Whats wrong with my ball?

[roastedspleen]

While i was soaking my ball in warm water a few minutes ago. He started spazzing out and waving around his head with his mouth open. Whats wrong??

 

[AB's]

While i was soaking my ball in warm water a few minutes ago. He started spazzing out and waving around his head with his mouth open. Whats wrong??

If the temp of the water was warm to the touch then it was probably far too hot for the Royal as our body temp is already 37 degrees so to feel warm would put it much higher than that.

 

[Strange_Evil]

Why are you even soaking the snake? Keep your humidity up, and if he smells a bit wipe him down,no need to do such a stressful thing to the snake.

You can't just through him in the water,sounds like he freaked out. Defenitley re frame from doing that again and watch him.

 

[roastedspleen]

I soak him cuz his humidity is terrible because he has a screen top but i will refrain from soaking from now on

 

[james.w]

What are you using for substrate? Cover the screen with foil/wood/Plexiglas to hold humidity in. If needed make a humid hide or two so he can go in as he feels necessary.

 

[AB's]

Bigger water bowl and a moss hide should help.

 

[Strange_Evil]

I soak him cuz his humidity is terrible because he has a screen top but i will refrain from soaking from now on

Try covering a third of the screen with tin foil, using substrate that holds moisture,like cypress. Try not to over mist to the point where the subsrtae is soaked,a lot of keepers do this and end up with an infection of some sort like scale rot.

Or you could use the K.I.S.S (keep it simple stupid) method like i do and just switch over to a tub! Works wonders!

 

[turtlepunk]

^yeah I would ditch the glass tank and use a tub, I don't even use substrate in my tubs, just newspaper, and my snakes shed fine including my three ball pythons =)

 

[dragonmetalhead]

My ball python lives in a Zilla 40 gallon with Eco Earth as substrate. He turned 11 yesterday and over the years he's lived in other typical pet store terrariums and has had several other substrates. I only soak him when he's about to shed or if he has pieces of shed that get stuck. Ball pythons don't need high humidity and like Strange Evil said, too much can cause health issues.