Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone, say, got a quick question. My brand new yellowbelly has been soaking his neck in his water bowl all day. I gave him a bath and he seemed pretty happy about it, but now he's back in the water bowl. Any ideas? He doesn't look like he has mites (granted I don't know exactlly what I'm looking for) and it doesn't look like IBD or anything like that. But I just wanna make sure that he's in good shape for I can let the company I bought him from know if he's not in good condition. We are getting a cold front moving into my area so all the snakes are acting a little wierd. But I dunno on this one. I'm just kinda worried....
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Coolluigi

1.0 Pastel
0.2 Normal
0.1 Spider
1.2 Het VPI Axanthic
1.0 Yellowbelly
and soon to be more. *fingers crossed*

Put a large bowl in the enclosure. Big enough for the snake to fit his entire body. If he soak his entire self in, chances are he probably has mites. He might just be going into shed or dehydrated also.

I have a decent size collection and everytime I see an animal In, not around, in his water bowl I treat it like mites. Call it paranoia, or preventive maintenance.

some snakes like to soak every now and then. it's their nature.

if you are worried about mites, look around their eyes, pits, and under their chin. those are prime hot spots to find out if your snake has mites.

mites are small but you can definately see them with your eyes. female mites are about the size of a poppy seed that you would find on a bagel.

good luck.

Pitoon

I think he was just kind of dry. I misted the cage last night and he got right out of the bowl and wasn't in there this morning. My aprt just get so dang dry it's something I fight all winter long with the balls...
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Coolluigi

1.0 Pastel
0.2 Normal
0.1 Spider
1.2 Het VPI Axanthic
1.0 Yellowbelly
and soon to be more. *fingers crossed*

My ball hates taking a soak but I have a male Dumeril boa that is always in his water dish or when I put him in the tub will stay for hours they are all different.