Reptile & Amphibian Forums

what are your opinions on soaking your boa as a practice. i understand that you may need to for a retained shed or if he has not pooped in a long time, but what about just to soak. i hear some people say that it is important to do and others say that the only thing that it will do is stress the boa out. and then some go so far as to say that you should not even have a tub of water in there cage larg enough to soak in because they will contaminate their water and could get sick.

so anyhow, what do you all think and do and why do you think and do it?

I personally use smaller water bowls for two reasons. 1) the belly of a Boa is being slid all over the cage , and then into still (warm) water, and then used for drinking seems too dirty, even with the cleanest cages. 2)I'd always have a few Boas that would used the larger water dishes as a hide, even when they had other hide boxes. I think they would remain in the water way too long.
To me , occasionally soaking your Boa can be a good thing. i spray their cages pretty good, on the heated side, and a little on the Boas themselves.
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I'm just the snake room janitor

im not talking about spraying down the cage, im talking about taking your boa and putting him in a tub of water.

and thanks for the water bowl visual, i never thought about it like that. that is really gross though.lol

I actually have a good size dog dish for my snake. thing is she doesnt drink from it, go in it or anything. The only way I get her to drink is to soak her I have an old shoebox as a hide. I stress soaking to a certain point near thier time of shedding because I let my friend care for her for a few months when I was going through a rough time and she didnt shed right and after a few eyecaps her one eye is smaller than the other. She is still a beautiful snake and has a decent temperment. I just hate that she had to go through that. SO I say soaking can be a good thing. Although it can also be a bad thing.

are you sure that she does not drink from it? alot of boas do that when we are not looking, i know i have walked into the room once and busted my girl drinking and it was 3 in the morning. that is the only time i have seen her drink, but i know she does orr rshe would be way dead by now.

I have a red tail who soaks almost ALL the time,is this bad for him? I mean ever since I have put a big water tub in there he stays there almost exclusively,does this mean something is wrong?

I have never heard of one for the most part living in his bowl like that. Usually if there spending that much time in there water bowl you might have a boa with mites. That is the most common problem that i could come up with.

I am really new to Boas but I have had my ball for some time now so if Im wrong with my suggestion Im sure someone will step in.

Then again maybe he just likes water! lol

M
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Mike & Wendy

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he could be escaping the heat. how are your temps? do you have any hides?

Could be a dehydrated snake too. Check for mites, make sure the temps are right, and wait. It night be over after the snake rehydrates real good. Could be a lack of hides.

I only soak if I know there's a problem. I had one snake who was very dehydrated and I just left the soaking tub in with her, after a while she stopped soaking so much. I do have one snake that won't use a humidy bin or soak on her own. I give her an enforced soak the day after her eyes go clear again. With this program she had had her best sheds of her life. I'd take it for a sign of something being wrong though.
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Caden Chapman
slithering.serpents@gmail.com
http://slitheringserpents.com