I need some advice about my ball python.....?

Question

my ball python will not soak in her water hides...i know that the tank is not humid enough for her because of the fact that she has not shed correctly....is there any advice that you can give me?

Answer 1

If your snake is having a bad shed take a plastic box, either a plastic shoe box or plastic sweater box, if it's a larger snake get a bigger tub but get one that is short instead of tall…something that would go under your bed…and drill several small holes along the sides at the top.  Put about an inch of lukewarm water (about 80 Fahrenheit) and put the top on the plastic tub and “soak” the snake for about 3 hours (changing the water every so often if needed).  The reason to do this in a plastic tub with only an inch or so of water is because it's the humidity that this creates that helps the skin loosen and come off easier for your snake.  Good luck.

Answer 2

I am not sure if there is a way to make her soak but you can try misting her at least once a day maybe more. Especially when she is getting ready shed. The misting should help, good luck.

Answer 3

Some people find this unnecessary, but I found that it helps. Soaking reptiles in warm water during their shedding period (if there are troubles) seems to help a lot. It loosens stuck shed so that the snake can rub it off much easier.

Answer 4

Of all the BPs I've had only 1 has ever used it's humid hide. The best bet is to raise the overall humidity of the tank. The easiest way to do that is to go with a homemade setup from a plastic tub. I'm guessing if you're like most other hobbyists you don't want to do that. Which means you'll need to work with what you have.

First if you use an overhead heat lamp get rid of it. For two reasons

1) BPs need the belly heat provided by a UTH to properly digest their food.

2) The overhead lamp will destroy any effort you put forth to raise your humidity.

Get cypress mulch as substrate. It works wonders for helping to bump up the humidity. When you first put it into the tank you'll want to take plain water and a clean spray bottle and mist the mulch. You'll probably have to do this every 2 or 3 days.

Completely cover the top of the tank except for about a 6-8 inch gap across the top to keep water from escaping but still allowing an exchange of air. I've always used a 3 layer system. 1 layer of tin foil sandwiched between 2 layers of plastic wrap and duct taped on.

Get a larger water bowl. Not deeper, wider. The wider it is the more surface are to evaporate and thus more humidity. Put the bowl half on and half off of the side with the UTH as this will help evaporation.

Finally take the tank out of areas that have drafts. The less air blowing across it the better for keeping humidity up.

Once you get all of this setup leave it alone for about 48 hours with and then check to make sure your temps and humidity levels are right. If you don't already have one I suggest getting an Acu-rite thermometer/hygrometer from wal-mart. It costs about $15.00 works great. Attach it to the cool end of the tank about 1-2 inches off the mulch and run the probe to the other end where the heat pad is and attach it there. Then you can keep an eye on the temps on both the hot and cool side as well as the overall humidity.

That should help you solve the more long-term problem, but more immediately you can do as someone already suggested and bathe your snake in a warm bath. It's pretty easy and works well.

Get a plastic container with a lid and fill it with enough TEPID water that it comes up to about 1/4 of her height while she's lying flat. Poke some air holes in the lid and then put a washcloth and her in there together and shut the lid. Then put the plastic container into her tank over the side with the UTH. If you don't use a UTH put it on the warm side but make sure the heat source isn't baking her in the plastic container. Let it sit there for about 20 to 30 minutes and then take her out.

Let her crawl through the wash cloth in your hands and if she was needing to shed she should start doing so. Whatever you do DON'T rip the shed off with your hands! Let her do it. You might find you have to do this two or three times before the process completes. Only do it once a day and let her work at it herself. If she still needs help the next day do it again.

The reason you only do it once a day is because soaking her in water can actually do more damage than good if you do it too often. Snakes has oils between the old and new layers of skin that they produce to help in shedding and soaking them can leach out the oils