Common BCI health problems? any useful advice?

[pauly7582]

i am preparing and gathering all that is needed to house a beautiful BCI. i was wondering, in your exeperience if there are any health problems i should watch out for.

from the research iv done so far (which is pretty extensive though still in progress) they seem to be hardy snakes as long as humidity and temp are dialed in right.

the reason i ask follows a bit of a horror story. i bought a hatchling RP, from an apparently reputable herp shop. i had researched using books and advice from reptile dealers. however,the advice i had acquired was not extensive enough. to cut a long story short the poor little guy developed scale rot as i was not advised to buy a hygrometer. even the books i bought did not advise on scale rot or that RPs were susceptable to it. there seems to be such little info on this except on forums like this!!
the herp shop advised me to bring him in and told me he would be ok if i put hibiscrub on the wound and and kept him clean. only after i carried out my own research on forums like this did i realise that wasnt enough. however this was too late- the scale rot went internal and he died. i felt angry and ignorant and a failure that this had happened. im not an irresponsible person but was ashamed .

so now i have spent months researching the BCI and was wondering if the exeprienced people on this board have any hot advice or tips that are not stated commonly in usual places we research how to care for our reptiles.

Thanks for reading if you got this far any advice is much appreciated

[Dexter]

Hi Paul, I'd not worry too much. Diseases are one of them things we need to live with, and hope it will never happen.

I keep snakes for years, and I had only one problem so far, with a corn snake that after months of treatment didn't recover and died.

If I were you, I'd always come here to get advice. It's amazing how much you learn on a daily basis when you start keeping snakes. There will be times they don't seem to come out of their hides, there will be times you'll be worried that they stopped eating, there will be concerns about shedding periods, which at the end, is all normal but you might lose a few nights of sleep over it.

TBH, I'm very laid back with my snakes. I try to keep the vivs clean and change water regularly, I check the temperature daily, but not tooooo fussy, and I don't care much about humidity. I use the common sense, in most cases having a good water bowl and spraying your viv once a week (spray a lot during shedding period) is more than enough.

In wild, the temperature varies quite a lot during the day, they are not as sensitive as most people think, as long as you don't let the temperature drop too much or go too hot, they should be Ok.

I keep boas for the past 2 years, great snakes, never had any problems with them. I keep the temperature at aroung 82 - 88 in the hot end, and between 72 - 78 in the cool end.

They seem happy because often I see them wandering all around the viv.

The only tip I can really give you is to find a herp vet near where you live. It's always handy to have a professional nearby, so in an emergency you can see the vet and have peace of mind.

[400runner]

Good advice dexter. People do get far too worked up about things. I agree about things being very changable in the wild. If anything their a bit better off with us. Don't imagine a snake has a tasty dead mouse dangled in front of it every friday.
I shall use that advice to great effect when my new bci arrives next monday