Soaking to much?

Is there such a thing as soaking to much? :confused: Our big girl, bria, soaks for a couple hours a day. Me and my husband are pretty new at this and have only had our ball python for a few months, so Im not really sure if this is normal. Bria coils her whole body into her water dish and just chills for most of the day in there! We have 3 other ones and I never see them soak for that long, we normally have to soak them ourselves.
I have no idea...need answers! lol

I have never seen one of my BP's soak. Maybe some of the more experienced members can chime in here but it sounds like

Either she's gravid and trying to stretch the skin before she lays

or

She has a mite a problem.


Has she been paired with a male or have you observed little white bugs crawling around her or the enclosure?

JonV

Mites are black...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ThyTempest

Mites are black...

---

Really? The only time I've seen them was on a black and white tegu years ago, and those were white.

I just reviewed the Barker's book and you're absolutely right, they're black. I guess it's good I haven't learned that firsthand, but thanks for clearing that up for me.

So, to the original author of the post: Any little black mites crawling around?

JonV

It's possible that she's using her bowl as a hide. You might try offering her a different hide, one that's dark and a tight fit.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Krista2004

Is there such a thing as soaking to much? :confused: Our big girl, bria, soaks for a couple hours a day. Me and my husband are pretty new at this and have only had our ball python for a few months, so Im not really sure if this is normal. Bria coils her whole body into her water dish and just chills for most of the day in there! We have 3 other ones and I never see them soak for that long, we normally have to soak them ourselves.
I have no idea...need answers! lol

---

Hi there,

So you have four ball pythons? I couldn't tell if you meant that you had three other snakes of a different type.

I think the general consensus is that BPs don't soak unless there's something going on, like a stuck shed, or as an earlier post said, mites. If someone has one that does, chime in...

You don't need to soak your BPs either, unless you're helping with a bad shed- even then, you let them go through the shedding process and only soak if there is still a problem after a couple of days. Most of the time they will get the stuck pieces off themselves.

Mine has never soaked, even when I first rescued him. He was in the middle of a bad shed and had a bad time of it. The real key was getting his temps and humidity right and letting him do it his way.

I'm not sure what your setup is like, but we have a spiffy little post to refer to:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=30763

Hope this helps. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tigerlily

It's possible that she's using her bowl as a hide. You might try offering her a different hide, one that's dark and a tight fit.

---

She's pretty big so we had to get a dk red kitty litty box, its not a big one but she barely fits into it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Krista2004

She's pretty big so we had to get a dk red kitty litty box, its not a big one but she barely fits into it.

---

Kitty boxes work well.

Have you ever noticed any black mites on her? What is the ambient humidity in the enclosure?

JonV

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Swingline0.0.1

Hi there,

So you have four ball pythons? I couldn't tell if you meant that you had three other snakes of a different type.

I think the general consensus is that BPs don't soak unless there's something going on, like a stuck shed, or as an earlier post said, mites. If someone has one that does, chime in...

You don't need to soak your BPs either, unless you're helping with a bad shed- even then, you let them go through the shedding process and only soak if there is still a problem after a couple of days. Most of the time they will get the stuck pieces off themselves.

Mine has never soaked, even when I first rescued him. He was in the middle of a bad shed and had a bad time of it. The real key was getting his temps and humidity right and letting him do it his way.

I'm not sure what your setup is like, but we have a spiffy little post to refer to:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=30763

Hope this helps. :)

---

We have four total. 2.1 normals and 1 100% het pied male. I dont see any little black things crawling on her body or anything crawling on her. We are not sure if she is prego because we bought from a pet store and I dont know how to check to see if she is prego. I read somewhere that females dont eat if they are and she has eaten the last three times we have fed her.
Bria is in a 20 gal tank with a hide box and her water dish.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by nevohraalnavnoj

Kitty boxes work well.

Have you ever noticed any black mites on her? What is the ambient humidity in the enclosure?

JonV

---

I just went to go check her out and had my husband check her out also and we didnt see anything on her or in her house. The humidity is about 55 to 60 during the day and about 40 to 45 at night.

It seems like the humidity is spot on, and if she is eating then it is unlikely she is an expectant mother. The OP has said there are no mites. Can any other members chime in here? What else could cause the excessive soaking??

Also, does she have an identical hide on the cool and warm side? Maybe she likes the security and temperature of her water bowl compared to her hide. Make sure her hides are snug (REALLY snug) and that she has one on the cool and warm side.

JonV

What are your temps, and how are you measuring them? She may be trying to cool down.

Somebody help me out, too. My BP soaks for hours at a time. I thought it was to cool down, but a few times I went to pick her up and she was cold. So, I moved her water dish to the hot side (90F) and she still soaks in it. She hasn't eaten in two weeks, either. We had a bout with mites about three weeks ago and her enclosure has had several treatments. I haven't seen any mites in about 2-3 weeks and I've been looking for them. She's not in shed. Her temps are 90F in the hot side, 80s in the middle, and low-mid 70s on the cool side. She's always soaking and she didn't used to do this. It bothers me because it's a recent development. Do I have to worry about scale rot or anything from her soaking so much? What the f is going on? Humidity is 30-40% most of the time, I up it to about 70% when she's in shed via misting. She's driving me crazy. lol :slamhead:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FireproofGorilla

Somebody help me out, too. My BP soaks for hours at a time. I thought it was to cool down, but a few times I went to pick her up and she was cold. So, I moved her water dish to the hot side (90F) and she still soaks in it. She hasn't eaten in two weeks, either. We had a bout with mites about three weeks ago and her enclosure has had several treatments. I haven't seen any mites in about 2-3 weeks and I've been looking for them. She's not in shed. Her temps are 90F in the hot side, 80s in the middle, and low-mid 70s on the cool side. She's always soaking and she didn't used to do this. It bothers me because it's a recent development. Do I have to worry about scale rot or anything from her soaking so much? What the f is going on? Humidity is 30-40% most of the time, I up it to about 70% when she's in shed via misting. She's driving me crazy. lol :slamhead:

---

It sounds like she still may have mites. I don't know the length of the life cycle but it's longer than a couple weeks, so they could still be there. I would suggest a Repti-Relief on the snake to alleviate the current mites and treating the enclosure with Provent a Mite as well to treat the eggs. What did you use on the enclosure?

30-40% is a bit low, try pushing that up over 50% and see if that helps.

JonV

My guy soakes a lot as well.....hmmmm.....I've checked him for mites and didn't find any!

I haven't seen ANY mites in a couple of weeks. I know they're eggs and babies are microscopic, but I have seen any adults either. I had to move her bowl to the hot end so she wouldn't get cold. It has brought the humidity back up. But she's still in there. She actually came out and went into her hide for a bit, but she's back in that damn bowl now. Thoughts? Is it possible she just really enjoys it? lol :weirdface