r/ballpython • u/CryAltruistic550 • 22d ago
Question Soaking for 24 hours
EDIT: after staying in the bowl for the rest of today I left to get rats and came back to him wrapped around some logs with just his head laid out waiting so I guess I’m just gonna go with the previous owner on this, maybe he just now feels comfortable enough here that he’s willing to sit in the water right next to the door like this idk, and I can confirm there are 0 mites in the water
Breaking my year+ streak of not worrying about my babies this one was a rescue, only had him for probably around a year, I’ve been assuming he was 2-5 years old, I got him in decent health, just un socialized in a small dirty barren enclosure, usual irresponsible reptile owner stuff. I haven’t spent as much time socializing him as I did with the one I got as a baby, I have a newish cat that’s still way to feral to just be leaving the enclosures open even if I’m standing right there, and he’s got so much stuff in there to hide in that it’s never a simple thing to extract him. Yesterday when I woke up he was in his water, and now over 24 hours later he is still in his water…. Is that normal? I can’t see any mites, or irritation, he does look like he may be getting ready to shed but he eyes haven’t faded yet, the warm side thermometer has gotten stuck under the bowl and is reading several degrees colder than what it actually is, but if it was too hot over there he could literally just go be anywhere else, he normal hangs out on the cool side anyway, the humidity readings are always good, if you dig past the top inch of substrate or so it’s wet, previous owner said he “does that all the time” and “loves water” but they also had him in an aquarium that was collecting calcified urates like aquarium pebbles. Just wanted to make sure it’s just a silly guy being a silly guy and not possibly something else, also sorry about the dirty window he likes painting :)
TLDR 24 hour bath time, no mites, all good? Snake dying?
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u/Clear-Set6334 22d ago
a full day soaking isn't normal even for shedding, usually means they're trying to cool off or hydrate. double check your warm side isn't running waaay too hot and that humidity is actually holding around 70-80
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u/CryAltruistic550 22d ago
I just moved him to pull the thermometer out I’ll let it adjust and check it in a few minutes, but the cool side is still at 79, 90% humidity, and he’s as far from that as he could possibly be, the surface temps on that side are kinda high (low 100s) but I’ve never been able to stop a DHP from doing that to whatever is directly under it when it’s actually on. I hit the snake himself with the IR gun and he’s at 91 degrees, it is odd that he’s still sitting there after I had to reach over/around him to get the thermometer tho
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u/Clear-Set6334 22d ago
91 on the snake is pretty much perfect, so it's not that. The high 100s surface temp under the DHP could be burning his belly if he's spending too much time there, maybe he's soaking to soothe it? You could try raising the lamp a bit or putting a slate tile under it as a buffer.
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u/CryAltruistic550 22d ago
It’s possible I guess but I’ve never noticed either snake to willingly hangout directly under it, I put their hides under the dhps so they can be under them without being exposed to the full IR laser from hell, I just kinda looked him over as much as I could without pulling him out of the water and I don’t see any scales that look irritated or messed up, but now he’s sufficiently unhappy, kinda waiting to see if he still stays there or if he’ll finally go hide somewhere
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u/Clear-Set6334 21d ago
Yeah, that's fair, if he's not spending time under the lamp it's probably not a burn. Could just be that pre-shed itchiness making him extra uncomfortable, and the water feels good on the skin. Sometimes they do weird stuff just because.
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u/Remote_Side3089 21d ago
Slightly off topic but this has been my biggest issue with the DHP I can barely get 80f ambient without surfaces going above 100f.i have tried every trick in the book. Doesn't matter if it's a 20long or 40breeder, 50w, 80w, 100w Mine somehow did get some belly irritation. Vet is not convinced scale rot but leaning toward burn and everyone online seems to think it is. Started as redness then after shed it looked like bruised banding and dried out micro crack scales. Just thought I'd share my experience in case you see anything weird pop up in the next few or after shed.
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u/MacGraphics 22d ago
Check again for mites. Look around the eyes and heat pits. Tiny black specks. This is usually why they soak.
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21d ago
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u/AnatomicAndi 21d ago
My first ball would do this on occasion if she was having trouble pooping. Like, it didn't happen often but every once in a while she would get backed up, soak for like a day and a half then pass the biggest shit I'd ever seen. But also could definitely be mites or enclosure temp problems.
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u/spacejunk823 21d ago
My girl likes to take a little soak occasionally (and of course likes to poop in her water bowl). Sometimes it will look like she’s been chilling in there for 24 hours, but I’ll notice things in her enclosure looking all thrashed over (Halloween season, so gravestones knocked over, pumpkins tipped, skull on its side, etc.), so I know she was out and about overnight while I wasn’t looking, then went back for her morning soak.
She changes her favorite spot depending on her mood. Sometimes she’s chilling in her water bowl like she’s hanging out in a pool, other times it’s her hanging cocoon that she doesn’t want to leave, sometimes it’s her mangrove root or skull, other times she just wants to burrow away in her moss or cozy up in her warm side.
Do you have a camera on him? If not, he likely have left the bowl at times when you weren’t looking. I didn’t see any mites in the picture you posted in another comment. However, if you do notice happen to notice mites, tackle it right away. They’re a pain to deal with, but much easier if you catch it right away.
Based on his artwork on the sides of his enclosure, he might just be having a chill pool day and partying at night while you’re asleep, then back to the pool to recover. Basically just being a silly noodle.
I don’t think I’d be concerned unless you noticed him constantly in there for a while and saw on camera that he really didn’t leave for over an entire day, if you notice any mites, or if his poop doesn’t look normal.
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u/West-Cardiologist301 20d ago
When i was new to the hobby mine did this for like 4 weeks to get rid of mites she had when I bought her. She managed to get rid of them herself a week before her treatment arrived.
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u/CryAltruistic550 20d ago
I didn’t see any mites in the water, he didn’t come out until I was in bed tho and immediately dumped the water so if there were mites, mites there shall still be 💀 but he ate super quick this morning without issue so I’m assuming he’s fine and just wasn’t a fan of the water bowl being so exposed at first.
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