Should We Give Our Snake a Bath?

Hi All,

We brought our Sunglow into our home about 2 months ago. It's our first snake. He/She is about 9 months old ... about 1.5 feet long.

We truely enjoy this site and find it both entertaining and informative.

We have noticed references to giving baths to snakes. How do you give a snake a bath? Is the purpose of the bath too actually clean the snake? Or is the purpose to give the snake recreation and exercise?

Would you consider giving a snake a bath ...required snake keeping activity, or something that just fun?

All feedback is appreciated.

I usually only give my corn a bath when he's having trouble shedding. He's rather hydrophobic so I try not to torture him unnecessarily . I also give him baths when he smells a bit and it makes him smell all nice and clean.
Some corns love taking baths and even soak voluntarily in large water bowls but others (like mine) have to be forced into taking a bath.
Since mine is still rather small (15 inches) I usually plug up the bathroom sink and fill it with tepid water and then :lunk:: drop him in. (well not literally but i put him in) He struggles around for 5 mins or so (15-20 mins if it's for shedding purposes) and then I take him out and dry him off with his own special fluffy towel.

Some corns love the water; others don't like it much at all. If yours doesn't, then I'd say there's no real reason to give him/her a bath. It can help with a shed, especially when the weather is dry, but it's not essential. If the weather is dry, just make sure you provide enough humidity in the snake's tank while it's in the process of shedding.

My snake likes the water. He sometimes chooses to soak in his water bowl for awhile, just for fun. So I put him in the bathtub periodically so he can take a swim.

Oh, just in case your snake should ever get constipated, a bath can help with that, too, I think.

Yes I personally give my corns a bath every week... jsut for the poop purpuses... when they are in the bath they will excerise which lossens their bowels and they poop... I do this so I dont have to clean up after them that much when they poop in the tanks... I give them a bath by using a small sweater box... I fill it 1/2 way put the snake in and cover the sweater box with its lid (make sure that theres holes in the top for air) I let them sit in there for about 10 min they do their thing and I clean up after them... and thats all to it... baths arent necissary but I just do it for the waste purposes...

all sounds good to me...just if you do decide to bathe keep a close eye on them... good luck, jim

I give my snakes a bath during their shed phase after their eye's clear up. Once they have cleared up I give them a bath once a day for a couple of minutes until they shed. After they shed no more baths until the next shed phase.

I bathe my snakes in the bathtub, with about 4-5 inches of lukewarm water. I put the snakes on my hand and lower them slowly into the water. I keep my hand there to simulate an island, and they start swimming when they feel like it. The first few times they seemed scared, but now they seem to enjoy it. It also seems to me that they benefit from the exercise, they have shown better digestion and more overall alertness since I started doing that. I bathe them 2 days and 4 days after a meal, and I seem to get them to poop in the tub, which is faster to clean than their tanks. Also I bathe them when their eyes clear during their shed period.

I've thought a number of times about getting a kiddi pool for the same reason. Give them somewhere to swim. Give them excersize. It's not like I can throw it in the backyard and it will scratch at the door when it wants to come back in.