worried about.

Not eating for 4-5 weeks is actually.. fairly normal for ball pythons! As long as your snake is not losing weight, it's not something to get a hernia over. ;)

Some snakes just love to soak. Did you check for little white dots around the head area? That's what mites look like.. But.. your snake may just be a water baby!

okay thanks for telling me to take a breath. i have not seen red flakes or black dots. i could look closer at him to look for you say white dots?? i will peek. i have not really handled him because i am trying to get him use to his new home. when i took the water out last night there were some floaty bit in there that were colorless and i took them to be normal animal dish floaties..dust and what not. i know that balls sometimes go a while with out eating i am mostly worried that he is a baby and had a traumatic injury. this is my first ball and i do not know there behaviors very well, but i thought that they were not so into the water. this may sound awefully niave, but can they get scale rot from soaking too much? i half wondered if it was just more comfortable to sit in there with no pressure on the broken neck area. well any more advice or thoughts surely are welcomed. i am a terribly nervous new dad.

Welcome to the forum Lost. I have to commend you for taking on a snake with an injury. I know you'll find lots of support and good solid advice here that will help alleviate that anxiety (but that's a great sign of a caring owner).

Just take it one step at a time, get help here to prioritize what the snake needs first, second, third and so on and work the program as they say. Has the snake been for a vet check yet so you know the actual extent of the damage.


~~Jo~~

What are the temps in the cage and how are you measuring them. Sometimes snakes will use the water bowl if the cage is too hot or if the hides aren't nice dark and tight.

Lost, do you know if the snake ever ate for anyone from your local herp group? Also any information on how it was hurt or was it born this way, really anything you know or even pics might help the experienced people here give you some advice though nothing replaces the services of an experienced vet.


~~Jo~~

As long as the water is kept clean, you don't have to worry about scale rot.

Okay the reason I asked about the mites being red was because I first discovered DD had mites when I looked in his water bowl after he had been soaking for a while. I was nervous because before I had even began to post here and was only spying (LOL) I read about the soaking. I saw nothing that looked like mites, but I did see little pieces of dust floating in the water and some that had gone down to the bottom of the bowl. I pulled out Cody's microscope kit (you know the type you get from toys-r-us) and found out that what I thought was only dust or dirt was actually tiny little red mites. They were barely visible with the naked eye.



At the time I went to the pet store I got him from and they told me to cover a paper towel in corn/olive/vegetable oil, rub it on DD and that would smother the mites. I then had to disinfect the cage and have been coating DD with vegetable once a week since to smother any mites that may have hatched from eggs and have not began laying yet.

How long should I do this? I forgot to ask the vet :)

For mites.. it's hard to beat Provent-a-mite. The spray kills the mites, and the eggs, and keeps working for a long time. You can buy it from Matt (justcage).

I believe the mites are red because of the blood they suck?

well you guys are so quick to respond thanks because noone else has been much help. here is the story of wheelie. he was a petco ball. apparently he was trying to get out of the cage (ie. some employee was not paying proper attention to him) and the lid to the cage got slammed down to thwart wheelie from escaping. his neck broke at that time. the break looks a bit like a miniature camel hump. he then got rescued as he was no longer valued as a sale item. one of our herp members brought him home and she was able to feed him and his neck healed. he then went to another home of a herp rescuer who has a lot of ball pythons. he housed him until i adopted him. i brought him home last sunday. i have just talked to the guy who had him and he assured me there were no mites. we were talking about the fact that the water possibly just feels good to him...maybe it sooths his broken neck. then the guy was talling me about photo period light. i had read that this was not necessary for balls. any thoughts on this. he said that if a snake does not have this it can stress them. hmmm. who uses photolight periods???

If you brought him home last Sunday he could still be stressed. Ball up newspaper and toss it in, it will help destress him. Are his hides small enough for him? The stress of so many moves could also effect his appitite as well let him settle and leave him alone as much as possible for the first week. Only put you hand in the care to clean or to add water

i have not been handling him at all. balled up newspaper???? how why...i will try it. i am also planning on taking him to the vet, but i was going to wait a couple of weeks in case he needed a feed assist. his hides are pretty good, but i am now making an even smaller on to see if he wants to squeeze into it and feel completely contained. i have one of those synthetic rock hides that i got a little big so he could grow (just what my mom did with my pants and shoes), but i stuffed cleaned rocks and coconut bark to one side so it feels snug. on the cool side i have a moist hide that i mist daily. he does not really use it. might be too roomy that why i am making a third hide. i will get picks as soon as i can. it could just be new home stress..i guess. odd behavior. a friend of myne also assured me he had really odd behaviors in his pine snake that did not follow the prescribed norm. i am still interested in photolight period talk. maybe it should be a different thread. thanks again for such interest and concern

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Originally Posted by landofthelost

balled up newspaper???? how why...i will try it.

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The balled up newspaper takes up some of the empty space in the enclosure, and makes them feel a little more secure.

There is no need for a photoperiod.

BPs really don't need a photoperiod. They normally hide during the day in the wild, so they never really come in contact with sunlight, I guess you could say. Excess lighting is not needed and could even have the negative effects of raising the tank temp. too high, or overdrying things in there.

this is a really interesting subject. many people say no to photo period. that is what i thought. this guy i know swears by it. he has mostly balls. he also rescues and breeds. he has many years experience with them. here is what he passed on to me. he said "they do not need uv because the are hiding during the day. however they do need photo period because in the wild they are able to see when daylight comes and goes. it is what triggers them into their nocturnal activity. he told me to set up a light not on the tank, but next to it so that it shined in but would not give extra heat. he also said put it on a timer(of course). he said " when i have the photo period my snakes have better eating, shedding, actvity behaviors that follow their natural flow(they get into a schedule) and they seem to be healthier overall." so i do not know....his rational made sense. i guess just like there is more than one way to raise a child; there may be more than one way to keep a ball healthy. what do you all think??

Well, all my snakes are in a room with windows, so they get the natural photoperiod.

For breeding it is said to help with cycling, but it is not needed to have a healthy pet ball python.

yeah huh, maybe we might need it because we live in seatle, and as you may well know it is dreary and not alot of good light. we certainly get extremely poor light during fall and winter. ball pythons are equatorial so they would need more light than say six hours. we will be moving to alaska in a bit. this could become even more pertinent. has anyone had experience in more northern climates? comments?

In the case of Alaska, humans should have a photo period. Full spectrum light of at least 10,000 therms (I think that's the measurment) for 20-30 minutes min a day. Especially if they are effected by S.A.D. I don't see why BP's wouldn't benefit from it in Alaska where in certain parts it can be night for months on end.

that's 10,000 lums

or something like that