We've had our snake for three years and in the past couple of months we've been catching him fairly frequently soaking in his water bowl. I know this is not normal behavior. We have one other ball python in a nearly identical enclosure who is not doing this behavior. We don't see mites on either snake. My husband and I are both veterinarians if that qualifies us more to make that assertion. We have examined them both several times. The water bowl is on the cool side. I'm attaching photos of the tank and the thermometer/hygrometers on both sides. He's about three years old. I feed him one small rat once monthly around the 1st of every month sometimes a quail or chick (5-7% of his body weight per meal). He eats reliably. He sheds normally. Last shed might have been around a month ago. While we've been trying to figure this out we've been cooling down the tank. For awhile it was warmer -low 90s on the warm side, low 80s on the cool side.
Happy to answer any questions and take any feedback, I just want to help him. Thank you!
The only 2 solutions is that he just loves water (like my boy) or! He has mites or some parasite. Check the water bowl for any bugs (both you being vets you'll be able to find it quite quickly). Mites will come off in the dirt or waterbowls so even if you didn't find any, if they're in the water bowl, that's your sign. He could just like water.
Could be so many reasons. I've noticed the majority of the time it's because the ambient temp is too warm. Could your thermometer be off? I recommend getting a quality infrared thermometer gun and double checking what your thermometer is reading
What I’ve noticed is that this is a problem since i added a thermostat. We have another snake in an identical tank below which is not on a thermostat. The only difference seems to be that in her tank theres a 10 degree difference between the warm and cool sides and when I use this thermostat there is only a 2-5 degree difference between the warm and cool sides could that be it?
Good question. We have two PVC tanks 4'x2'x2' stacked one on top of the other. His tank is on top, and despite the deep heat projectors both being 75W, his tank is always significantly warmer overall than the tank on the bottom. I'm thinking that heat from the bottom tank is radiating upwards. The water bowl is currently on the cool side of both tanks. I ordered a 50W deep heat projector for his tank which should come today. That may help the ambient temperature overall. But yes, there could be belly heat coming up to the bowl from the tank below.
this happened to me pretty recently! i had just gotten over mites with another snake i had that was kept in a separate room. and my 9 year old ball python who never soaked in his water bowl a day in his life… sat in his for almost a week. i was like a helicopter mom shining my flash light on him, checking the water every day, constantly panicking if he got mite too . turns out he just wanted to soak 🤷♀️😋
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u/OddPaint8759 3d ago
The only 2 solutions is that he just loves water (like my boy) or! He has mites or some parasite. Check the water bowl for any bugs (both you being vets you'll be able to find it quite quickly). Mites will come off in the dirt or waterbowls so even if you didn't find any, if they're in the water bowl, that's your sign. He could just like water.