How often do you soak?

[George1994]

don't really soak mine they soak themselves. They will flip their water bowl over at soak the tub when they want to soak .( some more than others ) or if they can't flip the bowl they will just squeeze into it until water every were and soak that way.

Haha, you must have spent a while emptying tubs then haha! Mine is in a viv and has a heavy bowl which is flush with the ground so he can't get any leverage to tip it! I have only ever seen him with his tail in the water... Bit old to be weeing in the bath Peter!

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Mya's water bowl is big enough for her to soak in it if she chooses to

Nice, does she ever soak?

[NH93]

I'm on that "never" bandwagon, but it's not to say I wouldn't if it was necessary.
So far all sheds from my snakes have been clean and complete - lucky us!
I would only soak if there was stuck shed, and I'd tried the damp towel trick. I wouldn't soak before a shed though, because those oils they have are necessary and could be impaired (or so I've read).

If I noticed one of my snakes soaking on their own, I'd wanna check it out, as this isn't a normal behaviour for them. Although I did see my BP dunk his head under the water in his large water bowl and look around... that was interesting.

[George1994]

I'm on that "never" bandwagon, but it's not to say I wouldn't if it was necessary.
So far all sheds from my snakes have been clean and complete - lucky us!
I would only soak if there was stuck shed, and I'd tried the damp towel trick. I wouldn't soak before a shed though, because those oils they have are necessary and could be impaired (or so I've read).

If I noticed one of my snakes soaking on their own, I'd wanna check it out, as this isn't a normal behaviour for them. Although I did see my BP dunk his head under the water in his large water bowl and look around... that was interesting.

Seems to be overwhelming support for not soaking at this point! The damp towel in a tub idea also seems preferable to soaking. I'm not sure how much a ball python would swim in the wild... I doubt it would be often at all haha!

Although I did see my BP dunk his head under the water in his large water bowl and look around... that was interesting.

I bet haha! That sounds so cool!

[TheSnakeGeek]

I don't ever either. The closest I'll get is misting em down when they're going into their shed cycle during the dry winter months. If you're humidity is good you shouldn't need to. But it gets so dry here in the winter months I try to mist them just to be on the safe side.

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[George1994]

I don't ever either. The closest I'll get is misting em down when they're going into their shed cycle during the dry winter months. If you're humidity is good you shouldn't need to. But it gets so dry here in the winter months I try to mist them just to be on the safe side.

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Yeah, I think most of the issues that people try to fix with soaking can be sorted by misting the viv daily for a few days. Also, props on the perfect avatar/name combo

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[ViperSRT3g]

Only times I've soaked my snake is when he was getting stinky from pooping in his hide and I didn't see it.

[coldbloodaddict]

never


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[satomi325]

Never.

As long as your husbandry is good and your snake is mite free, you shouldn't have to soak them. They will shed fine on their own. Bathing strips them of their natural body oils that act like a lubricant between the new skin and old skin during a shed. You can actually make a shed go bad if you bathe during a shed cycle.

If your snake has a bad shed, there are better options to soaking. Soaking can be stressful for ball pythons. Especially since they are a terrestrial, non-aquatic, species.
A better alternative is putting them in a warm damp pillow case and letting them move around for an hour or so. That usually gets off any stuck shed.
Or if it has only a little bit of stuck shed, you can just leave it alone, bump up your humidity, and wait for it to come off with the next shed.

[Archimedes]

How about a retained eye cap? It's been stuck on izzy since her last shed about 3 weeks ago, and I'm getting antsy. The vet said it could be detrimental if it stays much longer.

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[satomi325]

How about a retained eye cap? It's been stuck on izzy since her last shed about 3 weeks ago, and I'm getting antsy. The vet said it could be detrimental if it stays much longer.

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One or two retained caps is no big deal. It only becomes detrimental if a lot builds up.
Do the pillowcase trick or just leave it be and wait for the next shed. Just make sure your humidity is up. You can potentially do more harm to the eye if mess with it. Some folks have ripped off the live eye membrane accidentally and caused permanent eye damage.