New BP soon, did I clean enough to keep this one alive?

[sicilian1928]

So I have thoroughly cleaned the tank, bark, rock, plastic tree, and half log. I plan on getting another bp next week. so if there were any bacteria its gone, and if there were mites they should die with about 10 days without a host, not even taking into consideration that i baked the bark and log and boiled the rock and plastic tree. I do also plan to use smaller mice (I think the size of the mouse I gave him may have been a factor to his death). Given all this should I expect my new snake to die from possibly bacteria, mite or size of mouse???
I cant come up with any other reason that he could have died. FYI my husbandry was just about perfect, temps, humidity, water, hides ect.

[cinderbird]

I don't think anyone here can give you an accurate answer to your question unless you know what exactly caused the death of your other animal. Did you get a necropsy done? Because the amount of factors that could have gone into what happened to your animal is almost limitless. Without knowing specifics, I certainly can't give you a valid answer.

I would do what people normally do; clean everything with a diluted bleach solution (10% or so should work). Throw out anything porous, and get a can of prevent-a-mite, I absolutely would not assume that the mites will die in 10 days without a host. The adults might, but the eggs they laid will hatch in 30 days if you didn't already kill them yet.

[sho220]

I'm always amazed at the trouble people go through to make simple things complicated...good luck with the new one...

[sicilian1928]

I'm always amazed at the trouble people go through to make simple things complicated...good luck with the new one...

The only reason its complicated is because I dont live in West Africa which they are native to. Im pretty sure you dont either, so yes it is more complicated to have a snake indigenous to West Africa as compared to a dog or cat for everyone who owns a BP or red tail or whatever

[sho220]

The only reason its complicated is because I dont live in West Africa which they are native to. Im pretty sure you dont either, so yes it is more complicated to have a snake indigenous to West Africa as compared to a dog or cat for everyone who owns a BP or red tail or whatever

No...you're just making it complicated with all the extra crap you have in the enclosure...but to each his own....good luck trying to keep it all clean...

[DC Reptiles]

where did you buy him from? also do you know if he was captive bred or wild caught? I doubt mouse size killed your snake, you'd be amazed at the size of prey they can take down. The hatchlings I have even at 49 grams could take down a full grown mouse with no issue. Did you see mites on your snake? When it comes to cleaning I would use diluted bleach, go to paper towels and keep the tank very basic until you are done with your quarantine of the animal. I would have a water bowl and two hides, one on each side of your tank. Have a hot spot of about 92 and air temp around 83-85, I also keep my humidity around 60%. Hope this helps some, just be careful who and where you are buying from. A lot of petstores animals have mites.

[sicilian1928]

where did you buy him from? also do you know if he was captive bred or wild caught? I doubt mouse size killed your snake, you'd be amazed at the size of prey they can take down. The hatchlings I have even at 49 grams could take down a full grown mouse with no issue. Did you see mites on your snake? When it comes to cleaning I would use diluted bleach, go to paper towels and keep the tank very basic until you are done with your quarantine of the animal. I would have a water bowl and two hides, one on each side of your tank. Have a hot spot of about 92 and air temp around 83-85, I also keep my humidity around 60%. Hope this helps some, just be careful who and where you are buying from. A lot of petstores animals have mites.

I got it from a family friend and all of his snakes are perfectly healthy. It had no mites, everything you mentioned about the conditions in the cage were what I had ie temps, humidity, hides ect. I guess the snake just wasnt meant to live because I see no flaws and no one that i have talked to sees any either

[sicilian1928]

No...you're just making it complicated with all the extra crap you have in the enclosure...but to each his own....good luck trying to keep it all clean...

The "crap" i have in my enclosure is 3 hides, and a water bowl......not sure how that is sooo much stuff to keep clean, pretty simple actually. And I have bark also if you consider that crap
The problem is my snake just died and I dont know why. So I am just running the cleaning process by who ever reads it to see if i havent forgotten anything.

[BrothersRoyal]

What are the details.... How much did the snake weigh? How old was it? How Big was the Mouse that you fed it?

[mpkeelee]

bark, rock, plastic tree, and half log can be tossed out. one hide (with only one entrance), water bowl and newspaper or paper towel substrate and ur golden. the other crap isnt necessary, just holds bacteria and looks "pretty"