Here are 5 real facts about giving a bath to your pet snake. Ball pythons are sensitive creatures, and you have to look after everything.
Do Ball Pythons Need Baths? Ball Pythons do not like to get wet. Snakes only need a bath if they have mites or constipation. You should keep the water temperature between 28ᵒ C to 30ᵒ C, which is just the perfect temperature for your Ball Python to relax.
This article has explained proven methods to give a bath to a snake; follow this step-by-step guide.
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Why Do Ball Pythons Need Baths?
If you even try to bathe them forcefully, he will attack you. Now there are a few unusual situations when snakes will be desperate to get soaked in water.
There is no doubt that they like to stay warm, and there is a fixed temperature until they are comfortable. When the temperature rises above their comfort level, then for sure, they want to get drenched in a water bowl or take a cold bath to ease them off.
Secondly, snakes always like a humid environment because moisture is perfect for their skin. So whenever they find their low moisture environment, they would love to bathe as soon as possible. Few snakes can live inside a tub, however, you should arrange the required material first.
Usually, some ticks and mites would crawl under their skin, and when it happens, they start sucking the blood out of them, which would eventually lead to their death.
During this situation, your snake would be uncomfortable and get dangerous as well. So it is best if you pour some water on them because these little insects cannot survive inside and eventually leave their host.
Ball Pythons need Warm Water Baths for Certain Situations
A Ball Python usually sheds its skin once a month; it is easier for them to change the skin in a humid environment. Whereas when the humidity is low, the skin will get stuck at some point, which starts to irritate them.
Now here, you can put him in a shallow bowl, which eases off muscles, and helps to shed the skin in a few minutes.
Next, when the temperature goes down, their muscles usually start to contract, and here they start to get a problem with their bowel movement. At this point, simple warm water will ease off their muscles and help them poop. Otherwise, they can die from stress.
Things to Consider While Giving Bath to a Ball Python
When you are already aware of the conditions, giving a bath is necessary. Providing a bath to them is not similar to giving a bath to any other pet. They like to be kept together, so you do not have to worry about this.
Here at this point, you need to be careful and have to go according to your snake’s mood. If your snake is not comfortable, then you can get yourself in a hazardous situation because, at this point, it can bite you or get your neck in its grip.
You should have someone with you as a backup, especially while bathing them whenever you take it out of its cage.
What is the right water temperature for your Snake Bath?
Like all other snakes, these are also cold blood. So keeping them in a cold environment or a cold bath for a longer time could get your snake in a severe health condition.
So if you are using cold water, you need to make sure that it is not for a very long time. Otherwise, you need to set the temperature to around 30ᵒ C.
Furthermore, whenever you take them out of their cage, then make sure that the Air conditioner is turned off because a little blow of so much cold air might get your snake sick.
How to give a bath to a Ball Python?
Like other family members, these are also large snakes, and they do not like compact places.
So if you have a large container where your snake can easily stretch inside, then it’s okay; otherwise, you can choose a tub, which is large enough for them even to swim around.
Besides, you need to make sure that you should not fill the tub a lot; just an inch of depth is enough and comfortable. These snakes do not like to stay in water for a longer time, so this much depth is just perfect.
It can get a little uncomfortable at the start, but soon it will start to relax and start swimming.
Sometimes, they need to ease his muscles and hydrate him if there is any dehydration.
So the duration of 15 to 20 mins is enough. Usually, they urinate or exert waste right after a bath, so the best method is to place him outside for a while or put him in an extra cage if it is available.
Once you have completed the procedure, then take him out very gently, and also make sure that you take him out with extra care because there is a possibility that it is not happy from that bath, and it could attack you at the very moment when you try to grab him.
Once it is out of the tub, the next step is to gently clean him up with a soft cloth or towel. Not all Pythons are similar in Nature, few of them hate water, and then others want to spend a lot more time in the water than on dry land.
So if it likes to take a swim, you will notice it soon because he will continuously try to get himself wet from the bowl in his cage. The bowl is not a large one, so he will try to take those dips repeatedly, and this process is easy to notice by anyone.
So at this point, you might reconsider placing a water dish inside the enclosure with the same quality and temperature as the water you usually have been using regularly. Plus, make sure that the dish is not filled with more than an inch of depth, which is also the same as others.
So this was all about bathing your Ball Python accurately, and you might have already realized that keeping it is not like keeping any regular pets. You should be careful with the temperature and water quality as well.