Her best impression of a green anaconda - your thoughts on why she's doing this?

[swansonbb]

One of my girls has been doing this all day:



My first thought was mites - nothing in the water bowl nor on the paper towels. One of her "neighbors" had mites about a month ago. I completed a 3 week treatment/eradication for all 3 snakes currently in QT- haven't seen a sign of mites since the first treatment.

I've been pairing her with my mojave male - I've seen quite a few locks.

What are your thoughts? Pre-ovulaion or building behavior or should I resume treatment for my parasitic friends?

Gracias, in advance.

[Inknsteel]

BPs may soak for a number of reasons. I always think mites first. If you're 100% sure it's not mites, it could be several other things. They might soak if the temps are too high, if they just ate a big meal, if the humidity is low, among other reasons. But what really caught my eye is that you said this snake is in QT but has been paired and locked with your mojave? Is this mojave in your existing collection or is this another snake in your "QT rack"?

[KatStoverReptiles]

Perhaps rather than bowl wrapping she decided to just get into the bowl?

[swansonbb]

But what really caught my eye is that you said this snake is in QT but has been paired and locked with your mojave? Is this mojave in your existing collection or is this another snake in your "QT rack"?

Good question. The mojave was acquired at the same time, and is also in QT.

[SlitherinSisters]

Inspect her closely for mites just in case, but I have a couple "submarine" snakes that like to lay in the water bowl all the time. Just be careful definitely during breeding season. I bred one of my submarine snakes last year and she stayed in the bowl a lot and got RI. I feel like it was because she was in the water, which was 70 degrees, and breeding stress. She now gets a small bowl she can't soak in.

[swansonbb]

I've checked her several times for mites - no sign of them anywhere. I through my male mojave back in with her, and they were locked within an hour, and stayed that way for 18 hours. Just... wow. She hasn't been in the water bowl since.

[Salamander Rising]

Inspect her closely for mites just in case, but I have a couple "submarine" snakes that like to lay in the water bowl all the time. Just be careful definitely during breeding season. I bred one of my submarine snakes last year and she stayed in the bowl a lot and got RI. I feel like it was because she was in the water, which was 70 degrees, and breeding stress. She now gets a small bowl she can't soak in.

Could it be weather/breeding season related?

Ever since it got really cold here, most of my Beeps are soaking...even the ones who are in tubs with perfect humidity.

No bugs so I have no idea what's going on.

Only 1 male Beep is eating and 2 of my females [just over 1 1/2 years old] are not eating, either.

The younger girls are eating, even the soakers.

The RI possibility worries me.

I'm going to hunt up some bowls too small to soak in, even though the bowls they have now are of a size where they're mostly only getting parts of themselves in.

[Vilenica]

In my experience its a snake by snake thing- and usually prolonged soaking isn't building/breeding related. Some girls are just somewhat aquatic. If your relative humidity is 55-65% and there are no signs of mites and the animal soaks like crazy (consistent with no correlation to shed cycle (days at a time)) I would suggest (if your worried) to get a fresh fecal sample to get labs done for internal parasites. Most exotic vets will supply you with the plastic samplers - free of charge- in hopes that you'll bring them fresh day old poo to run the labs - about $25-$35.

[SlitherinSisters]

Could it be weather/breeding season related?

Ever since it got really cold here, most of my Beeps are soaking...even the ones who are in tubs with perfect humidity.

No bugs so I have no idea what's going on.

Only 1 male Beep is eating and 2 of my females [just over 1 1/2 years old] are not eating, either.

The younger girls are eating, even the soakers.

The RI possibility worries me.

I'm going to hunt up some bowls too small to soak in, even though the bowls they have now are of a size where they're mostly only getting parts of themselves in.

It could be breeding related if your cool side temps are higher than the snake is looking for, they don't always know what's best! My submarine snakes do it year round, I just caught the girl who got an RI last year with her head and neck in her bowl this morning. She just loves to soak and I can't do anything about it other than give her a small dish. I'm not worried about her only getting a small amount of her body in the bowl. I'm not sure how big your soakers are, but I use small crock dog bowls for my adult soakers. For young ones, those little souffle dishes.

I talked to a couple different breeders and they agreed her soaking in the water so often was probably the reason. She and the male breeding her were the only snakes that got RI last year, she made it through treatments, he didn't. On top of smaller bowls I'm also keeping my cool side at 75 degrees this year to help avoid any RIs. I've always kept it at 70 degrees in the past.

[Salamander Rising]

It could be breeding related if your cool side temps are higher than the snake is looking for, they don't always know what's best! My submarine snakes do it year round, I just caught the girl who got an RI last year with her head and neck in her bowl this morning. She just loves to soak and I can't do anything about it other than give her a small dish. I'm not worried about her only getting a small amount of her body in the bowl. I'm not sure how big your soakers are, but I use small crock dog bowls for my adult soakers. For young ones, those little souffle dishes.

I talked to a couple different breeders and they agreed her soaking in the water so often was probably the reason. She and the male breeding her were the only snakes that got RI last year, she made it through treatments, he didn't. On top of smaller bowls I'm also keeping my cool side at 75 degrees this year to help avoid any RIs. I've always kept it at 70 degrees in the past.

They're smaller bowls but they manage to stuff themselves in there, somehow.

I have some of the little souffle thingies but worry they won't be enough to keep the humidity correct.

Nobody's getting bred so the cool side is about 80 or so and the warm side, 90-91.

I just caught Iggy soaking in her bowl and the water felt actually cold to me so she got a much smaller bowl and her hides moved around to make her keep herself warmer.

She really doesn't have a lick of common sense.


One of the girls who got a smaller bowl thwarted me by throwing the water all over the tub...right after I'd just cleaned it.

Beeps are so contemptible.