BP Hated Bath

[antiochian]

I just cleaned my mojave's terrarium and as there was a poop in the hide he uses most often, he smelled and I filled a tub with warm water (temp gun read 95 F) to let him swim and gently massage him with my hands to help wash any nastiness off. He wasn't terribly fond of the whole bath thing. Expelled what I gather to be musk (looked like mustard). I let him submerge himself and swim a little and then took him out and dried him off. He was pretty tense when I picked him up out of the water. Is it normal for bp's to react negatively to a bath? I assume he'll be okay if I leave him alone a few days? (I usually handle once or twice a week, 3 times tops. I've had him since November and he fed well until winter started when he began refusing food, which I understand is normal.)

[volkswagen20v]

That sounds exactly like what my BPs do. They hate bath time. They're usually all tense and stressed after.

[OctagonGecko729]

Way too hot of water, I'd lower that down to 85F and try it again when you need to. I'm not sure how high you filled it but only fill it up just high enough that his back barely clears the surface of the water. Usually when reptiles freak out during a bath its because the temperatures and water depth are incorrect. Also, make sure you mix the water really good with your hands so the temperature is consistent throughout the entire tub. If you did not stir it you could have had hot spots in the tub that reached 100F, the surface of the water will be cooler due to the air temps. Another thing not to do is just dunk them in, they need to be slowly introduced into the water so they don't get shocked. Mostly just think about how these animals would end up in the water in the wild.

[loonunit]

Yeah, the water was too hot. I find they like 80F best. But colder is better than hotter for baths, for whatever reason. They'll cope with water in the 70s and even 60s, but they don't like warm water at ALL.

[Kaorte]

Yeah that sounds pretty normal. Not many of my snakes like getting baths... Just make sure the water is a little cooler next time (I use room temperature water) and make sure the water isn't too deep. It shouldn't come up higher than 2/3 the height of the snakes body.

Also just to clarify, you don't need to bathe your snake regularly. I only do it if they have stuck shed or laid in poop. ew.

[Zombie]

Yea, others have hit it on the head. Water to warm. Use tepid water (basically room temp). And water level that doesn't go much above halfway up his body

[kitedemon]

Add that a temp gun simply cannot read water or air the temp could easily be hotter than you expected it to be. Far too hot.

The tools you choose to use are only as good as your understanding of them.

[loonunit]

Water's pretty dang opaque in the IR. You can double-check it with a probe thermometer, but I bet it's pretty close (if it's well-mixed).

[BillinIndiana]

Avalon got the dreaded Mites from some pet store bedding one time.. We had to give her a Nix bath ( which worked Perfectly) and she did the same thing.. Non-stop swimming or squirming around. We only had it luke warm though, I didn't check it with a temp gun.