Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First, our snake handling has been going really well the last few days so thanks for the advice!

Another question: one of our girls spends 75% of her time soaking in her water dish. She does not look like she's about to shed and seems to prefer spending most of her time there since she got a bigger dish about 2 weeks ago. She also refuses to use any sort of hidebox. Finally, we've looked closely at her during the past few days while she's been soaking and have seen no signs of mites.

Do we have anything to worry about?

Some snakes will do this and they can get a variety of rot/fungus issues from being too wet. The waterbowls should be too small for soaking in the cage, adding the large soaker bowl only at shed time is our recommendation. Switch to the smaller bowl and offer a hide on the cold and warm sides of the tanks and shw should get back to normal behaviors....when her eyes fog up and a shed is coming add you large bowl.
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Mike and David at 3-D Pythons
www.3dpythons.com

Too much soaking can lead to scale rot and blisters - if shes only done it for a day or two then I wouldn't worry but if shes been in there for a majority of 2 weeks you can have an issue. She is trying to tell you something and you need to find out what it is. If she is not going into shed there is mostly something else wrong.

Double check your temperatures and humidity.

Make sure the hides you provide are appropriately sized (she should fit tight into them and they should be dark and warm).

Get out a magnifying glass and check her for mites - look around her eyes, pits neck, etc. Look for ticks - (did you get her from a breeder or pet store?)

Check her belly - she might have gotten burned.

Take the water out of the dish see if she still tries to use it as her hide (use a small water dish she can't get into for water)

It might not be anything to worry about - it may just be that you have to bump the temperature and humidity up in her cage. I have the same problem with every snake I get from Florida - they dont care much California - I need to saturate thier cage for the first couple of weeks they get here or they spend all thier time in the water bowl too. But it will take some investigating on your part to find out what is up with your girl.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

11.42.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.1.0 Bredls Python (Smurfette)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

Thanks for all the info! So we emptied her water bowl and now she's back in it and is using it as a hide. We examined her closely and saw no mites or scale damage so I think you were right in that she just likes the size and feel of her water bowl. She's been picky about her hides but I think we've finally found one she likes.

In other news, all 4 of our balls are soooo much friendlier now that we've been handling them every day so thanks to the forum contributors for your earlier advice!

Hi ronin – I suspect you may have hit on your answer. Often otherwise healthy ball pythons stay in their water bowls (if given large enough ones) apparently for the feeling of security. Still, make sure you check the water (not just the snake) for signs of mites. You should be looking for black dots that look like ground pepper.

An ideal hide box for a ball python will be low and tight enough so that the snake can feel it in contact with the sides of its coiled body and even its back.

My attitude about allowing snakes access to water containers large enough in which to submerge their bodies has changed over the years. I used never to do it. Now I do with some animals.

-Joan

>>Thanks for all the info! So we emptied her water bowl and now she's back in it and is using it as a hide. We examined her closely and saw no mites or scale damage so I think you were right in that she just likes the size and feel of her water bowl. She's been picky about her hides but I think we've finally found one she likes.
>>
>>In other news, all 4 of our balls are soooo much friendlier now that we've been handling them every day so thanks to the forum contributors for your earlier advice!