Hey guys. This literally just happened. I have kept reptiles for 5 years now.
I have a pair of bamboo ratsnakes, the male has only been in my collection for a few months.
He was captive bred as far as I know. He refused to eat last night, which he hasn’t done before, and I noticed a piece of stuck shed on his back so I put him in a container with shallow water to soak for an hour.
I’ve soaked dozens of animals, nothing has been ended badly.
Opened the container to find him dead. His mouth is full of foam and it’s pale.
Would a healthy snake drown? I’ve never had this happen before and I’m just in shock honestly.
An hour long soak is at least 30 minutes too long imho. My best bet is that he drowned, thus the liquid/bubbles in his mouth. I am stepping out on a limb here but I believe there could have been something else going on with this guy that you were not aware of, especially since he refused food one day and died the next. I am sure if my advice is off someone else will come along to correct.
In the meantime I am sorry this happened to you. I know it’s heartbreaking to say the least……
Thank you for your response. I typically soak animals for that long, I know it seems to be controversial, a lot of people say don’t soak for that long, and then a lot say it’s okay.
I thought he may have had another problem, though he didn’t have any signs other than not eating the day before.
I think there was probably something else wrong but just saying, I never leave my snakes alone when they are in a soak…most snakes don’t like it and it can freak them out…I have only done 10-15 minutes of soaking like you said above.
But I wanted to say, I am sorry that you lost him…he was a beautiful boy
What a beauty, I am truly sorry for your loss, it’s always heartbreaking when you try to help and they don’t make it.
Overall I agree, very possible there was something else going on, but there are issues with your methods as well. As Riley mentioned, snakes should always be monitored when soaking. Doesn’t matter if you’re using a lidded bin or another method. In addition, best practice is to include a rock or other item so they can anchor themselves to prevent panic and to help keep them above water. For simple stuck shed, a bin with damp paper towels or a wash cloth is sufficient in many cases without needing standing water. I also agree with Caron that an hour is far too long for a single soak. 20-30 minutes is really the maximum you want to go for temperature, stress, and general safety reasons.
I’m really sorry for your loss. I lost a 6 year old bamboo rat snake female the same way (or in a similar way). She had a bad shed due to it being winter time and my humidity not being quite high enough, so I soaked her in lukewarm water for roughly 20 minutes and put her back in her enclosure. Found her deceased the next morning. I know how much it sucks, I’m sorry. Mine was a laticinctus and a healthy adult female as far as I knew that was eating regularly.
Sorry for your loss. The foam was probably just from drowning.
When I soak my boas the water level is not very high. Mid to 3/4 of the height of their back. You don’t want them swimming. If the water level is higher than there body there is a good chance they can drowned if not supervised the whole time.
Most of my boas when they have a little stuck shed I just use a wash cloth that is wet with hot water. I hold their body or head in the wash cloth for 30 to 60 seconds. Then let them slide through the wash cloth a few times. Most of the time the shed comes off. For the stubborn shed sections I also use my finger nail to scrape the damp shed off.
Be careful with babies and small snakes tails. As you could also scrap there scales off to and expose their bone. Had this happen once.
Put iodine gel on the tail. Keeped it clean and it healed up okay. The bone was exposed but it did eventually scar over. Tail was a little shorter and it did not affect its ability to do anything. More round than pointy now.
First off sorry. Sucks. I have almost lost a bamboo rat the same way. I was watching him & he began to freak out so I took him out of the soak. Thankfully he ended up being ok. Soaking bamboo rats & other cold weather snakes can be tricky. In my instance the water was too warm.
No way it drowned especially I shallow water.
Something else has happened.
Even if the water is deep enough to submerge them they will just pop there head up to breathe of slide up the side.
I’m very sorry for your loss. It’s really sad that you were trying to help him and instead of him improving, you lost him. It does seem like a drowning with the bubbles in his mouth. If he was having some sort of internal issue already, that might have contributed to or caused him being unable to maintain his position above the waterline.
I also concur with others that soaking over 30 minutes is unnecessary and potentially problematic. As @noodlehaus said, a rock or other anchor point can help the snake’s stress level while soaking. And never, ever soak unsupervised, at all.
I thought that to many years ago. I had a healthy baby boa who had a bad shed that I put in a container of water. It was about two times the height of the boa. He was swimming around fine. I left him in there for about 20 minutes as I was cleaning other boas. When I went to get him and put him back in his cage I found him dead.
That is why I never soak any snake in water taller than them now.
I pretty much agree with others. I wouldn’t expect a healthy snake to drown in shallow water that does not fully submerge their body. It’s entirely possible he had some underlying health issue (refusing food and the bad shed could have been symptoms), though of course you had no way of knowing that at the time. Plenty of perfectly healthy snakes refuse food or have stuck shed, those symptoms alone wouldn’t have set off any immediate alarm bells for me.
I do also agree that 60 minutes is too long to soak. I occasionally need to soak my blood python, and I usually only leave her in the soak for 15-20 minutes, and I supervise her pretty closely. I only make the water deep enough to come up about 1/2 or 3/4 of the way up the thickest part of her body.
I will also just say that it’s easier to drown than most people realize. Even in a shallow setup like I described, the snake can still fully submerge their head, so it is still possible for it to drown. That’s why shorter, closely supervised soaks are always going to be safer. Even humans can drown in shockingly shallow water in the right (or wrong) circumstances.
Sorry this happened, I can’t say for certain if little man drowned or not. When I’m soaking my guys who had a hard shed, I usually put a cloth or something slightly elevated above the water line. I normally will see them rest their head on the item.
