Quote Originally Posted by wwmjkd View Post


as a general rule, balls are not given to soaking themselves. if I found one of mine doing so, I'd take it as a sign to check my temperatures and husbandry.
My temps are perfect. I check them every day. I had a recent mite problem, but she has soaked since the day I got her, long before the mites, and continues to when she feels like it now that the mites are gone. I just think a broad generalization that if someone has a snake that enjoys soaking, then they have bad husbandry is pretty narrow minded. My snake likes to soak because she does, and many other people have snakes with the same quirk. Yes, it CAN be a sign of temps too high or mites. But if both of those are ruled out and the snake still soaks, that is fine.

To the OP, all of this to say that if your snake wants to soak, it will do so voluntarily. You do not need to force a bath on it unless it crawls through poo or has a bad shed. You don't need to soak before a shed, only once it has already gone wrong.