Soaking in her water dish.....

[L.West]

Hi, I was just wondering what this could mean - she recently starting soaking in her water dish thru the night. There is no sign of any mites, her temps are 89 hot side/80 cool side with 60% humidity. She is in a tub with Aspen bedding.

Is her soaking in her water dish anything to be worried about??

Thanks

[JLC]

Does she have a snug-fitting hide in the enclosure? Sometimes they just like the tight fit of the water bowl. Sometimes they will soak after a big meal. And sometimes they're just weird and we never know why they do what they do.

If there's no hide in the enclosure, you might try putting one in...something that would be small and tight.

[L.West]

Hi JLC, yes she has two hides in her tub. The hides are the RBI large size because the Medium ones are just too small. Maybe I should go buy her a slightly smaller hide? She did eat her first live feeding last Wednesday night - it was a pretty good sized rat also - she has been found soaking twice since that feeding.

Its kinda of funny because the water bowl is pretty small and she does try to cram herself into it. I gave her a little larger bowl today so she won't flood her tub when she plops down in the water.

I have checked very carefully for any signs of mites - and found nothing.

[Courtney281]

I wouldnt worry too much. My big female LOVES to soak, while others could care less, and then there are a couple who I never even see TOUCH the water hehehe BP are all different and sometimes straight up strange

[L.West]

Glad to hear that it is nothing to worry about.

Thanks for your help.

[snakesRkewl]

If there's mites you''ll most likely find them in the water bowl.
I have several snakes that soak before shed even though the humidity is over 60%

[L.West]

OMG - Bella was soaking for a good reason - this morning I woke up to find her in her water bowl and upon close examination I found two mites. I have been keeping snakes for three years now and have never had mites - what the heck happened.

The one thing that I can think of is that last week I fed Bella a live rat for the first time - could a live rat bring in mites???

How serious of an issue is this??? I immediately emptied all tubs, cleaned the tub and sprayed the tub and hides with PAM. Is there something else I should be doing??

Someone please direct me on how to take care of this. I only found two mites but I don't know what else was hiding. None of my other snakes had any in their tubs or water dishes.

I checked Bella and didn't see any on her body.

Help!!!!!

[snakesRkewl]

Ahhh mites

just do a thorough treatment of tubs inside and out and surrounding area and repeat as specified in the instructions, been awhile since I had mites but the last time was brought to me from another snake owner.
I treat every 3 months or so whether I find mites or not.

[L.West]

I didn't think to spray the outside of the tubs - can I leave the Aspen in the tub and re-spray the outside of the tubs tonight - I would hate to have to dump all that Aspen again.

Can I also spray inside the slots of the rack - will it hurt the heat tape at all.

Thanks