Make sure your new arrival gets rehydrated

We are the proud parents of a male Kenyan Sand Boa (about a month old) purchased from the Chantilly NARBC Expo on Saturday. While we are keeping handling to a minimum, we have done some, primarily to check on him and make sure he is OK.

When we got him home, I was completing my research on which kind of substrate is best for these guys, and came across a great care sheet for KSB's. It mentioned showing a KSB his/her water bowl after handling. See link (search for the paragraph starting with, "Sand boas do drink water...."): http://www.anapsid.org/kenyan.html

I have been showing him his water when I put him back; and have been rewarded with a little show each time! Watching the underside of his throat move as he gulps it down is soooo cute!

Then I came across a post on the fauna classifieds about an albino BP dying a few months after being purchased from a show - necropsy showed it was gout (either due to extensive dehydration or a genetic defect). Here is the link, if you must: http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...ighlight=B.H.B.

I did not read the whole thing, but possible dehydration (though it seemed to be ruled out in the end - ?) clicked in my head with our new KSB drinking every time. I have misted a couple times to help with humidity b/c the tank is dry (my husband is out buying the temp./hydog. right now).

I just wanted to pass this on to encourage people to make sure any new arrivals from shows or breeder shipments, get plenty of chances to drink b/c it could have been quite some time since his/her last drink.

I also remember now how our first BP drank off the glass where I had misted when we first brought him home from the pet store.

I hope I am not out of line in posting this; I am still new and, by no means, an expert. ;) Also, I don't mean to scare anyone. Just wanna help, that's all, y'all.