Soaking

[TheDoctor]

Hi,

Need some advice on the following:

my bp vale has been soaking in his water bowl a lot lately.
he would stay in the water bowl at least a few hours every night and yesterday he stayed in there the whole day, i mean during the day time which is weird cos he normally only comes out at night.
the temparature is always between 28-30C and humidity never below 75%.
i cant see any mites on him and his last shed was 2 weeks ago.
i also noticed that he would stay in the water bowl more after feeding day.
i use a night lamp by exoterra, i dont think this would be the cause cos its not heatlamp and doesnt give much heat emission.

i can stop it by putting in a smaller bowl, but i would really like to know the cause of this. i would also like to know the effects of excessive soaking.

all advice would be much appreciated, thanks.

[Schlyne]

So his temps are 82.4 degrees to 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Is that over his whole cage? I'm wondering if maybe he's trying to cool off a little by soaking in his dish. Try seeing if you can lower the temps on his cool side a couple of degrees.

[Adam_Wysocki]

In my experience, a couple of reasons why ball pythons soak are;

1. Too hot, trying to cool off. Temps should be 80-84 cool side and 90-95 on the hot.

2. Mites. Look for them around the eyes and in the crease of skin on the bottom of the lower jaw.

3. Large meal. Sometimes if you feed them to big of a meal, they will get in the water to float and relieve some of the pressure on their bellies.

4. Security. I have seen this a lot. Without proper hides or hides that the snake feels safe in they will often try to "hide out" in their water bowl to feel secure. Ball pythons like the feeling of a hide touching them on all sides of their body. If the water bowl does a better job than the hide box, then the water bowl is it.

5. Shedding. In the week before and during shedding if the humidity is not right, your ball may soak.

I am sure there may be one or two I'm missing, but these are the most common. Likely a husbandry thing, try changing some things around until you find out what works.

Hope this helps.

-adam

[TheDoctor]

thanks for all the advice.

he seems to be back to normal now. im still unsure why he was like that but i guess its probably the temperature.

thanks again guys.