Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just read Jimi's response below,
I've noticed that some of my carpets have been doing the same, I've never seen them do this before... as well I've noticed that the "soakers" are in the process of shedding now, which makes me think this isn't a good thing
I didn't see any signs of mites,
What else could this possibly be?
Of course I will be taking one to the vet soon, but he charges me out the @ss, so I can't take my entire colony..
Is Pyran a feasible option?
Many thanks
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Best Regards,
Cori
www.snakeroom.net

First of all, I hope that you quarantine any new animals when you add them to your collection. I would especially hope this with you because I know you have some particulary expensive snakes.

As for the soaking, I've never had any of my carpets soak; but then again, I don't give them large water bowls. I wouldn't be alarmed by occasional soaking, especially if the snake is in shed. You might want to look at your humidity levels if a lot of them are soaking while they're in shed. I would definitely make sure your snakes don't have mites if they're constantly in their water bowls, though. Snakes also sometimes will submerge themselves in their water if they lack a hiding spot.

Jake

It could be any of those things you said as well. There is alot to look at, but you can usually expect to find mites. pretty much everybody gets mites at least once. I've had them twice. both times when I first noticed the mites, they were soaking in thier water bowls. since your carpet is near shed, that makes me 2nd guess mites because maybe it just needs to soak to shed. Do you mist your enclosures? I sure hope so. misting is all they need to help thier shed.

i'm puttin my money on mites. good luck

I know you said they look like they are in shed, but check your temps as well. The recent arrival of summerish conditions have possibly raised your enclosure temps and the best temp chosen by the snake is in the water bowl.
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http://www.moreliapythons.com

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http://www.moreliapythons.com

I believe that pythons (probably all snakes to some extent) will use the water dish as an insulator to help them buffer the temp range they are given. The water dish in the cage is constantly fluctuating from day to nighttime temp. But it never gets as warm as the cage gets in the daytime and then never gets to fully lose the absorbed heat once night rolls around. We have documented this incessant soaking many times in Carpets and moreso in scrubs during their winter cooling. Doug Taylor has also seen this in his Madagascar Tree Boas. We are from the school of thought that females will try to stay as cool as possible as constant as possible during the maturation of their infertile ova in preparation for ovulation. Recorded body temps from our soaking Southern Scrubs during winter range from 72-75 degrees all day and night longwhile the provided cage temps will fluctuate between 70 (NTL) and
80-82 (DTH) degrees. Just for the record, we have had our females soak for almost a month at a time. Doug's MTBs soak for almost twice that. Maybe he'll chime in here..
Sometimes I kick 'em out of the water just so they can dry off from time to time. Also, juvie snakes can and will do this when they are too cold or too warm as well. All in the name of thermoregulation!
-Yasser
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"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
- Mario Andretti

my carpet had what i beleive to be a preegglay shed about 2 weeks ago and she has soaked alot lately like almost the whole past week is this a bad sighn? or possibly a good one thanks
for any help
simon

That is a tough one to answer.
It would possibly be a bad sign if she were truly gravid...but then again, if she were gravid, she would not be soaking much.
BUT, if the shed was actually her pre-ovulation shed, then you'd be right on target for ovulation to occur. Many folks, including myself, will jump the gun when they see their snake get fat looking. One often thinks "oh yeay! It's gravid" but in fact, the snake is just developing the unfertilized ova in preparation for ovulation and subsequent fertilization.. It is hard to say where the snake is reproductively without seeing the ovulation. One thing I will say, I have always seen that once females become gravid, they will be glued to their basking spots if they are adequate. If it is too warm, they will go on and off of the heat so as not to get too warm. That's where those infrared thermometers come in handy. I don't look at cage temps, I look at body temps. Those are often two very different things even though snakes are "cold blooded". Ugh...I hate that term.
Hope I helped a bit.
-Yasser

>>my carpet had what i beleive to be a preegglay shed about 2 weeks ago and she has soaked alot lately like almost the whole past week is this a bad sighn? or possibly a good one thanks
>>for any help
>>simon

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"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
- Mario Andretti

As Yassar said, my Madagascar Tree Boa females will soak for months at a time... day or night, hot or cold. When I brought this topic up one time, Yassar suggested it was temperature regulation for ova. You know, after 2 months soaking, the female MTB got dark and started basking daily (100% sign of being gravid).

The 3 reasons I consider that a snake would soak are: 1-The snake has mites 2-The snake is too hot 3-The snake is "buffering" temperatures to protect ova from temp swings.

I'm pretty convinced that YM was right on target when he suggested "buffering" and now if I see a female snake soaking, once I rule out mites or the too high cage temps, I'll give her a really big soaking tub. "Madagascar Water Boas".

I haven't had a chance to have any type of carpet python do any soaking... and since my diamonds passed away, it won't be happening anytime soon.

Doug T

That may explain the behavior of my adult female coastal this past winter. We moved just before winter from Colorado to LA. I know she didn't have mites and she really wasn't shedding but she was in the water bowl 2-3 times a week for hours on end. She kept soaking from around the middle of November to the beginning of Febuary.

At the time I just thought it was her being 'weird' again. She's know for being a bit unusual. As a hatchling she would get so confused as to what was my fingers and what was her body that her little tail often times would wrap around her neck. She would then proceed to choke herself(as she paniced because something had her by the neck) for a few seconds before she figured it out. There are other antics but thats my favorite.

It would make sense that she was buffering her temps. She just turned 3 last year and LA is a diffrent climant compared to Colorado. I'm not sure if it would make much diffrence (because we keep the house temps regulated)but it could have been a small factor.

Darci