I just got a WC BCC in today. When I came home for lunch I took the box to the quarantine room, opened the bag and slid him in the big rubber maid tub for his soaking. I did notice some mites in the water about 10 minutes later. I soaked him for an hour and then put him in his cage in my quarantine room. The cage had nothing but white paper towels and had been sprayed down prior to putting the BCC in the cage with a heavy doze(more than I normally would with a new animal after seeing mites in the water) of Provent-a-mite. The cage aired out for about 50 minutes before I put the BCC in the cage. He seemed fine when I checked on him when I got home from work (around 6pm) - but I did notice some scales on the paper towels. A couple of hours ago (around 9pm) I checked on him again and noticed quite a few more scales on the paper towels. I could see patches along his back where scales where gone. At his point I took him out and soaked him again while I cleaned the cage down completely with my chlorhexidine solution. When I say completely - I spend about 30 minutes and an entire roll of paper towels. I let the cage air out, relined it with paper towels and put him back in it.
The BCC seems fine other than the scales falling off. Could the scales coming off be a reaction to the Provent-a-mite? I personally think it is some type of reaction to the Provent-a-mite. I don’t know if the mites he had when he arrived contributed to the scales coming off. The fact I spayed about twice as long as I normally would (about 8 seconds rather than 4 seconds for a three foot Vision cage) might be a factor as well. I’ve used these quarantine practices on every animal I get and I’ve never had this type of reaction, but maybe some snakes are more sensitive.
Has anyone else ever experienced this? Anything else I should do?
Thanks ahead a time for any responses.
Kevin
