washing bps

[lilyskip]

Huxley's gettin' a lil' stinky, and I was thinking about washing him with a little bit of soap. Is there a specific kind I should use (i'm worried about toxins, irritants, etc. His tank is kept very poop-free...I'm not sure where the smell came from, except maybe normal snakey activities.

[Jeff_Favelle]

Don't bother.

Your snake should NOT be getting "stinky". There must be something wrong, either with your husbandry or your husbandry, LOL! Snakes don't smell. They have no odor.

[ReptiZone]

I am with Jeff on this. snake don't have sweat glands there for they can not give off a sent unles you are just cleaning the fecal defication and not removing the urinal defication properly.

[mykee]

If you really feel the need and won't take no for an answer, just use plain old simple water. This should do the trick. The old urate and/or poop smell should rinse right off. (BTW, I don't even want to know what you were doing with your snake that close to your sniffer to notice.)

[Infectrix]

Yeaap, this is one reasons why I clean out an enclosure thoroughly anytime I find urates or poop. If you let it sit, the odor will just stick. Like mykee stated, just use water.

[lilyskip]

i'm not sure what's wrong...as soon as i find poop i change the paper. it could be that i keep a towel over the top when it's not humid enough, so the air gets stagnant. could it also be that the scent from coiling around the mouse leaves a smell?

(BTW, I don't even want to know what you were doing with your snake that close to your sniffer to notice.)
I know you said you didn't want to know, but I'll tell ya anyway :D Huxley crawls on the top of my classes, so he is usually right in front of my nose while doing this and that's when I noticed. Is it possible that it is a normal snake smell, but because normal people don't smell their snakes (I assume) they don't find the need to wash them?

[MouseKilla]

Makes me want to market a snake shampoo. You know like the water "neutralizers" or "shed aids" and all that other junk that you can buy at the pet stores for unbelievably high prices, suprised it's not out there already, right next to the snake leashes. I always thought molting and cage cleaning precluded any need to bathe your snake (except if you have, God forbid, MITES!!ahh Jesus NO!). This may seem appropriate for a snake small enough to have crawling about on your head but try to picture the burm or retic keepers scrubbing away at those beasts (remember the pic with the Thai kid?). Letting the little guy have a swim in some 80 - 90· water in the tub won't hurt him though but I'd skip the soap.

[Yve]

Lilyskip, sometimes they'll get there' urates on themselves, their not to worried about impressing anyone,lol. I clean up their poop and urates as soon as i notice, and I check on them everyday. I consider that good husbandry and they still get some icky stuff on them. I keep a spare rubbermaid, stick it in the tub put some water in it and let the snake swim around for a minute, that solves the stinky problem!:D I guess its not a concern if you're not handling the animal because it will sluff off or rub off eventually.

[Andy_G]

I think it would be a bad idea to wash your snake, but sometimes they do crawl over their feces or urates no matter how quick you remove them, but they tend not to. I haven't had much of a problem with smelly pet snakes heh.

[sapphire_moon]

I notice that if I don't get to my male bp's snake quick enough he will actually lay on it. But yes after that he does get a kind of smell to him. I just run him under some warm water. and my hand and "wipe" off the water and the smell is usually gone.

[T.O-SK8TER]

I wash my burm if he gets blood on him from his prey. I use Dove because it has no perfumes or fragrance, then I rinse him off in the shower, please don't use this method of cleansing your snake on my credibility I do not want to be responsible for any mishaps.

[RepTylE]

you can market snake shampoo, MouseKilla,
I'll market a snake deoderant, we gonna be rich, man :)

[mykee]

Lilyskip, it sounds like people are attacking your husbandry, I'm not attacking your husbandry. I have smelly snakes after they pee in their rubbermaids. They get wet, and I know it's not water, I just run them under the tap and voila! They smell like snakes again. That's if snakes even have a smell (I've never smelled any of mine).

[lilyskip]

thanks mykee. i'm not really sure what a normal snake smell is, so that might be what I'm smelling, but I will probably rinse him with some warmish water.

[sapphire_moon]

I know that when my bp's go to the bathroom they can get really smelly.

I know it may sound strange but I regularly sniff my bp's sides. I figure that if a humans/dogs/cats/birds/frogs/fish etc.... smells can change when they get sick, why not a bp........*shrugs*

[MouseKilla]

Wow, that does sound weird! LOL! You may be on to something, who knows? Just hope no one walks in on you in the middle of doing that. They might think you're in the midst of some unholy courtship with the beasts. Trust me, you don't need THOSE charges being printed next to your name in the local paper, it's the kind of thing that's hard to live down.

[RepTylE]

LOL, yeah the stigma of being tagged as a snake sniffer would be a terrible thing. You'd have to eat your lunch all by yourself