Soaking to much?

[Krista2004]

Is there such a thing as soaking to much? Our big girl, bria, soaks for a couple hours a day. Me and my husband are pretty new at this and have only had our ball python for a few months, so Im not really sure if this is normal. Bria coils her whole body into her water dish and just chills for most of the day in there! We have 3 other ones and I never see them soak for that long, we normally have to soak them ourselves.
I have no idea...need answers! lol

[nevohraalnavnoj]

I have never seen one of my BP's soak. Maybe some of the more experienced members can chime in here but it sounds like

Either she's gravid and trying to stretch the skin before she lays

or

She has a mite a problem.


Has she been paired with a male or have you observed little white bugs crawling around her or the enclosure?

JonV

[ThyTempest]

Mites are black...

[nevohraalnavnoj]

Mites are black...

Really? The only time I've seen them was on a black and white tegu years ago, and those were white.

I just reviewed the Barker's book and you're absolutely right, they're black. I guess it's good I haven't learned that firsthand, but thanks for clearing that up for me.

So, to the original author of the post: Any little black mites crawling around?

JonV

[tigerlily]

It's possible that she's using her bowl as a hide. You might try offering her a different hide, one that's dark and a tight fit.

[Swingline0.0.1]

Is there such a thing as soaking to much? Our big girl, bria, soaks for a couple hours a day. Me and my husband are pretty new at this and have only had our ball python for a few months, so Im not really sure if this is normal. Bria coils her whole body into her water dish and just chills for most of the day in there! We have 3 other ones and I never see them soak for that long, we normally have to soak them ourselves.
I have no idea...need answers! lol

Hi there,

So you have four ball pythons? I couldn't tell if you meant that you had three other snakes of a different type.

I think the general consensus is that BPs don't soak unless there's something going on, like a stuck shed, or as an earlier post said, mites. If someone has one that does, chime in...

You don't need to soak your BPs either, unless you're helping with a bad shed- even then, you let them go through the shedding process and only soak if there is still a problem after a couple of days. Most of the time they will get the stuck pieces off themselves.

Mine has never soaked, even when I first rescued him. He was in the middle of a bad shed and had a bad time of it. The real key was getting his temps and humidity right and letting him do it his way.

I'm not sure what your setup is like, but we have a spiffy little post to refer to:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=30763

Hope this helps.

[Krista2004]

It's possible that she's using her bowl as a hide. You might try offering her a different hide, one that's dark and a tight fit.

She's pretty big so we had to get a dk red kitty litty box, its not a big one but she barely fits into it.

[nevohraalnavnoj]

She's pretty big so we had to get a dk red kitty litty box, its not a big one but she barely fits into it.

Kitty boxes work well.

Have you ever noticed any black mites on her? What is the ambient humidity in the enclosure?

JonV

[Krista2004]

Hi there,

So you have four ball pythons? I couldn't tell if you meant that you had three other snakes of a different type.

I think the general consensus is that BPs don't soak unless there's something going on, like a stuck shed, or as an earlier post said, mites. If someone has one that does, chime in...

You don't need to soak your BPs either, unless you're helping with a bad shed- even then, you let them go through the shedding process and only soak if there is still a problem after a couple of days. Most of the time they will get the stuck pieces off themselves.

Mine has never soaked, even when I first rescued him. He was in the middle of a bad shed and had a bad time of it. The real key was getting his temps and humidity right and letting him do it his way.

I'm not sure what your setup is like, but we have a spiffy little post to refer to:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=30763

Hope this helps.

We have four total. 2.1 normals and 1 100% het pied male. I dont see any little black things crawling on her body or anything crawling on her. We are not sure if she is prego because we bought from a pet store and I dont know how to check to see if she is prego. I read somewhere that females dont eat if they are and she has eaten the last three times we have fed her.
Bria is in a 20 gal tank with a hide box and her water dish.

[Krista2004]

Kitty boxes work well.

Have you ever noticed any black mites on her? What is the ambient humidity in the enclosure?

JonV

I just went to go check her out and had my husband check her out also and we didnt see anything on her or in her house. The humidity is about 55 to 60 during the day and about 40 to 45 at night.