I'm fairly new to the hobby, after an absence of 20 years+.
I started out with a few hatchlings which are doing well but just recently acquired my first adult ball python. She's aprox. 4 years old and JUST shy of 2400 grms. Her temperament is awesome, she's eating well, but I do have a couple of questions. I currently have her in a 2' x 2' x 12" pvc enclosure, is this adequate?
In the last week, she appears to be pre shed, skin is dull, belly a bit pink, but eyes not blue yet. I've never seen any of my youngsters soaking, so it was intriguing to notice her trying to soak in her water dish (which is a good size, but not as big as she needs apparenty). A week ago, I found a container that she can get into, although it takes up half of her floor space. The plan was that I'd give her soaking time every day, and then remove the container, but she was in the container within 5 minutes of me putting it in the first day and has NEVER left on her own!! Seriously, I suspect she'd soak all day if I let her!
I normally don't let her soak longer than 5 or 6 hours or so, but am concerned that there might be a risk that she's over soaking. Her temps. are 87 F. at the back of her enclosure and about 78 F. at the front. She usually hangs out in the middle.(if she's not soaking) Humidity in the enclosure is about 65 %, but of course goes way up when she's soaking, as the soaking container is quite large and some water splashes onto the paper.
I have her on unprinted newspaper right now and I change it daily in case she has mites... which I've checked and see no sign of (and because I normally have to change the paper after she soaks anyhow because it's often wet.) She's good to handle, so I've checked her thoroughly for mites, and always check the paper before i discard it and see absolutely no sign of mites.
Previous owner mentioned she MIGHT be gravid so am researching everything I can on that, but aside from the excessive soaking I haven't seen anything that would confirm that.
Are there any health risks in her over soaking or is this likely related to imminent shedding and stop once she's shed? How long should I leave her in her soaking tub. IF she wants to be in it 24/7 should I let her? I've experimented in placing the tub at the warm end or the cold end or in the middle, and it doesn't seem to matter to her, although she felt cool when I removed her when she was at the cooler end, so I've made sure since then that she's warm.