Help!!!

[RBCpythons]

I just pulled my boa out to hang out for a while, now he's almost done with shedding. I thought i saw a little black bug fall onto my hand. Sure enough it was a bug. As i looked over him i found more, and more. I squished the one on my hand and blood smeared across my hand. I dont know what to do, i dont get paid till thursday, and i don't know how vital it is to take care of this right now. If it's that vital i'm sure i can find some way to get mite off or something.

someone please help me.

[Freakie_frog]

sounds to me like a tick or mites. But a vet would be better suited to tell you that without providing us pics of them

[RBCpythons]

i'm pretty sure it's mites. they are little black bugs that are free roaming. there is no vet open at the moment.

[starmom]

Can of PAM. I always have one in my snakey first aid kit!

[RBCpythons]

i dont get paid till thursday. am i able to wait till then?

[starmom]

If you have to, you have to. Buy 2 cans and put one away. Always buy in doubles....

[RBCpythons]

i'm just worried. the worst thing i have encountered so far has been their food fighting back. no one has been sick, or had bugs.

thanks for everyones help, i truely appreciate it.

[edie]

If you don't get paid until Thursday you can do some things for free to help relieve the snake of at least SOME mites. When I noticed mites on my rescue boa (it was night and I couldn't go buy any Reptile Relief and it was going to take a while for my PAM to get to my house) I cleaned her tank with really hot water which got a lot of mites out, I also soaked her in water then ran over her body with a towel to get the mites off of her that were on the surface.

This of course, will not rid you of the mites in any way (You'll definitely need PAM for that, its worth every cent), but it will get rid of a bunch of the visible ones.

[RBCpythons]

thanks so much, thats what i needed to know. The poor guy looks miserable.

[edie]

thanks so much, thats what i needed to know. The poor guy looks miserable.

Yeah, my boa looked so bad when she had mites! It was really hard to see, but after I got rid of most of the visible mites by cleaning the cage and soaking the snake/wiping her down it seemed a lot better, they were not gone but at least I got rid of probably a couple hundred so they could not suck her blood.

Don't worry, if it is mites they do clear up wonderfully with PAM (PAM kills the mites and the eggs I believe, this is what keeps them from coming back), I would just suggest to use it monthly or bi-monthly after a full cage cleaning to make sure they have no chance of coming back.

After my RTB had the mites, they popped back up on my hog island boa about 4 months later, and I have seen a couple on 2 of my other snakes, so they can come back.. I spray all 12 of my cages with PAM bi-monthly now and haven't seen any new mites.