will it hurt to bath my snakes?

[snakeman87]

hey guys, i hear a lot of talk about people bathing there snakes. is it recommended or beneficial in any way? and if so is there anything special needs doing, water temps, depths etc...

 

[hayden123113]

I do it, sometimes it helps them shed, other times they might just smell bad (my olive sometimes likes to sit in his own crap). Room temp water should be right, I guess the depth depends on the size of the snake, but make sure the snake can get out easily if it wants, you don't want to stress it out.

 

[Ninabuddha]

i believe it is benificial to bath your reptile, i bath both my beared dragon and my coastal carpet it helps them shed cleaner and they don't lose scales when they shed. it also cools them down on a hot day as the weather has been hot the past month.

for my snake as she isnt fond of water due to her last owner, he use to throw her in his pool she stresses out so i have a small log in the bath that is half merged into the water this allows her to feel and still soak

 

[Chris82]

It won't hurt them at all and can be quite beneficial for snakes to move and soften un passed stools that maybe hardened in one way or another. In terms of the temp of the water I'd personally make it around the lower temperature of your gradient in your enclosure. So around 25-27 degrees I think would be suitable. The depth will depend on the size of your snake. I wouldn't make it too deep so that the snake would be able to touch the bottom comfortably and even still I would place a rock so that they're able to grab onto. The snake can tire quickly so I'd stay with them to prevent drowning too

 

[longqi]

For temperature use 2c warmer than temperature in your viv
Otherwise you risk causing respiratory infections if they stay in too long
Cooler temps will also drop the reptiles core temperature meaning that if they want out they may not have the energy to do so

We put milk crates etc in the water so if they want out they can get out

 

[snakeman87]

no worries, and thanks for the info guys.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

There really is no point in bathing a snake unless it is dirty. All you do is stress them out by putting them in water when they don't choose to go into it themselves. Ninabuddha, your snake simply doesn't like being bathed... it's not because of any previous experience. Very large snakes, such as the large tropical pythons longqi sees frequently, are more comfortable in water because it helps animals with heavy bodies neutralise their weight, but most Australian pythons will enter water when it's very hot, or in the case of Olive Pythons, they lie in water waiting for prey to come down to drink. Otherwise, they will pretty much avoid it most of the time.

Try and treat them with the dignity that they deserve, instead of treating them like human babies. They get on very well without baths in the wild, and certainly do not need a bath routinely in captivity.

Jamie

 

[Ramy]

Some of my pythons don't mind a bath, some of them stress like crazy. None of them like it. They all try to leave the water. I only use baths when I feel they are needed, because anything that stresses my animals out is not worth doing. There are very few reasons to bath a snake in my mind:

After a trouble shed (I don't bath before a shed because I assume most of the time they shed fine)
If they really smell (which Is incredibly rare, and I'm more likely to just change their water bowl more often)
If I believe there is a medical need (one of my snakes has had some constipation issues)

 

[junglepython2]

Totally unnecessary unless you need to remove a bad shed.

 

[Chris82]

Why are you guys getting dirty snakes?

the information I posted has been told to me by different vets over the years. Yes baths I think are beneficial to aid in the removal of a badly shed skin, but why are the snakes shedding badly in the first place is the question you have to ask?

back to the post at hand I think it can be beneficial to bath snakes when it is necessary eg bad shed or to loosen potentially hardened faeces. But other than that bathing them for the sake of them I don't agree with due to them being put under un necessary stress, lowering their body temp.

Chris

 

[DarwinBrianT]

I do it, I just let her think she is in control of what she is doing . IMO if you let a snake think its doing what it want's it makes life a lot easer.

Darwin - YouTube

 

[Croickie]

I just keep a large enough water bowl for my snake to soak in on her own. To avoid her soaking in foul water I change it out every night and in the morning


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mje772003]

There really is no point in bathing a snake unless it is dirty. All you do is stress them out by putting them in water when they don't choose to go into it themselves. Ninabuddha, your snake simply doesn't like being bathed... it's not because of any previous experience. Very large snakes, such as the large tropical pythons longqi sees frequently, are more comfortable in water because it helps animals with heavy bodies neutralise their weight, but most Australian pythons will enter water when it's very hot, or in the case of Olive Pythons, they lie in water waiting for prey to come down to drink. Otherwise, they will pretty much avoid it most of the time.

Try and treat them with the dignity that they deserve, instead of treating them like human babies. They get on very well without baths in the wild, and certainly do not need a bath routinely in captivity.

Jamie

My Olive is not so much a fan of the big water bowl but my Water python only in summer likes to sit in the big water bowl I sometimes put ice cubes in the water help them cope with the heat

 

[00Scales00]

None of my snakes like to soak in their water bowls so I see no need to bath them in a tub.. If they wanted water they'd get in it in their enclosure. The only time I bath a snake is after my girls lay eggs to rid the scent and allowing her to calm down and start eating sooner after losing her clutch. She is bathed and the enclosure is scrubbed clean and fresh stuff put in. I have never had a python with shedding issues before so I haven't bathed any for that reason either.