Does Soaking always = mites?

[L.West]

I walked into my snake room to find my '08 female BP in her water dish - not her entire body but a large portion of her was in the bowl. My first thought was mites - I checked the water dish this morning and found no signs of mites.

Is there other reasons for them to climb into their water dish - do I need to be worried.

Thanks.

[zeke]

My BP's do that from time to time.. I thought it was b/c they got a lil warm and wanted to cool off some.. other than that I'm not sure.



Cheers

[L.West]

Oh, I will double check her temps but they are usually right on with 92 warm and 82 cool.

Thanks.

[broadude]

They will also climb in the water dish pre-shed when they seem to need more humidity.

[MJVbps]

Some of my bps soak before a shed.....you'll know in a couple days.

[WaRocker]

Soaking is very common. But if you are worried about mites you may want to change your bedding to paper towels . Then you will have a better chance of seeing any of those creepy things fall off on the white paper.

[West Coast Jungle]

I have had them soak before shed and before ovulation.

[L.West]

This was the first time I have ever noticed her doing this - so it kind of caught me off guard.

Every time she has shed in the past it has been one complete piece - I keep her humidity between 55/60%

I use Uline Indented Craft Paper for substrate so I know I would see any critters hanging around. I also treat occassionally with PAM as a preventative.

Hopefully it was just her wanting to swim - LOL. She is giving me problems right now with eating - she hasn't eaten in over 2 months but I was told not to worry about it because it is breeding season. She is currently 1,650 grams - she has lost about 25 grams in that 2 month span without eating.

[angllady2]

My little pied is what I call my water-baby.

He's completely healthy, husbandry is spot on, no mites anywhere, and he still goes for a soak every couple of days.

It used to put me in a panic, because I always read that meant something was wrong. After wearing myself out trying to figure out what, I finally realized he just likes water, period. If I offer him a large container of shallow water like for a soak or bath, he just goes limp. He'll submerge everything but his head and just lay there in bliss until I make him get out. Then he gets cranky. lol

I still keep a watchful eye on him, because everything I read tells me something is wrong, but I'll be darned if I can come up with anything other than the fact that he likes water.

Gale

[L.West]

So, other than mites - what else could possibly be wrong to cause them to go into the water. I will certainly double check my temps to make sure that is not the issue.

Thanks.