Why did I wake up to my snake soaking in his bowl?

[Bcycling]

So I have had this guy for about a year now and he never did this. I woke up this morning and he was completely in his water bowl. He was taking a bath. Is this normal from time to time? I have had balls for a while and this was this first time I saw this. No mites present and no new introductions to the collection. I just hope he decided to take a bath for a bit.

[bproffer]

I would double check your husbandry. How are your temps and how what are you using to check temps/humidity? Is he still in his water bowl? If so, I would double check for mites.

[BCS]

Sometimes my snakes will soak in their dish if they are about to shed. It happens. If there are no mites present then I wouldn't worry about it.

[Bcycling]

No, I saw he was in the bowl early and left him. Gave him about an hour and he was still in there. I opened the tub and he came out and went into his hide. No signs of mites on any of the snakes. There are seven in the rack currently and he was the only one doing this. All temps where they should be and so is humidity. I use digital gauges and a temp gun. Temps in the tub are between 78-80 on cool side all the time. Hot spot is at 91.5. No mites on the snake or left in the water. He has never done this but two things have changes in the past month for him. One, he is the one ball python that has always had a bad attitude, so my daughter has worked hard the past few weeks trying to calm him down, so he has been handled a bit more than normal. We also just decided to give him a larger bowl last weekend. Could handling him more often has caused some stress and he decided to hide in his water? Seems weird to me. Maybe he just figured he can fit in the bowl again. I am just confused that he did that. I guess it will be just keep an eye on him.

[MarkusAurelius]

My guys will randomly do this as well. Nothing to worry about.

[bcr229]

If there is room in the tub put a second hide in on the cool side, with the water bowl between the two hides.

If there is no room put his water dish on the heat and move his hide to the cool side. He is likely looking for a cooler place to hide, especially if he hasn't eaten recently, so he doesn't need to be super warm at the moment.

[Bcycling]

Any idea if males do it more than females. You said,"Your guys do this as well." Just wondering if you were referring to males or just snakes in general. This is the biggest male I have that is weighing in at 1153 grams yesterday.

[AllThatInThemGenes]

if he fits really really snug in the water dish that could be the motivation. Sometimes they just seek out the spot where things are just super snug. keep checking for mites: if there is no mites and humidity is good you dont have much to worry about.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

They soak for various reasons

Lack of security, hides to big and they use the water bowl as an hide, you usually see that with hatchlings.

While rare some will soak when they are about to shed.

Mites,

Too large of a meal.

Enclosure too hot.

You want to make sure that this behavior does not persist, soaking all the time is not a good thing.