boa always bathing.

[kenchenzo]

hi everyone as i said my boa is always in his water.
should i turn down the temp please.
thank you.

[percey39]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Have you ever seen black spots on him around his eye's or body. Have you had him for a for long? as if this behaviour has only started recently and you had him for while this will almost definetely be mites. I would recommend giving him a soak in the bath whilst you clean out his entire enclosure and disinfect and treat for mites.

[Feebo]

I`ll second that. Check very carefully for mites. If you don`t have mites for SURE. Look at your temps, if your temps are good, about 95F hot end and 79-81F cool end I wouldn`t worry, my Boas bath for days on end sometimes too, while it always makes me check for mites it`s really nothing to worry about if temps are good and there aren`t any mites present....

[kenchenzo]

thank you.
i got him on sat.
he's around a year old.
i can't see any mites at all.
& he ate yesterday perfectly.

[Feebo]

Then as long as your temps are correct, I wouldn`t worry. If you`ve only had him since saturday that`s not even long enough to observe that he spends "too much time" in the water anyway. Mine spend about a quarter of thier time bathing, maybe more....

[percey39]

I would follow as feebo has said. Just watch to see if he is still coming out of his water though.

[bladeblaster]

what are the temps? 95* is too hot for most Bci in my opinion, most of mine like it around 90* while a couple won't use the basking area at all if it is higher than 87*

[Will0W783]

95 is a bit hot. I would drop the hot end to 85-90 and the cool end around 80 and see if that helps. Also you will not see mites unless you empty the water dish into a white bowl or close the stopper on your sink and pour it in there. You need to look for what look like black sesame seeds with tiny hair-like legs. You won't see them running around the cage or on the snake unless the infestation is critical. At low to moderate levels the only way you'll find them is by examining the water.

[kenchenzo]

i can see a couple of little black specs in the water.
but they don't look like little hairy things.
could it just be dirt he did shed last night by the way.
thank you all.

[percey39]

If you have seen a heap of black spots/specs i would treat for mites to be safe. You dont want a massive infestation and it would be easier to treat straight away.

[Feebo]

Yeeeeeeah they never look like insects really, just little dots. Sounds like mites. 95F is quite warm isn`t it, I use a six foot by three foot tank which is pretty big. That temperature can only be found quite close to the ceramic really and being as there`s soooo much depth in that viv mine are fine with it. I suppose if you were talking about quite a small viv that would push the cool end up too high but it`s ok in my massive viv. I`m going to get my laser thermometer out now ! lol

[Will0W783]

If you see some black specks in the water, treat him for mites to be safe. They won't look like insects- they will look like black sesame seeds. If you look really really closely you can see little thread-like things that are the legs, but you have to know what to look for. Black specks in the water sounds like mites to me, especially with the snake soaking constantly. They will soak to try to drown the mites off of themselves and to sooth the itchy bites. And you have to treat any other snakes you have in the same room as well. Do a Google search for the Nix remedy- it's the safest and most effective in my experience.

[citysnakes]

if it is not high temperatures or mites, sometimes animals will soak if the humidity inside the enclosure is too low.

i quarantine and treat every new animal with PAM no matter who they come from. if you've already introduced this new boa into your collection then you should treat every animal for mites.

[kenchenzo]

i will treat asap i do always use antibacterial alcoholic hand wash between handling any of my pets just to be safe.
than's everyone.

[shaunyboy]

thank you.
i got him on sat.
he's around a year old.
i can't see any mites at all.
& he ate yesterday perfectly.


best way imo to check for mites in a case like this is

wait until he's been in his bowl a few hours.

take him out and gently swab his eyes and nostrils with a damp white ball of cotton wool

when a snake goes into its bowl the mites tend to go to the eyes and nostrils to keep out the water.

you will see them easy on the white cotton wool.they will be little full stop size black dots.

they're very easy to treat but uncomfertable for the snake.

cheers shaun

[kenchenzo]

i will do that tom thank you.

[shaunyboy]

i will do that tom thank you.


let us know how you get on mate

cheers shaun

[kenchenzo]

will keep you up to date.
thanks.