Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am new to carpets so had a question. My new IJCP has been soaking in her water bowl all day. She has been in there for over 12 hours. Is this common with carpets? The first thing I checked for was mites but I do not see any on her or in her water. Just to answer any questions here is how she is setup:

24" Neodesh cage
Aspen on top of paper towel as substrate
Waterbowl/hide on cool side-73 degree
Climbing branch
Hide on hot side 88 degree

She is an CBB'04 so probably only 22-24" long. This may be no big deal but none of my rats have ever soaked like this so figured I should ask just in case. I did a search on here and the mites/temperature was all that wash suggested so just checking. I also have not seen that she went blue but she was hiding for a couple of days this week so maybe that is it? Here is the pic of the setup just in case this will help answer any questions.

-----
0.0.1 Amel Motley Corn (Cosmo '03)
0.1 Baird's Ratsnake (Sugaree '04)
1.0 White Oaks Grey Rat (Tennesse Jed '04)
0.1 IJ Carpet Python (Cassidy '04)
1.1 Shepherd mix (Dylan 5yrs, Porter 10 months)

My carpet soaks like that when it's about to "drop a load" and almost always leaves it in the water. It could also be using the water as a hide spot. With those log hides being open on both sides like it is, it might not feel safe there. Also, since you are only offering a hide spot on the warm side of the cage, it could use the water as a hide on the cooler side. Try offering a hide spot on both the warm and cool side and see how that works. It could be nothing. I use newspaper as a substrate that way they can hide underneath it on either the cool or warm side, which ever they feel like. The newspaper isn't visually appealing but is very easy to clean, cheap and offers the option of hiding underneath it wherever they want to.

dont know if this will help any. i have a blood python that will lay in his water bowl for days and sometimes weeks if i dont pull him out.thats typical for bloods before a shed though. i have a carpet but i dont have have a container big enough for her to soak in. however i do like to give her baths on occasion but she doesnt really enjoy being in the water even when in shed until after a few minutes of rubbing her down.just be sure to not rub the snake down too much or this will rub the preshed skin off and sometimes will "rub them raw"
-----

1.0.1 Redtail boa
0.1.1 blood python
1.0 dumeril boa
1.0 carpet python

Mine did the same thing when she was about the same age. Sometimes she'd spend days in there, only coming out when I took her out. I wouldn't worry about it.

Your snake probably has mites. Mine was doing that a week ago, and now she has mites. Did you put anything new in the cage?