Hi everyone! I just wanted to post this as a warning and something to just keep an eye out for when you go to buy live feeder mice/rats.

I feed my snakes frozen/thawed rats. I haven't bought a live feeder rodent in a very long time... like since I was in my teens. Anyway, one of my newer snakes has been adamantly refusing F/T despite the zombie dances, hairdryer trick... you name it. She just recently came out of quarantine, and was settled quite nicely in her tub in the big rack. I am utterly paranoid of mites. Just thinking about them gives me the willies and makes my head itch. Anyway, my point is, I treat my set up, surroundings, carpet, and all of my snakes for mites when they come in, and periodically just to be sure there are no buggers.

I was still having trouble feeding her, and had a feeling she just was NOT going to take anything but live ( contact her breeder and he said she LOVES live, go fig), so I went to our local sketchy pet store and picked up a small rat for her. Didn't even think twice about it.... didn't even think about the rat and mites. I fed it to her. She was happy! She took it right away! The next day, she was soaking in her water dish. Uh oh. I thought maybe she was just too warm for whatever reason. Next day, there she was still in her water dish. My husband and I took her out and looked her over. We noticed her skin/scales (our pied, her white parts) had small red areas, so I looked reeeaaaaally closely. MITES!!!! AGGGHHH!!!!! Little tiny, almost invisible little mites! After an itch fest, spray down, wipe down, preventative decontamination of our ENTIRE rack/snake/bedding/water bowl in the dishwasher, wigging out, freaking out, spraying the carpet in the entire room, throwing away any cardboard boxes, vacuum... you get the idea, all the snakes were back in their rack, settled and content. I THINK and pray that we caught it straight away before they 'grew up' and spread, but all snakes are still getting sprayed every three days just in case.

At first I thought "How on EARTH did the mites get in there???" It wasn't until my husband and I racked our brains and exhausted all possibilities that I realized that the 'feeder rodents' were kept in the same room as ALL of their snakes, and I had even thought in the past that IF I ever bought anything from that place (which I highly doubt) that snake would have the decontamination of a lifetime and probably be in QT for a year.... in other words, I would likely not get anything from there. I am completely certain that the mites hijacked in on that feeder rodent. There is no other way they could have gotten in.

I just wanted to post this for all new snake owners, or ones like me who just haven't bought live in a long while and might be unaware.... Be very careful of where you get them!

Cheers - Kim