why is he bathing for so long?

[mm91187]

my BP has been in his water bowl for the past 2 days now. i fed him yesterday. he gets out for a few minutes then he goes back in

[jglass38]

Mites or incorrect temperatures...

Ball Pythons dont soak for other reasons.

First check those temps. 82-84 on the cool, 92-94 on the hot. If all is right there, check for mites. Change his substrate to white paper towel. They wont be hard to see. red or black tiny bugs.

[mr~python]

ball pythons also soak sometimes because they've had a big meal. i guess its a way of relieving pressure from their stomachs when they float. was his meal yesterday nice and big?

[jglass38]

A big meal? Or an excessively large meal? My BPs eat appropriate size meals weekly and NEVER soak.

[mm91187]

his temps should be correct, on his warm hide its usually 93F, humid is 50%, and the cool side is about 80F(during the day) i dont have any other way of heating the cool side during the night, i only have a day lamp. when he pooped i didnt see any kind of bugs in it, but i might change to paper towels just in case and ill have to get a night bulb too!

his meals wasnt big, i don think i fed him something a little bigger then a hopper and he ate is really easily. the hopper was about the same width as my BP's mid section

[mr~python]

i just remember reading on this site that alexrls said the only time monty ever soaked was when it had a big meal and Adam said that was another reason they soak.

[jglass38]

Temps sound ok. Does he have hides on both sides? You should be able to see the mites pretty easily.

[daniel1983]

ball pythons will also curl up in their water bowl if inappropriate hides are provided....what kinda hides do you have in the enclosure?

[jglass38]

Sorry forgot that one Daniel. That is the direction I was heading in with the last post.

[mm91187]

i think it might be mites!
well he is out of his water bowl and back into his hide. but in his water bowl there are about 6 little black spots, they werent theere before so could they be mites? i didnt get a good look but i think they were mites

here is a picture of what it looked like before, now i have the bowl in the middle and another hide on the left side, ill try to get a pic of him inside his hide