[General Care] Fact or fiction - soaking a Royal python strips away all the essential oils c...

[Zincubus]

Hey.

Can anyone confirm or explain if soaking a royal python will actually remove essential oils ?

I regularly frequent a Royal python specific forum and quite often somebody will suggest a short soak to help with a bad shed but each time the same people jump in stressing how bad soaking a snake can be - as it supposedly "strips away " the essential oils on and under the skin of Royals ??

It may well be true but I've not been able to find anything about this using Google .

[Kung Fu Joe]

Re: Fact or fiction - soaking a Royal python strips away all the essential oils c...

I'd bet that washing any skin removes oils from it... Humans dry out after a shower too. But you are talking about a very infrequent event in soaking for a bad shed. I'm sure that they get wet in the wild much more often than that. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[Zincubus]

Re: Fact or fiction - soaking a Royal python strips away all the essential oils c...

I'd bet that washing any skin removes oils from it... Humans dry out after a shower too. But you are talking about a very infrequent event in soaking for a bad shed. I'm sure that they get wet in the wild much more often than that. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Yes only a very occasional 20 minute soak and only after a bed shed never before or during ...

[Jrock23]

Re: Fact or fiction - soaking a Royal python strips away all the essential oils c...

I don`t think there is anything wrong with the way you are doing it, and 20 mins will definitely not do any harm.. A lot of people tend to at times give out bad information.

[natieb]

Re: Fact or fiction - soaking a Royal python strips away all the essential oils c...

A good soak in clean water when necessary always does more good than harm. In my opinion, they would have to spend an absurd amount of time underwater to exhibit negative health effects.

[Pandorasdad]

Re: Fact or fiction - soaking a Royal python strips away all the essential oils c...

The thing about skin oils is that they are pretty constantly replaced. You can use a harsh bar of soap on your face and it will remove all of the oils. An hour later, they've been replaced. The same principle applies. There may be some short term reduction in skin oils, but they'll be replaced in no time. Unless you're soaking the snake for hours every single day, I wouldn't put any more though into it.

[Noelle7206]

Re: Fact or fiction - soaking a Royal python strips away all the essential oils c...

I do not believe that a "short soak to help with a bad shed" has ever done any harm to a snake, royal python or otherwise...whereas leaving a snake stuck in that bad shed is certainly not doing any favors for the snake.

Stuck sheds are the result of dehydration...either from improper caging set-ups...or due to some health issue of the individual snake. It may be the result of feeding the snake at the "wrong time"...too close to a shed...
that causes temporary dehydration as both digestion and shedding pulls moisture from the snake's body to accomplish. In the "real world" rain happens and snakes get wet! By all means, help your snake to shed with a
bath as needed.

[Zincubus]

Re: Fact or fiction - soaking a Royal python strips away all the essential oils c...

Thanks guys ... I thought I was going ever so slightly mad when I read the posts suggesting that the soaks were stripping away essential oils they also suggested that it would be creating future health issues !!

[zamora]

Re: Fact or fiction - soaking a Royal python strips away all the essential oils c...

Here's another tip for snakes that have a tendency to shed badly. Spray them with hot water (from a distance) once or twice a day! I have a LOT of snakes and my temps and humidity are spot on. That being said, I have four snakes that need more humidity in the winter. I attribute that to having the heat on in the house which strips the humidity from the air. I know it makes absolutely NO sense but it's only these four and they are even in different rooms so I spray them every morning and every evening and no more bad sheds.

[Noelle7206]

Re: Fact or fiction - soaking a Royal python strips away all the essential oils c...

Or, another way to go is to leave a "humid hide" in the cage...and make sure it stays moist inside. Use a plastic food container of appropriate size, cut a doorway into the top big enough for the snake (with a meal), and inside,

put a good supply of either soaked spaghnum moss or soaked orchid bark chips. I do this for my Aussie spotted python...without it, her sheds are a million pieces. She loves this option...and it's partway over the UTH, incidentally.

(a snakey sauna...LOL)