Reddit reviews Understanding Reptile Parasites (Herpetocultural Library)
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The essential 3H club that every snake needs daily are Heat (watch the temperature), Hydration (water), and Hide. Most commercial hides are way too tall; a snake likes to feel the hide against its back.
Food is a lot less important. That can wait weeks, or even months if your snake is adult and healthy.
A great way to monitor your snake's health is to weigh it weekly. If a snake is losing weight quickly, something is wrong. If it's holding pretty steady, not eating is nothing to panic about.
Also, there are a lot of idiots keeping snakes. A logbook of weights, temperatures, feedings, and defecations is the best way to convince any vet you're talking to that you're not one of the idiots.
Important tip: all snakes have internal parasites until proven otherwise. Anything wild-caught, anything from a reptile show, anything from a breeder, anything that's been housed in a large group. If the seller can't tell you the dates of the last two fecal exams, your snake has worms.
The problem is that a captive snake comes in contact with its own feces much more frequently than a wild snake with a larger range. So a moderately virulent parasite in the wild becomes a ridiculously virulent health danger in a small cage.
If you want more details, Klingneberg's Understanding Reptile Parasites is the best book. (The first edition will also do you fine, if you come across it.)
If you believe me, the cheap way is to do a course of fenbendazole (Panacur and other trade names) and then do a fecal exam to see what's left. If you need convincing, do one right up front. For best results, freshness of poop is important. Keep moist with a few drops of non-chlorinated water (contact lens saline is ideal) and tightly wrapped in the fridge until it can be dropped off for examination.
Since I started doing my own fecal exams (when you have enough snakes, $500 for a good microscope is a lot cheaper than paying for tests at $20 a pop), I've found more parasites... but once you really get them clean, they actually stay clean.