its nothing to do with shedding! especially as the enclosure has good humidity already. ...If they soak in the bowl before shedding , it’s only ever briefly , once. Any longer will soften the skin too much, similar to human skin after too long in the bath or pool.
I can GUARANTEE it’s trying to stay cool. Do you have the Heaton overnight? You should turn the heat off at night, it’s not needed.
All that’s required in the enclosure is one hotspot area of adequate temperature, 30-35 (35 MAX!), with the rest of the enclosure remaining at room temp. This allows the snake to efficiently choose his desired body temp by moving to the hotspot and back.
If the enclosure cool end is 29, it’s way too warm, the snake can’t escape the heat. They MUST be able to escape heat.
Snakes DONT LIKE TO BE WARM all the time, unlike warm blooded creatures with near constant metabolism rates. They have a wide range of preferred temps, warmer when digesting a meal, and cooler in between meals. If they have no food in their digestive tract, they like to remain cool to slow their metabolism, saving energy. Pythons increase their metabolism (heart rate, breathing, oxygen usage, energy production) by a staggering 15 times after eating a meal, which requires warmer body temperature. It’s Interesting to watch how a snakes breathing rate differs so widely. In between meals in cool conditions, a snakes breathing may not even be noticeable (as expansion/contraction of the lungs). But after a meal when the snake is warmed to its preferred “digestive” temp, it will often be seem to be rapidly breathing Large volumes in and out.
IF the enclosure is small , you may need to change the heat source to a different type, I.e heat rock/pad, to avoid heating the whole enclosure like an oven.
Yes, snakes need a SOURCEof heat, but that doesn’t mean they need to always be KEPT. warm, as that will eventually do damage to a snake if it is always “stuck” in a warm box. They simply need ACCESS to heat, at their discretion.
I would suggest immediately lowering temps, providing cooler spots, and ACCURATELY measuring the air temps, surface temps and body temp of the snake. I use an infrared “temp gun” to measure my snakes temp, and have two seperate dual thermometer probes at strategic locations. That’s a total of five readings.
DONT just wait and see if he stops soaking. his behaviour is telling you something isn’t right, snakes can endure low temps (even below freezing ambient overnight) for extended periods of time, but constant heat will just cook them in no time