my little girl may have mites

[ncwetbar]

So "Grips" has has been doing so well the few months I have had her. her first visit to the vet she was 46.7 grams, that was 7-22-16. I did not track her weight for the first few meals, but on sept 4th she weighed 70.3 grams. She seemed to be gaining weight and loving life! She still had not shed or pooped at this point, but I posted a question on this site and they said I was not feeding her enough. So I fed her sept 8th a 20 gram mouse, within a few days she pooped, but it was like a cat poop, just black. I Just cleaned her cage and moved on. She would not eat after that, I tried again on the 13,14,15 and 16th. On the 16th I could tell she was going into shed, so I was not worried when she was not eating. On the 20th "after shed" she weighed 88.5 grams but once again would not eat. on the 21st she weighed 85.4 and still would not eat(so now she is losing weight). Tried again on the 22nd but still no go, but weighted 86 grams. Today my daughter says "what is that crawling on grips's stick" we look at her stick and there are small bugs "mites I am assuming" crawling on her hide and tree branch.

So my question is would mites make her not eat and how do I get rid or them, or how do I even tell if they are mites? . . and yes she came from a box store(pet smart).

[Alexio]

What is your setup like ? Type of substrate?
What do the bugs look like ?size? color? pictures would help.
Were they on your snake or just on things in the enclosure? Where did you get the tree branch from?

[AlexisFitzy]

What is your setup like ? Type of substrate?
What do the bugs look like ?size? color? pictures would help.
Were they on your snake or just on things in the enclosure? Where did you get the tree branch from?

x2 on all of this. ^^^

Also when your snake refuses a meal Do Not keep offering food every day after the refusal. Constantly offering your snake food just stresses it out and leads to more refusals, a vicious cycle. So when they do refuse a meal keep to your regular feeding schedule and wait 5-7 days to offer food again.

If they are not eating either husbandry is off, the snake is sick or has mites, or the snake is just not hungry. If you suspect mites you can purchase some spray to treat them. Either Prevent A Mite spray or Natural Chemistry mite spray. Treating for mites won't hurt Unless you don't follow the directions on the Prevent A Mite can.

Most people will treat for mites as soon as they receive a new snake just incase. I'd go the Natural Chemistry route you can use it directly on the snake and use it to treat the enclosure. With Prevent A Mite it can ONLY be used for the enclosure.

Sorry for such a long post I really hope all of this is helpful


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[cchardwick]

Also, are you feeding frozen thawed? And how are you preparing it? If the temp is off or if it's cooked or frozen in the middle it can make your snake go off of frozen thawed rodents. If you can I'd try a fresh killed small mouse or a small live rat pup. I feed my babies twice a week, usually on Wednesday PM and once on the weekends. They all don't always eat, but if they refuse frozen thawed I'll try fresh killed. If that doesn't work I'll move to live. I usually only offer for about one minute then give up, they can get stressed if you push them to eat for too long in one sitting. If it's a live rat pup sometimes I'll leave it in the tub and close it up, a baby rat pup is totally harmless to the snake and can be left in for 5-10 minutes unsupervised, that usually does the trick for even the pickiest eater.

[Hannahshissyfix]

Mites are a possibility but there are also different bugs that sometimes end up in substrate.
If the snake refuses a meal never offer multiple days in a row like that. It's going to get stressed out and more likely to not eat. Just wait 5 days after a refused meal before offering again and you'll have better luck and less wasted food. Make sure you aren't handling it during that time either so it can be as relaxed as possible.

[ncwetbar]

I thought I posted this earlier this week, but I sprayed everything in the tank with the Petco stuff. Worked like a champ even though it may be to early to tell. I fed her live a mouse 2 days later and she took it. You could tell she was happy with dinner. I got her cage back together after about 3 hours drying, here is a pic, but the hot side in between 87 and 92 on the hot side on top of her rock hide and 86 to 91 inside the hide. The cool side is 80 inside the hide.( yes that is a hammock on the cool side) it was just a test to see if she would use it. I am keeping humidity around 65, but the zoomed has a 15% span, so it drops as low as 53 sometimes. What do you think?

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