bloody ball

Question
hi i had a 3 year old female ball python that i had gotten from a breeder two months ago and she died of what i think is scale rot. her belly and vent were raw and bloody when i woke op one day so i put some polysorn on it and made a vet app for the next day but when i got home from school that same day she had died.

there is alot of mixed info out there on scale rot ans im confused. i resintly got a male pastel for a good price from another local breeder and i want to prevent this from  happening again as the snake that died was my first snake and it broke my heart when she died and i cant watch that happen to my new scale baby! i am in absolute love with this guy (viper)and he is so sweet and friendly it would kill me to lose him.

i still dont know what gave my other snake scale rot cus she was perfectly healthy when i got her with not a single scale wrong and i cleaned her enclosure every 2 weeks entirely and the temp was 88 and 72 on each side and if she pooped i cleaned right away and the mositure was about 50% or less and she had shed 4 times in the second month i had had her and she went to the bathroom 4 times in the two days before she died and had not eaten for me at all only when she was with the breeder.
i also wieghted her every week and she actually gained wieght instead of losing since she wasnt eating

so these are my questions:

what causes scale rot
what do you think caused my snake to have it
how can i prevent my new baby from getting it

 if you could help clear this up that would be great
p.s. my new snake is a ball pastel and 3 years old.

Answer
Scale rot is a generic term for diseases of the scales.  Scale disease could be caused by bacterial, fungal, and perhaps even viral infection.  Mites COULD be a vector which helps bring about problems as well.  Improper husbandry (keeping of the snake) could also cause it.  For example keeping the cage too wet or using an improper bedding.

I could not begin to guess what killed your first snake. Sorry!

With ball pythons I use newspaper for the substrate.  In my experience newspaper causes the fewest (if any) problems.  Indoor/outdoor carpet is another good choice if you want the cage to look nicer.  If you want to use a wood bedding I could only recommend shredded aspen.  Most other bedding products cause some sort of problem, especially with balls.