Soaking snake

So I know BPs do not in general soak but occassionally some will. So when I randomly see one of my snakes in their bowl on a day no biggie. But my clown male adult has now been soaking every day for probably over a week now. I've double checked the temps therms are showing me with an infrared therm. All good. Avg.88 hot 82-84 cool/ambient humidity is sitting at 60% hes in his water bowl every day. Not currently shedding, definitely not mites so what could be going on? He also hasn't eaten since late May so I feel like something is def up cause he is generally one of my best feeders. As much experience as I have with these guys I'm no herpetologist so I'll welcome any ideas. His weight is good and maintaining so no real health risk but hes throwing me for a loop. Have breeding plans for him this year so if something's wrong def want to get it fixed. Ideas??

Hot 82-84? That's to cold for the hot side. 90-92 hot side, 80-82 cool and ambient 80. Is the water bowl warm?

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Originally Posted by Sunnieskys

Hot 82-84? That's to cold for the hot side. 90-92 hot side, 80-82 cool and ambient 80. Is the water bowl warm?

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Pay attention. 88 is the hot. I dont push 90 as they are in a room I keep between 82-84. And snakes dont soak because they are cold so doesnt really help

Pay attention? Really. Use proper punctuation and maybe we could understand. You don't have to be rude! You asked I answered. Misogynistic much! I'm out!

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Originally Posted by Sunnieskys

Pay attention? Really. Use proper punctuation and maybe we could understand. You don't have to be rude! You asked I answered. Misogynistic much! I'm out!

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Lol. Avg. Average. Sorry maybe I should not have abbreviated that's my fault. But I put avg 88 hot 82-84 cool/ambient so if you read that in sequence you would have seen my hot temps are not 82-84 which anyone who knows anything about BPs even petsmart people know that's not appropriate hot temps hence my attitude in respsonse had you been a man you would have got the same response so stop the misogynist nonsense like really????

Have you felt around on his lower body for lumps? could he be constipated (urates etc) ? That's one thing that could explain both soaking & no appetite.
Another, unfortunately, is some sort of illness, which we cannot diagnose here. Have you looked in his mouth? Listened to his breathing?

And maybe he'd just like a wider range of temperatures to choose from...snakes that are too warm often use their water bowl to try to get cooler.
It's hard to offer in a cage all that nature provides in the way of choices.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

And maybe he'd just like a wider range of temperatures to choose from...snakes that are too warm often use their water bowl to try to get cooler.
It's hard to offer in a cage all that nature provides in the way of choices.

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Yes this. I have thought about maybe its just a bit too hot but I've kept this room and his enclosure the same for literally over a year. So that all of a sudden temps would be a prob is not likely which has me afraid its something else. I've taken him out and he seems fine but haven't thoroughly inspected his mouth no. I'll do that tomorrow, then give him a few more days and if he doesnt go in to shed he'll go to a herpetologist and hopefully nothings wrong. Not only is he the base of my breeding program but he is one of my favorites. Not that we should play favorites lol

Hopefully it's nothing & he's just giving you a hard time, lol.

Hahaha. Lets hope lol. His belly is pink which tells me shed but its been a bit too long.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Hopefully it's nothing & he's just giving you a hard time, lol.

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Soaking AND Royals .... sadly the first thing that comes to mind is the dreaded .... Mites

You say ' definitely not ' .....

How have you checked incidentally?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Soaking AND Royals .... sadly the first thing that comes to mind is the dreaded .... Mites

You say ' definitely not ' .....

How have you checked incidentally?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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Lol checked and re-checked. I can say with certainty not mites. Like 100% no doubt not mites. Magnifying glass, microscope, inspection etc cause I know that's the normal cause.

I would suspect either a blockage, like boger said, or a really heavy shed. The heavy shed happens once in awhile. Sometimes if can be so deep it temporarily changes the color of the snake. Ralph Davis had a video up about it at one time.

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Originally Posted by OTorresUSMC

Hahaha. Lets hope lol. His belly is pink which tells me shed but its been a bit too long.

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This leads me to think upcoming shed, but in my experience the shed usually comes after they've broken a food strike and have eaten. But, it hasn't been that long of a food strike, so maybe it is a shed?

My next guess, maybe he wants to cool down a bit. I'd try dropping the cool side temps a bit if it were me.

My last guess, he's backed up. Has the snake peed/pooped since he stopped eating?

Always rule out the usual suspect in order

Mites

Overheating

Shed

Too large of a meal


They rarely soak but when they do you should always investigate just in case.

So no sausage butt and I'm not feeling anything out of the ordinary while palpating so hoping he just has a shed upcoming. Belly is looking pink, I know many months ago another of my males was doing the same thing and after his shed he stopped and was back to normal. This just seems to have been going on a bit longer. I've gone ahead and dropped the room temp and his hot temp a couple degrees for the time being. I'll monitor over the next couple days and if nothing changes I guess a trip to a herp vet will be in order.