Steps to good health and husbandry?

[kiiarah]

I am looking for some pointers, and some reassurance. I know all the basics, the temps and humidity and such, but I was just reading a post on another board about a person who suspects they lost their snake due to salmonella from a bad feeder rat and it has sort of got me in a panic. I am hoping someone could give me some tips on the most common preventable illnesses in snakes and the best steps to prevention.

This is something I worry about quite a bit (was having a nightmare just last night that he was attacked by a lizard ) and coming across a new illness that I hadn't ever read about before or even considered has not helped my state of mind at all. Now I am running myself in circles wondering what other potentially fatal things I may not know about. I mean, I don't even know how you would tell a rat was bad. How can you be sure what quality the feeders are in the first place. I mean I have no idea where his food is really even coming from. I buy from a reptile shop because I only have him and can't justify ordering 50 rats from an online vendor.

I am aware that respiratory infections are a fairly common husbandry related issue, as is scale rot, but I am looking for things that someone new to keeping may not have heard or read about. Any advice you can offer would be wonderful and would definitely help me stop worrying that there is a mystery catastrophe lurking around the corner.

[DVirginiana]

When the husbandry is on point, snakes typically don't get sick. They have pretty banging immune systems. As far as getting sick from feeders goes, if you buy from a reputable dealer (MiceDirect, RodentPro, a breeder you trust, ect.) you're probably safe. Use common food sense for storing and unthawing them. If you feed live, parasites are a possibility but still pretty rare. Other than that, there's really nothing else you can do about food-related illness.

As for other illnesses, the ones you mentioned are the most common; scale rot, RI, burns, ect. Another is mouth infections. If your husbandry is good, those can still be caused by injury. For example, I've had baby garters get mouth infections after latching onto my finger during feeding time and hurting their teeth trying to yank part of my finger off. A mild mouth infection will be swollen and more red than the rest of the mouth; this can be treated by swabbing with a 1:5 solution of chlorhexidine and water. If you see swelling with a purple/brown color in the mouth that's probably too far gone and needs a vet. Also, any mouth infection that is causing a white 'cottage cheese' looking discharge should be seen by a vet. I've seen it treated at home before, but that's really gambling with the snake's safety IMO.

Mites are another common problem. Typically not fatal, but can spread around like wildfire. Best way to avoid that is to quarantine any new snakes for 90 days.

IMO the most important sign something is seriously wrong with a snake is lethargy/listlessness. It can be a symptom of anything from bacterial infection to organ failure, and can be kind of hard to spot, but I gauge it primarily by tongue flicking and response to a change in the environment (like your hand passing over or in front of the snake's head).

[Eric Alan]

Finding a reliable vet in your area will go a long way towards calming your nerves. You can be as aware and as knowledgeable as possible, but you really need a good partner when it comes to animal care.

When it comes to prey items, your gut (and your nose) are your best tools. Have you seen how your shop is keeping their feeders? Do they look clean and well cared for? Just because they are selling little armies of peeing and pooping rodents doesn't mean it has to smell like it in there all of the time.

[kiiarah]

When the husbandry is on point, snakes typically don't get sick. They have pretty banging immune systems. As far as getting sick from feeders goes, if you buy from a reputable dealer (MiceDirect, RodentPro, a breeder you trust, ect.) you're probably safe. Use common food sense for storing and unthawing them. If you feed live, parasites are a possibility but still pretty rare. Other than that, there's really nothing else you can do about food-related illness.

As for other illnesses, the ones you mentioned are the most common; scale rot, RI, burns, ect. Another is mouth infections. If your husbandry is good, those can still be caused by injury. For example, I've had baby garters get mouth infections after latching onto my finger during feeding time and hurting their teeth trying to yank part of my finger off. A mild mouth infection will be swollen and more red than the rest of the mouth; this can be treated by swabbing with a 1:5 solution of chlorhexidine and water. If you see swelling with a purple/brown color in the mouth that's probably too far gone and needs a vet. Also, any mouth infection that is causing a white 'cottage cheese' looking discharge should be seen by a vet. I've seen it treated at home before, but that's really gambling with the snake's safety IMO.

Mites are another common problem. Typically not fatal, but can spread around like wildfire. Best way to avoid that is to quarantine any new snakes for 90 days.

IMO the most important sign something is seriously wrong with a snake is lethargy/listlessness. It can be a symptom of anything from bacterial infection to organ failure, and can be kind of hard to spot, but I gauge it primarily by tongue flicking and response to a change in the environment (like your hand passing over or in front of the snake's head).

I buy from a privately owned reptile shop. They had the best reviews and were one of the closer ones (still 2 hrs away though). Once he reaches full size I can probably start taking advantage of the online feeder sites but right now he is growing so fast there is no way I could use them all in time ordering that way. I typically thaw them in the fridge for about 8 hours and then warm them in the sink with hot tap water, then blow dry. I figured it is safe to thaw them the same way meat is thawed for human consumption but I don't think I have ever confirmed. Is there any reason not to do it that way?

It may be wise to put together a snake first aid kit. Where does one purchase chlorhexidine? His tank is kept very clean and his water is always clean too. The substrate is sometimes fairly wet after misting, but I never mist underneath his hides. I am hoping by doing it this way it will keep his belly from staying in contact with anything damp for too long and thus avoid belly rot. If I were to get any new snakes they would be very carefully quarantined. I have had my leopard gecko for 7 months now and he is still in quarantine because of the risk of cryptosporidiois (which can be passed from geckos to snakes) and still change clothes if I happen to have to touch anything in the gecko tank before Shesha comes out for handling. I make every effort to handle the gecko last thing just in case.

He is remakably tolerant of things near his head and his head being touched, so it may be hard to measure health that way with him, but he does tongue flick a lot so I will keep an eye on that and make sure it continues.

Finding a reliable vet in your area will go a long way towards calming your nerves. You can be as aware and as knowledgeable as possible, but you really need a good partner when it comes to animal care.

When it comes to prey items, your gut (and your nose) are your best tools. Have you seen how your shop is keeping their feeders? Do they look clean and well cared for? Just because they are selling little armies of peeing and pooping rodents doesn't mean it has to smell like it in there all of the time.

Unfortunately I have checked and the nearest herp vet is in the next city two hours away. I suppose I could make some calls, but they usually want to do an initial "well check" and paperwork and I hate to take him that far for just that. I wonder if any would consider having documents faxed in and getting him in the books at least given the circumstances.

The shop smells good but sometimes the rats smell like...well, dead rats. I guess I don't know what a thawed rat should normally smell like since I only have experience with the ones from that shop. I am guessing they wouldn't smell pleasant in any case would they? Should they be odorless or is some unpleasant smell to be expected. They don't seem to have any smell when frozen, only when thawed. Even then I only smell them when I first open the ziplock bag and when I blast them with the hairdryer. For the most part they look asleep, not injured or anything like that, visually they are in very good shape.

[DVirginiana]

My herp first aid kit includes painkiller-free Neosporin, Betadine, Chlorhexidine (basically the same uses as betadine, but a bit milder so better for use around the mouth; usually at CVS under the brand name Hibiclens), Honey (for frogs only), the hardest, crappiest Q-tips around (they stick to saliva and teeth less if you have to do anything to a snake's mouth), and unflavored pedialyte (can be used on any frog or reptile; diluted in water for a soak to get them to drink a bit and replenish nutrients. Works best on frogs though since they just absorb it through the skin). I also keep Hydrogen Peroxide around, but have only ever used that diluted down in cases of wild rescues that have gotten so bad that they had maggots and necrotic tissue around wounds. It's pretty harsh stuff, so should only be used to 'nuke' something that is really serious; frankly if it's to the point you need that, a vet would probably be a better option.

The way you're thawing and stuff sounds fine to me. You just don't want feeders at room temp long enough to allow bacterial growth.

In my experience husbandry has to be pretty bad for actual scale rot to happen. At some point during your snake's life, you'll probably see a scale or two get discolored, and you can either ignore it or swab with betadine, but that's generally no big deal. But in the cases of scale rot I've seen that were medically significant, the husbandry is usually just wildly off base. So as long as you do what you're supposed to you probably don't have to worry about that.

[kiiarah]

Thanks for the tips on the first aid kit, next time I am at the grocery store or pharmacy I will have to start picking some stuff up. I have never even heard of injuries bad enough to have maggots! I can't imagine taking on something like that, so I will definitely save that for emergency situations only. The nearest herp vet is about two hours away, but if he ever had anything serious enough to warrant something that major you better believe we would be on the road and sparing no expense to have him seen and get it corrected. He is absolutely invaluable to me, I couldn't imagine risking home treatment for anything major.

Fortunately he has had pure gorgeous white belly scales the whole time I have had him, but I will keep in mind that a bit of discoloration may happen. I hope to avoid it, but I won't fly off the handle if it comes up. His tank is cleaned religiously, I track everything and it gets cleaned and fully scrubbed down and sanitized once a month, or occasionally earlier if he has shed. I like to get rid of the scent post shed with a full tank cleaning to avoid any kind of compromised feeding pattern. Plus he usually makes a huge mess when he sheds, so it is usually warranted.

As for the thawing, yeah I usually move them from the freezer early afternoon on feeding day and leave them to thaw in the fridge until 9 pm or so before feeding. They are out warming for maybe 30 mins max in the sink (only if they are not quite fully thawed in the middle by feeding time) and then fed. If he doesn't eat them they get thrown out. I would absolutely waste a rat over risking any sort of illness for him so hopefully we will avoid issues there. I just read a post a couple days ago that seemed to list thawing rats in the fridge as something that people used to accept as perfectly fine but have since gotten nervous about doing. I may have misinterpreted the authors intentions with that example, but I figured better safe than sorry. Never hurts to check.