Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a pueblan who is comfortable with multiple hides who is mite free with perfect temps who for some reason soaks in his water bowl. The only thing i find bizarre about it is that he ONLY does it after he eats, for the whole day. anyone witnessed or can explain this?

Yes, I have seen this behavior before in certain individual's. What exactly are your "perfect" temps?

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

what i meant by perfect temps is that they dont fluctuate. i keep the whole room heated between 77-80 always. the behavior struck me as funny and made me think it wasnt a temp problem because he never soaks. only right after he eats.

I see. For optimum digestion to make certain there is never a regurge problem, you might want to tap the temp up just a tad, maybe to 83 or so at the warm side of the spectrum, and this "could" even be the reason the snake is soaking after it eats, but we can't be certain of this unless there is a bit of experimentation done here. but those temps seem pretty good to me.

I will say that MANY of my snakes seek their water bowls when temps start getting a bit warm and reach about exactly 85 or above.

The fact that your snake does this may be because the water in the bowl is more of a constant temp than the ambient air when the room gets slightly cooler, so the water in the bowl would stay warmer for a bit longer than the air itself. So the snake might be attempting to raise it's temp one or two degrees higher. Not saying this for certain, but it certainly IS a possibility.

~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

thats interesting...i have only had one regurgitation in years and that was due to shedding (what i attributed it to) the snake is healthy and has ate well ever since. i posted a question on the general forum on heating an entire room as i have been doing it this way for a few months. you seem to have alot of experience and i am very open to suggestions.

You seem to be doing very well then, and I don't think there is anything out of wack at all with what you are doing. Just watch that the relative humidity doesn't get to low, as space heaters tend to dry the air substancially. When things get below around 40%, you may want to get a cheap humidifying unit of some sort to keep it in the good range so there are no shedding problems.

And yes, I have 42 years of serious snake experience, since the age of seven..LOL! My mom would even buy my snakes for Christmas and birthdays,.......snakes are indeed my life passion.

thanks!, ~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

A couple things could explain this. First, you didnt mention a hot spot or the use of belly heat which directly affects digestion. Being in the water(a better heat conductor than air), the temp is more stable. Also, did you recently increase the size of the food items? The suddenly new expansion will be easier to deal with in the water. Lastly, as mentioned, the humidity could have drastically changed. Snakes need access to water to help in their digestion. Hope this helps, good luck.

thanks for the input jeff. tell you the truth i still dont understand the phenomenon. There is no belly heat or hot spot because the entire room is heated. (milks dont bask anyway) and hes getting plenty of heat for digestion. he always has access to water. humidity is where it should be and hes eating appropriately sized meals. shrugs. he seems to get in there the day he eats and hes out the next day and never soaks again (until you feed him again) quirky little guy.

I have racks set up and some snakes just soak more than others. I would suggest that for that one day it would prefer higher temps to aid in digestion. The higher the temp the more digestive enzymes can be produced. Experiment by creating a hot spot before you feed him next. If it prefers the water to the hot spot...you got an anaconda in disguise.