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Showering with your snake

Apply liberally, while in the shower if you'd like. Maybe top it off with a peroxide bath. Whatever floats your boat.

D80

TrollBGone.gif
 
Ok - here goes!

It was early in the summer of 1978. Bill and I had recently split up our partnership of our Living Jungle exhibit that we had been touring around the U.S. with for a few years, and planned to settle down, get married, and start a breeding business for reptiles in Florida.

Then we suddenly got an opportunity to set up a small reptile exhibit in Pigeon Forge, Tn (near the Smoky Mtns) for the summer. Sounded great - we were young and unencumbered (by children, money, or other responsibilities!), so why not?

We rented a small store front with an apt. above for the summer, the rent being a percentage of receipts (they sure lost out on that deal - hardly made much of anything!). So we took all of our various "pets" with us to set up as an exhibit, planning to charge admission. Among others, it included 4 Burmese pythons 10 - 12' or so. But our only display cage could only hold 2 of them. What to do with the others? Being young, stupid, and poor, we brilliantly decided to contain them in our bathroom upstairs in the apt. Great idea!

Of course, we quickly learned that the downside was that whenever we wanted to take a shower, we had to VERY QUICKLY get in, lather up, and get out. Because it never took long before 1 or both pythons would pile into the warm water at our feet! It can be really difficult to keep your balance if your eyes are full of shampoo and there are 2 - 12' pythons winding around your legs! You REALLY want to get your eyes open to see what is going on! In answer to the original question, I do have to say that the warm water and shampoo suds never seemed to deter them. Wish I had a photo of a big python with white suds all along the top of it - quite a sight!

So we never had any real problems taking showers with pythons, although I don't really recommend it. I haven't done it since that summer in '78. But if you want to follow our stupid example, the one thing I REALLY recommend is to remove the faucet and put it on only when needed. The reason is that sooner or later, the snakes will crawl over it, turning it on by accident. But they WON'T turn if off again! And, like us, you might awaken to the sound of water running, only to put your feet onto a really squishy carpet. It took hours of sweeping up water, and then holding our breaths, hoping the landlord wouldn't notice the water seeping into the ceiling below our apt. It DID dry, though, EVENTUALLY.

All in all, I DON'T recommend showering with your snake. And I am one of the few people who can speak from actual experience, lol!
 
Great story Kathy that is definitely hillarious, lol. To the OP- Surfing entails waves, corns are tiny, and waves will make snake go bye bye!
 
Great story Kathy that is definitely hillarious, lol. To the OP- Surfing entails waves, corns are tiny, and waves will make snake go bye bye!

Not to mention that the snake would probably take off! Imagine if it fell off the board when you caught a break and then you would be out one snakey! Probably swim off into the great blue and then probably wind up fish poop!

Wayne
 
Kathy, that's absolutely hilarious!

On a side note, when I was living in Denver, I was having some bad shed issues with an albino boa. She was having other issues, too (like not feeding), but the shed really had me worried. The VET recommended that I take her in the shower with me.
The closest I ever came was putting her in a critter keeper and putting her in the bathroom while I took a shower to let all that wonderful steam try and help her out. But it didn't work (she did pass on, but that's a story for another day).
I didn't go back to that vet after that recommendation, and found another immediately.
 
Uhhh........

I just noticed this thread and I really can't believe it. Seriously, showering with any pigeons, squirrels, snakes, rats, cats, dogs, oppossums, turtles, wombats, egrets, deer, ponies, goats or beavers is just not right.

Ok, maybe beavers.

Does it make me a wierdo that I like to shower with my WIFE? I can't believe this thread.

dc
 
Thank you Kathy. That is a rare and priceless gift you gave us. Perhaps the single redeeming thing on this thread.
 
Someday, Kathy should write a book about life with snakes and Bill, not a textbook. That'd be cool.
 
Kathy, that's absolutely hilarious!

On a side note, when I was living in Denver, I was having some bad shed issues with an albino boa. She was having other issues, too (like not feeding), but the shed really had me worried. The VET recommended that I take her in the shower with me.
The closest I ever came was putting her in a critter keeper and putting her in the bathroom while I took a shower to let all that wonderful steam try and help her out. But it didn't work (she did pass on, but that's a story for another day).
I didn't go back to that vet after that recommendation, and found another immediately.


Not arguing, but why is that the vet's fault the snake died? Other than the fact I don't bathe with "animals", I really don't see how warm steam from a shower is harmful to the snake? For bad shed issues, I place a snake in an appropriate size container with warm water and soak them, typical does the trick with no health issues.

dc
 
I keep seeing this thread and thought I'd pop my head in. Nope, not a joke. Carry on.
 
Not arguing, but why is that the vet's fault the snake died? Other than the fact I don't bathe with "animals", I really don't see how warm steam from a shower is harmful to the snake? For bad shed issues, I place a snake in an appropriate size container with warm water and soak them, typical does the trick with no health issues.

dc

I think because the "warm" water we use to bathe our snakes in would actually be cool to us. If you put a snake in the shower using what we consider "warm" it could potentially burn our snakes. The vet didn't recommend warm steam, he recommended actually putting him in the shower. Big difference.
 
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