Soaking boas

[cletus]

Do any of you soak your snakes? I've never done it and I see so many people talking about soaking them in sugar water to loosen bowels or just to bathe etc. I've always given my snakes a water bowl big enough to submerge in and figured if they want to soak they can do it on thier own. What are your thoughts on this?

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[Jellybeans]

Never heard of sugar water....
That just sounds stupid
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[DandD]

I never heard of sugar water but people definitely soak their snakes. Most of the time for shed issues and the poop is a bonus lol. I soaked mike once for a tough shed and it worked good.

[dakski]

Never heard of the sugar water thing either.

However, I soak my snakes, and lizards for that matter, if they are having a tough shed. The tanks I have are so good with humidity, it's not really an issue often, but it works when it does.

I just put them in a container that fits them, fill halfway up their body with luke warm water (80F or so), cover the lid to keep the humidity in (there are air holes for them of course), and let them chill for a bit.

I talked to a vet I trust implicitly that says she soaks all her reptiles periodically. Even desert animals (but with less water and for shorter periods than say, a BP or boa).

It cannot hurt a high humidity species, but I am careful with the lower humidity animals, like Frank the BTS, and the leopard geckos. I only soak them occasionally, and not for long.

[Cheesenugget]

I just finished soaking my bp. For the first time in a whole year, he had some stuck shed, very minor on top of his neck. I learned not to use enough water where my snake's head can go under: Banana's first soak was this mistake and I saw his whole head go underwater, even though I added very little water he still managed to do that. So now, I use a little bit of water plus lots of moss. Place container with 1 or 2 holes opened on the heat mat to make it into a sauna. After a short wait, the stuck shed came right off with the use of some rubber gloves (Don't peel with your fingers).

I also have a boa (Dumerils) who recently shed for me and had no shed issues to date. Dumerils boas require high humidity as well.

With that said, no, I don't soak unless I have to (After a 24 hour wait to allow the snake to do its thing) because premature soaking can remove the oil between the scales needed for shed. Unless your reptile is of the kind that likes to be in and around water (ie false cobras), I find it to be unnecessarily stressful for your reptile to endure that by force. Give it a large or decent size water bowl and let it decide.

I used to soak my bearded dragon as it is a common thing to do among beardie owners. I don't do that anymore after finding out that wild beardies don't soak in water. In fact, they would drink the rain droplets coming down their face (Some beardies do that at home) or get their water from the insects and veggies they eat. A popular Facebook reptile vet did a controversial experiment on a soon to be dead beardie by use dye coloring and soaking him. It is commonly believed that beardies get hydrated through their butthole (Too tired to remember what that is called). After the beardie passed, the vet did a necropsy and found that the dye did not appear anywhere within its body. It is only 1 lizard but I find it to be more stressful for all my reptiles, including my beardie and BTS (Merauke - humidity loving), to be soaked just because.

The use of sugar water is not unheard of. My previous vet recommended this for my sick beardie to help her get hydrated (Again, see my explanation) but it did not work. However, sugar water/Pedialyte works great if you can get it into its mouth for any sick animals. I use it a lot for my foster kittens and other sick animals, including people. It is an affordable and effective way to boost some energy into a weak animal to help it gain some strength. Just don't insert the water through your hole lol.

[EL-Ziggy]

I've never soaked any of my snakes. I don't really see the point and believe it could be stressful for some snakes. I also can't see it causing any long term damage and some snakes may even enjoy it. I guess that puts me on the fence.
I have heard of sugar water being used on paper towels as a treatment for prolapses in snakes but not for soaking them.

[pretends2bnormal]

I've never soaked any of my snakes. I don't really see the point and believe it could be stressful for some snakes. I also can't see it causing any long term damage and some snakes may even enjoy it. I guess that puts me on the fence.
I have heard of sugar water being used on paper towels as a treatment for prolapses in snakes but not for soaking them.

I have seen soaking with sugar water on the video from Snake Discovery recently. Sounds as if the sugar helps to reduce swelling on a prolapse and may make it go back in on own.

Link: https://youtu.be/l-xuk9bbv8A

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[cletus]

Thanks for the responses! I seem to be in the minority. I just never had a reason to soak and I always figured it would cause undue stress. Especially with the BPs. Thanks for the input!

[Toad37]

I have to soak one of mine every time he sheds because it's ALWAYS an explosive shed and never in one piece. He's in a rack system with other snakes and they shed just fine. Husbandry is on point to my knowledge so I've chalked it up to him just being a difficult shedder. I've never have a reason to soak the other ones so I've never done it.

[DandD]

We did just have an emergency rescue Great Dane slice her pad open (deep open) on a slab of stone, it was the weekend and the vet recommended packing it full of sugar and wrapping it till normal office hours. They also use to use sugar for bed sores so it must have some healing properties.