Substrate Mites or?

[KushBall16]

Hey everyone,

I noticed some mites crawling around on the newspaper in my Ball's tank. They are rather small (can fit inside the print on the newspaper) and are light in color. My snake does not appear to have anything on him.....so I was wondering if maybe these came from some of the moss I used for humidity or maybe from the mice I fed him?

They seem to be more of an oval shape mite, almost like a very,very small ant.

I'll have to pick up some provent a mite more than likely just to be safe. Any ideas/tips would be helpful

Oh yeah, forgot to mention.....he doesnt soak in his water bowl either, for those who may be wondering.

[blushingball419]

Hmm, yeah they sound more like something that would have come from the moss. Parasitic reptile mites are black/dark colored, and if your bp doesn't have any on him then it definitely doesn't sound like anything to be worried about. You could still use the PAM to get rid of them if you want though, because even if they are some sort of harmless wood mite, I personally wouldn't want little bugs crawling all over my snake's enclosure

[KushBall16]

Hmm, yeah they sound more like something that would have come from the moss. Parasitic reptile mites are black/dark colored, and if your bp doesn't have any on him then it definitely doesn't sound like anything to be worried about. You could still use the PAM to get rid of them if you want though, because even if they are some sort of harmless wood mite, I personally wouldn't want little bugs crawling all over my snake's enclosure

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I just wanted to double check though. I thoroughly cleaned his cage and soaked everything etc etc. Thanks!

[LadyOhh]

They sound like Hypoaspis mites to me. No harm in them.

[SlitherinSisters]

Since they aren't dark I would have to say they probably aren't reptile mites. There are mites that specialize in everything, bird mites, rodent mites, wood mites, dust mites, I could go on for days. Each mite has a particular host and cannot live without that host, eventually they will die off. I'm guessing they are wood mites, or something similar to that and pose no risk to your snake. Eventually they will die off or you could use PAM. PAM kills anything in the mite family.

[KushBall16]

Thanks everyone!