Constant soaking..

[BaierBalls]

I have a young male ball..about 415g...that is CONSTANTLY soaking in his water bowl.. He is in the same rack system, getting the same heat/care as the other 13 ball pythons around him. Everyone else is acting quite normally..

All the other snakes around him are acting normally, breeding, eating (some have slacked off with the onset of breeding), etc...As I have lowered temps slightly for breeding, many of the non-breeding and breeding snakes are still seeking the warm side in their tubs. He, on the other hand, constantly balls up in his water, which is on the cold side of the tub. He just started doing this a few weeks ago. Before this, he would stay in his warm hide, and was eating EVERY time I offered him any type of food.

After the cold scare...(you can read about the details in my "Close call with Mojave" post..http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...e+call+mojave) he has stopped eating as well. He was doing this constant soaking BEFORE the cold scare...that was one thing that made the situation worse...instead of staying on his heat like the others...he was curled up in the coldest possible place...his water bowl on the cold side of his tub.

Since I monitored him for a couple weeks and put him back in his tub..he has continued to curl up in his water...I will pull him out sometimes, convince him to move on into one of his hides only to come back a few hours later and find him back in the water. Any ideas? Maybe time for the vet?

[BaierBalls]

He is not shedding...

[BPelizabeth]

well .....this is my 2 cents...

check him for mites...

could be the onset of an RI that you cannot see or hear yet

are his hides the same and check to make sure nothing is in them also are they too big.

That is all I have. Now there are tons of ppl on here that are much more well informed than I. That is just what comes to mind.

[jason79]

I agree check for mites.

[dr del]

Hi,

Everyone else has pretty much covered it.

The main reasons for soaking are likely to be shedding, mites or feeling more secure in the waterbowl than he does in his hides.

Firstly double check his temps (even though it should be ok), then check for mites (will look like poppy seeds in the waterbowl and in his heatpits and round his eyes as well as crawling on him ). If all the above is fine and he is not shedd then I would double check his hides are small enough and dark enough and replace his waterbowl with one small enough that he cannot fit himself into it.


dr del

[BaierBalls]

Thanks for the responses.

I orgininally had him with only one hide on the warm side...that seemed perfect size to me..maybe a little tall...

But the thought did cross my mind that maybe even tho the room was cooler, and all the other snakes were warming themselves, that he didn't like his hide or didn't want the heat. So a week or so ago I gave him two new, smaller hides (plastic bowls with holes cut into the side). They are both just big enough for him to curl up into. One on the warm side and one on the cool side. He stayed in the warm hide for about a day after I introduced him to it...next day he was back in the water bowl. His cool hide is RIGHT next to the water bowl, and I have not seen him go in it, voluntarily that is, yet.

I have examined him a few times and have not noticed any mites, but honestly I haven't been looking hard for them. That will be my first task when I get home this afternoon. Thanks for the input everyone.

[BaierBalls]

Well, I examined him (and all my other snakes) for mites and could not see any on him. However, there were a few, small, black "things" in his water bowl. They were too small for me to even tell if they were mites (either mites or pieces of his bedding). Anyways, I sprayed him down good with mite off. I also set him up with a new enclosure in my bedroom, with all new bedding and hides and bowls, so I can monitor him more closely. It appears that he is just now starting a shed cycle, so I may give him a while to get used to his new enclosure, and after he sheds try feeding him again.

Despite anything else that might be wrong, it's very disappointing he stopped eating. At the rate he was going, I was thinking he would be able to breed late this year. Oh well..

Hope this works.

[Sarin]

Definitely Mites. Mite off doesn't work the best.. I suggest treating your whole collection with PAM asap. I've had to deal with mites before and they are not fun at all.

[BaierBalls]

Jut an update...this guy is no longer soaking and has taken two meals in the past 10 days! Very relieving....

[D&J Reptiles]

well again I arrive late. Its good that the soaking has stopped but i was gonna inform you that in my collection i still have a few maybe 4-5 that love to lay in their water bowls. you know my thoughts are that maybe it just feels good.