HELP! Baby ball python extremely skinny and corkscrewing!

[Armiyana]

I would not put anything in the water with the snake. While you should be watching it you don't need it to get under the towel or cloth and not find his way out. He could drown. The proper way to soak a snake is to place it in water no deeper than their body. I usually only go half to 3/4 up their body. That way they soak but do not have to fight to keep their head above water. If the water is shallow as it should be the snake will not need anything to rest on. If it needs such a think the water is deeper than it should be.

Oh definitely don't do that if it's alone! But the whole point is that this animal should not be left alone to soak.
The point of the towel is to be a still moist landmass for it to feel comfortable on and reduce stress. Stressing an animal like this out in a soak can lead to it panicking and even at only 3/4 body depth, it can flip over or inhale fluid. It also gives them something to rest the front half of the body on.

I suppose you can put something flat and heavy they can't tip over in there, but they usually aren't able to get that permeability like a towel can. And that reduces how much hydration they can get through contact.

Part of the reason I started doing this for sickly reptile soaks is because of a coworker loosing one at 'proper depth' when it did alligator roll and inhaled too much fluid. =/