Quote Originally Posted by sicilian1928 View Post
Oh no you havent come off wrong. Well said actually, but I use Repti-Bark which is Fir bark. I got it from Petco. So do you think I should just throw all of the bark away that I treated with diluted bleach water, and then baked for over 2 1/2 hours in the oven at 350 degrees? My family friend that gave it to me said that it may have been his fault in that he didnt realize that his girl bp had eggs. He noticed she was in he hide an awful lot and opened it up and saw the eggs. He said that eggs are supposed to be kept at a higher temp than he had the snakes in (88 degrees) for best results in the clutch. Could this have been a factor? Also if the mouse I gave him was treated chemically for mites/lice or if it was just carrying a disease- how long would it take to kill the snake? because it died within i would say 12 hours of feeding it.
Wait, is this bark you're talking about the bedding??
You don't save bedding.. you toss it and replace after a month or so and certainly don't use it for new animals. For a new animal you should be using paper towels or newspaper instead.

Your friend does not seem to know very much about these animals. For one, the snake was in the enclosure with another snake and breeding without him knowing about it. To hatch the clutch you need an incubator with a specific temperature and high humidity - usually one that's hooked up to a thermostat.

Also, I work at a zoo and we hardly any porous material (besides aspen bedding that is constantly being switched out) and everything in the enclosure that is decorative is plastic/cleanable except for a few kiln dried climbing branches for certain species.

Since you have a glass tank, get two hides like this or similar:
http://www.reptilebasics.com/hide-boxes/
Small water bowl and no decorations. Pitch the log hide, they are terrible for ball pythons anyway.

Mice are generally not chemically treated and usually don't get mites/lice.. I do not think that the animal died from what it ate. Unless you purchased it from a petsmart or a petstore that specifically labels their small animals as being vaccinated and should not be used as feeders.