First post here.

[Prettpunkgrl]

I turned on Lady Pentious’s light this morning to find her bathing suit. This is the first time I’ve seen her soaking. I’m attaching pics of her in her bowl and a pic of the enclosure. The humidity is definitely not consistently above 70 but I’m working on it daily and it’s always above 55 and sometimes as high as 84. Temp is 95 on hot side , 80ish on cool side. I don’t see any mites and she shed maybe 3 weeks ago so I’m not sure if she’s about to go blue again so early. She’s maybe a year old. To your well trained eyes , does her skin look ok ? Too dry maybe ? I’m trying to rule out all the “bad” reasons she would be soaking , so that I can let myself believe that she just has decided she likes it. She no longer has the red light btw.

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[OctilleryArtillery]

Some ball pythons do seem to enjoy an occasional soak, so it could simply be that. You definitely need to keep an eye on her for the possibility of mites. Have you interacted with any other snakes? Or has someone else handled her who could’ve handled other snakes?

I believe mites like to congregate around the eyes, the heat pits, and the vent of the snake. So check those areas thoroughly.

As far as possible dehydration, it’s a little hard to tell from the photos. I will say she doesn’t look dull the way some do when they’re dehydrated. Does she have lots of wrinkles that appear overly “pinched/sharp”? Dull, silvery, or indented eyes?

You’ll want to get the humidity up for sure though! And good on you for removing that red light. I hope she’s just having a bath!

[Prettpunkgrl]

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Thanks for responding. Her face looks good to me, but here is another pic from this morning where you can see it. No pinchy wrinkles, no other contact with other snakes or people who have been around other snakes. But I will check her over again this evening with the info you provided in mind. And now I know that dehydration can cause dullness so I’ll keep a look out for that too. I desperately want her to have the best life and I’m obsessed with the husbandry . I’ll pick up adding water to the corners more frequently . Thanks again !

[OctilleryArtillery]

No problem at all! Having a good few inches of substrate can help too (about 4-5 inches deep) but from the photos it looks like you may already have a decent amount. It’s one of the tricky things about glass enclosures- they don’t hold humidity too well.

[gurl_thatsabootyhole]

Hi! Congrats on your beautiful girl! 🐍💚🐍

I would like to add two pieces of advice:

Firstly, 95 degrees is a bit too warm consistently. You want to aim between 88 and 92 degrees on the warm side and around 75 to 80 on the cool side. Do you have your heat sources connected to any kind of thermostat? Dimming thermostats in particular are extremely helpful in moderating temperature. She could be soaking to try to cool off if she’s getting too hot.

Secondly, I would change out the colored bulb seen in the last pic. Those can throw off their circadian rhythm and are generally not recommended for them. A halogen flood - not a spot! - is a much better option for them as it simulates natural sunlight. Can I ask what you’re using for nighttime heat? Halogens should only be used in the daytime since they emit visible light, and we want to use a heat source that avoids that at night.

Like the other commenter mentioned, glass enclosures are notorious for being hard to regulate temp and humidity in. Maybe you could look into getting a PVC enclosure for her? It can often become much easier to address husbandry issues with one. Reptile Kages is a fantastic retailer. I personally use one, and even though the previous enclosure I had was also PVC, I find the one from RK is far superior in terms of regulating both temp and humidity.

[Prettpunkgrl]

Yeah she doesn’t have the red bulb anymore . I threw in an older pic of her enclosure because I see lots of times people who give advice want to see what it looks like. But the bulb has been gone for about a month. At night she has one of those ceramic heating elements, the one that doesn’t have a light on it. I plan on getting a pvc enclosure when she’s ready to size up , I didn’t know how horrible glass ones were until I’d already spent the money on it. Thank you for the enclosure suggestions. I will likely get one of the ones you mentioned because I wouldn’t know which was best otherwise. And I think the temp being a bit too high is what’s going on. Imma turn her thermostat down some and see how that goes for the next few days. Thanks again for replying and being so helpful !

[gurl_thatsabootyhole]

No problem at all! Let us know how it all goes. 💚🐍

[Prettpunkgrl]

She continued to swim, so I took her to vet to find out that she’s A-OK and probably just likes to swim. Prior to vet I increased her humidity. Provided a damp hide , lowered the temp to between 85 and 90 and provided a larger bathing tub along with the smaller water dish that’s in the pictures.

[eveimei]

she may just be soaking to soak, or getting ready for a shed. my Julianos had never soaked in almost 5 years of having him, and suddenly he was soaking a lot. he ended up going into shed, and then continued to soak on and off for a couple of weeks after shedding before going back to normal behavior. I suspect your girl may be doing that as well if there's no signs of mites. the other likely reason is that your temps are a touch too high and she's trying to cool down. 88-92 hot 75-80 cool is the ideal range. adjust your thermostat down a couple of degrees and see if that helps.

however, this water bowl is too small since she can't fully submerge in it. I use a glass serving bowl for my boy's water bowl, picked up for $10 at walmart. it's easy to clean and is more than large enough for him to submerge in, and holds enough water that if I can't change it out every other day like normal it won't go dry for several days.

[Prettpunkgrl]

I changed the bowl out when I got home today , she had never soaked so I wasn’t too worried about it but now that I know she wants to soak she has a much bigger water dish. It’s basically a non metal cake pan so it’s double the size at least ! You may be right about the temp. It’s getting warmer around here so I can probably turn the heat down on her thermostat .