Please Help! Newby Owner, I think my snake may be sick???

[jnettrecker]

I am a new snake owner. Actually to be technically correct my Kids are new snake owners I am just the person who ended up taking care of them

My daughters 1 year old female Ball Python started acting weird the past two days. She randomly twitches and has been doing everything from laying in the water bowl for long periods of time, to rubbing her nose against the inside of the water bowl and cage in addition to lifting her head up in the air in a strange sort of way. Kinda like she is lost. On another note we have had her almost 3 weeks and she still will not eat. We have been giving her the same thing her previous owner did, Live mice. The other Ball python has ate one mouse. We bought them at the same time from two different owners but they both came from the same store. I know that is confusing.....


Tank layout consist of the following: 30 gallon terrarium with a one gallon capacity rock style water bowl and two hiding places, one half log and one rock formation. Bedding is a reptile approved white pine chip. For lighting we have one night red reptile lamp and one daylight reptile lamp that we use in their respective times. Cage temp stays around 85 degrees and we try to keep the humidity above 70%. The humidity did drop down to near 50% the past two days (about the time she started acting funny) as our humid-stat was malfunctioning and we had to replace.

Thank you for your time.

[BMorrison]

70% is a little high first off for me personally. I keep mine at 50% and bump to around 55 or 60 for shedding.

Second off my guess with the soaking excessively and weird movement is MITES. Take everything out, clean the enclosure and get PAM (Provent-A-Mite) and spray the cage down. Wait 45 minutes and put everything back in with paper towels and the water bowl and hide washed.

Good luck! Hope this helps a little bit.

[jnettrecker]

Thanks for the humidity tip. That is just what we were told to do. Can I get PAM at any pet store? Also forgive my ignorance but I am not sure what "put everything back in with paper towels and the water bowl and hide washed" means???

[Oxylepy]

I think he means to put paper towels down instead of bedding, and wash everything so it won't have any mites on it.

[jnettrecker]

Got ya. Where can I purchase the PAM???

[Oxylepy]

Call local pet stores, see if they have some. If not order it online.

[jnettrecker]

One last question, if she has mites and I do have to order it online. I probably will not get here for a week or so, will she die? Do I need to take her to the vet?

[starmom]

You'll need to order Provent-A-Mite (PAM) on-line. Lots of places can get it to you pretty quickly. I have never heard of a snake dying from mites while the owner was waiting for PAM to be delivered.

[Alice]

Do you see little tiny black dots (looks like a poppy seed) in her water bowl where she was soaking or on her body, especially around her eyes or on the underside of her jaw? If so, mites are probably the answer.

While you're waiting for the PAM, you might try one of the other remedies out there such as soaking her in a warm bath (water same temp as her cage). Mites are not supposed to be able to swim so most of them will drown. Make sure you pour water over her while she is soaking so the little buggers don't crawl up on her back and live. That only solves half the problem though. The other problem is the mites in her cage. While she is soaking, take the cage outside and thoroughly clean it and her furniture (hide, water bowls, etc.) with hot water with a bit of dish detergent and bleach. Make sure you get in all the crevises. Rinse very well and then dry it out. As mentioned before, use paper towels on the bottom of the cage instead of the white pine chip bedding. By the time the PAM gets to you, you'll be ready for round two . . . the baby mites will probably have hatched and you'll need to follow the directions on the can of PAM. It is vry effective but you might have to retreat one or twice. You also need to treat your other ball python with PAM to make sure the mites don't jump to it. In addition, the area around her cage should be sprayed with the PAM when you get it.

BTW, many snakes do not eat if they have mites. Also, her not eating could be just her adjusting to the new home. Since she is 1 year old, the not eating shouldn't be a big problem unless it goes on for more than a few months.

Good luck and let us know how she does.

[RobbinRN]

You mentioned that the other snake ate once, so I just wanted to double-check with you that the snakes at not in the same cage. If so, the other one will need to be treated for sure and then they need to be housed separately (for life). Even if they aren't, you did buy them at the same location, so it would probably be wise to treat both snakes and both tanks anyway.

Good luck with the little critters, they make great pets!

Robbin