bull snake not drinking

[akane]

The responsiveness and activity of the newer large bull snake has dropped the past about 3 days. I've been trying to get him to feed unsuccessfully since we picked him up but I was told he did eat one large rat since coming out of brumation shortly before I got him and that he might not eat for awhile so I have not been too worried. He was getting very active in the evenings and of course putting on shows of threats like bull snakes do. Then he started out just laying as flat as possible with his head and not having as much evening pacing about. My husband saw nothing wrong with him resting in usual spots but instinct says something is wrong. After considering it, despite the fact I can't really pinch much loose skin, he does have a change in shape to more triangular in parts of his body and some dry scales in a house with constant low humidity problems and the gauges aren't wonderfully accurate. I have 2 new ones coming. I immediately upped the humidity. It's a little hard to read with the actual water I've been adding (get to that) but it's now around 60% ambient more steadily. I looked online more, debated more, stared at a snake a lot more... Then I took him to the bathtub and soaked him some. Since then he's been seeking moisture on his own. I added the humid hide I started for the python but the bull snake is a bit big for it and had to mostly just take the top off and covered some of the end with a tile. Despite the tight fit I see some of the material tracked around and on him from it so he's been in there several times. For the past day and a half I have been wetting his body and the slate tile he likes to lay on far more than the quick misting I was doing which he will scoot around to the parts staying wet as it dries. He is more alert and reacted with bullsnake bluffing once so he is improved but I don't think he's seeking water to drink still. He did leave piles of white urates initially but I don't think anything new for too long but it's hard to compare to my bioactive tanks where such things just disappear so I don't usually look for them.

I have only a small bowl in there because I generally provide a damp area of substrate instead of a soaking size container for my snakes that aren't extra attracted to water like the sumatran python. I haven't gotten to sealing and setting up his bin with substrate so he was on paper which he mostly destroyed and is majority straight on the enamel coated wood which is essentially like plastic in how it reacts. I put in a much bigger bowl but with the depth and his not raising up much I slid it even with the slate tile hide he lays on since I've seen several other snakes enjoy drinking from on top of the rocks down into a bowl. I'm not sure it's worked. He may have tried to get in it some instead and displaced water that way. Kind of hard to say but some of the material from the humid hide was in the water container. I'm going to look for something wider and shallower tomorrow but I think he's stable tonight with a humidifier misting down on his cage, the humid hide, and the periodic wetting of him and his surfaces I've been doing today. Like I said he now seeks out getting damper on his own. I'm not sure why he is not drinking straight water though. Any suggestions? He has a large 5' long sealed wood bin with wire top that is plain by my standards since I usually setup bioactive but a 24x24" slab of slate on I think 8" high bricks under a heat lamp that is mostly where he stays on or under it. I just piled some rocks on the far side to give an illusion of some cover that he was finding acceptable for trips during active periods and when seeking to return to his enclosure and I put the water dish in the middle but it's been slid all over. The humid hide is now on that rock side. I debate moving it more toward the heat lamp but I'd have to attach the heat somewhere else to have it shine very far off the slate hide. My husband hung it a bit far over. I thought this might be a problem but he was quite happy to go up there or under there as needed and then traveled and sometimes would be hanging out on the other end a bit mostly in the evening.

Overall I cannot find a problem or irritation for him. He looks healthy, pest free, good scales until I found some dry ones looking him over this last time, good muscle, like I said his shape has sort of sharpened and I don't think it's food because it hasn't been that long with him having eaten at least once shortly before I picked him up and being in good solid condition, the room was dry for awhile and if you look at the pics I have from earlier you can tell he wandered through some dust on the floor and dry areas while we finished the temporary top to his enclosure but like I said I've taken steps to increase humidity. I started the humidifier even if it is a bit small it can at least do the area around it. I would like to get substrate in there but I need to finish sealing it so I thought paper would be fine for now. I start most on paper or paper towels until settled, eating, pooping, and I get bioactive materials ready to convert their enclosure. He keeps scraping the paper away until a lot of it is the bare plastic like enamel right now that was heavily disinfected with bleach and dawn dish soap and then rinsed clean before going to his use. Not a heavy traffic room although I've been checking him frequently lately but he hasn't reduced his behavior around us until the past few days and then there's my last cage of guinea pigs in there. A cat might wander in which he seems to have accepted as not important but willing to strike at them given the chance. They see to have decided to stay off his enclosure despite the fact they can be pests about getting under heat lamps or next to them and knocking them off. Top is very open but solid sides, good, dark hiding place he fits in if he wants... I mounted a plain single t8 tube full spectrum fluorescent on a timer for 10 hrs on because the room has one dim light that is mostly useless. The room gets some morning sun but not direct beams and the rest of the day is fairly dim like very heavily cloudy day equivalent. So he has a not overly bright day/night cycle. Temp seems good with low 80s on the slate, humidity was a little low but going up and now a bit toward the high end but like I explained it's complicated to measure exactly with misting and standing water. He was getting more comfortable around me. Just a little questionable around my husband who doesn't handle big snakes. I see nothing except I really don't think he's drinking directly, he hasn't taken food which I read not to keep trying to feed if dehydrated, and now he's lethargic but perked back up a little with external water.

Ok I went on and on but I get obsessed when I have a serious problem I'm trying to solve and want to make sure I covered everything and covered it again. Summary: sudden increasing lethargy that has improved slightly with more external moisture, no known source of stress, good day/night light, initially passed urates, fed before I got him, no plain poop so far, was in good body condition, temps seem good, humidity got low but raised, and no other sign of health problems except that period of low humidity. I think his actions point to not drinking and I cannot tell you entirely why but I tend to go with instinct because a lifetime of animals and running a farm it's often right (except with birds. My subconscious animal checking system and conclusions does not work on birds). I scrubbed his current dish and a bigger one better with dish soap, lots of rinsing, and added the bigger one directly by the slate slab he hangs out on. Use of humid hide, currently no other substrate except some paper in some areas he hasn't shoved it off.