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First Bath For My Corn Snake

B

Bones

New member
Today I gave my snake his first bath. Last time I held him he lifted his tail and all over my bed, because I let him crawl all over my blanket. He also got a little on me. It kind of scared me, I was sitting on the bed and got up and got on my knees on the floor, so only half of me was visible to him. I thought maybe I scared him or something and it could have been a defense mechanism or something, I don't know.

Anyway I gave him his first bath today, he seemed to like it but he also seemed very stressed by it. (I actually don't know if it's a boy or a girl so I shouldn't be calling it a him.) He got in and started acting crazy and swimming around and stuff. I held him pretty much the whole time so he knew he wasn't in danger. I hope not anyway. At first he jumped a bit but got used to it (it was a good temp.) and started swimming around the whole tub pretty fast. He tried to crawl over the sides a bit too so I kept hold of him. He also seemed stressed a bit, I moved his whole tank in the bathroom too because I wanted to clean it while I sat on the side of the tub. He started taking deep breaths every 10 seconds or so and possibly may have tried to bite me (he came at me but might have just been trying to get on my arm for more support). He also kept taking deep breaths when I put him back in his tank. I'm not sure how old he is, he was given to me by a friend a few years back.

I am just looking for any suggestions anyone might have to help him and to keep me from being bitten as well (haha).
 
Personally, the best advice I can give you is not to do it again. There's no need to bathe your snake, even lukewrm water feels scalding to them and as you noticed, it was hugely stressful.
As for pooping on your bed, it's normal for corns to 'let go' when stimulated by exercise. If you want tolet him crawl on your bed, it's a risk you take. Try to watch for the tale-tell tail lifting and have an old towel or something ready to put under him!
As for not getting bitten, most if not all snake keepers get bitten at some point. It's no big deal. Even an adult corn rarely does more than just break the skin. With babies it's like sharp velcro!
 
The only time you may need to put your snake in water is if they are having a bad shed. Then you would want to only put them in a 1/2 inch or so of water with an old washcloth in the bottom of the tub. The water temp should never be above 85 F and will feel cool to your hands. If your snake gets something on them, like poop or mouse guts, you can get a paper towel damp and just wipe them off.

The best way to keep from being bitten is to not stress or make your snake mad and even then there is no guarantee lol. Like Janine said though it startles more than it hurts.
 
I second what Janine said already. The only reason I have EVER let any of my snakes in the bathtub was when I had an eggbound female and I measured the temp carefully with a thermometer before putting her in.
Did you measure the temps? If the water felt warm to you, it might have felt scalding to him.
Besides the stress factor, I wouldn't give them baths because there are just too many things that could go wrong. And if something did happen, you would have a hard time forgiving yourself.
 
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