Strange behaviour while soaking

[Manasha-Bogo]

So the vet told me to soak Manasha in warm water every day for 10 minutes.

I soaked her yesterday for 2 minutes with a couple drops of dish soap to get rid of some oil residue. And I soaked her again today for 2-3 minutes. I don't do the full 10 minutes because she seems to hate it. And the way she acts scares the $#!% outta me.

The might before I took her to the vet last week, she did the same thing and it's the biggest reason I was afraid for her life.

Her head goes straight up and starts to look unsteady and her head starts to to backwards as if she were having a stroke or something. Today she started to lay sidways with the right side of her face touching the water and I held her head up to make sure she wouldn't aspirate any water.

So what's up with this behavior? I have seen them soaking in their water dishes before and they don't act like that. They just sit calmly in the water with their heads out of the water but looking normal...

[John1982]

Why did the vet say to soak Manasha? Is Manasha a spider? If she is it could be some wobble triggered by stress(bath).

[The Serpent Merchant]

Why did the vet say to soak Manasha? Is Manasha a spider? If she is it could be some wobble triggered by stress(bath).

x2

Soaking is almost never recomended. Why did the vet say to do this? And is your vet knowledgable about reptiles? Many are not.

[jbean7916]

How warm is the water?

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[Manasha-Bogo]

They appear to be knowledgeable about it. They probably said to soak her every day because she looks like she is getting ready to shed. But she this behavior she's exhibiting, I really don't want to do it anymore. I think if she's still so weak, leaving her alone is the best thing I can do for her right now. Am I right?

[Manasha-Bogo]

the temp is warm to luke warm to my touch. I didn't think to take a temp. Stupid me.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Soaking a BP right before shed is most likely going to make the shed go bad. Soaking a BP not only stresses BP's out, but also removes oils that are necessary for the shedding cycle.

Obviously your vet isn't as knowledgable as he/se sounded.

You should stop soaking your BP... all you need to do to get good sheds is make sure that the cage humidity is at 60% or higher.

[el8ch]

Think we need a background story here to get a better picture of what is going on. what do you mean she is weak? why was she at the vet in the first place? etc....

No need to soak before a shed. Keep your humidity up to around 60%-70% and give her a water bowl she can soak in if she chooses to. If in fact she does have a rough shed you can soak or do whatever is needed after the fact.

The over-handling and soaking is most definitley stressing her out.

[AJs Snake House]

Is this the same vet that put oil on her to cure a mite infestation? The back story is in another thread started by manasha-bogo

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[kitedemon]

There are very valid reasons why to soak a snake usually it is connected with digestion mites or severe dehydration. Before a shed is a bad time to soak as it washes away the liquid layer between the new and old skin that lubricates the removal often making a shed bad.

I don't have enough facts to guess at the logic of your vet. Reptiles are hard to deal with because they stress so easily. Sometimes the best treatment is 'skillful neglect' leaving and animal alone in a enclosure wit as low stress as possible is better than invasive treatment. It is hard to generalize some are slow to stress some fast. It is a balance between treatment and stress sometimes with non priority treatment the stress outweighs any benefit.

What is going on with your snake that prompted the vet visit?