A few questions... settle in? mites?

[bamf64]

hello everyone i just got a 09 normal male ball python. (if you want to see closer pics of him and his enclosure, check out my youtube channel and subscribe if u want. www.youtube.com/bamf64 ... )

so anyways, i was looking at him making a video and saw that he had mites. it must hav been from the breeder. i was unsure about them but i went with it. i ran to the store and bought reptile releif today and did the procedure... he is sitting in his hide rite now probably stressed to death about his first soak and getting sprayed with all that crap.i found like 10 mites in the water after his soak and i was happy they were gone. i cleaned his tub and everything in it with scalding hot water and put paper towel as substrate so i can see if i missed any mites. just a question... do you think there are still some excess mites on him? should i soak him 1nce a week just to make sure?


next question... i was wondering if i should let my little man settle in to his new enclosure for a week or so? i have held him twice for like 15 mins each and he is very tame and active and nice.. the only problem was that he didnt eat a frozen/thawed mouse when i tried to feed it to him. he ate live at the breeder so thats MOST LIKELY the problem, so ill try one more time with f/t and if he doesnt eat that il feed him some live. but i heard that the reason he wasnt eating was cuz he was stressed from the move and that i should let him settle in to his home and not try to feed him or handle him for a week or so... should i do this? i want him to be as happy and healthy as possible and i would appreciate all the help i can get. thanks

-ian

[llovelace]

Yes, let him settle in for 5-7 days before offering food

[frankykeno]

Snake mites have about a 30 day life cycle so watch for a re-hatch in that time frame. You may find that you need a different product to totally wipe them out. Did you notify the breeder that the snake he/she sold you came with a not-so-complimentary case of mites?

As far as feeding, it's best to let the snake settle in for about a week with minimal fuss or handling before offering it's first feeding. It's also usually easier to offer a new snake the type of food using the method of feeding that the snake knows already. After a number of successful feedings you can then start the transition over to other prey items or feeding methods.

Handling, to my mind, comes last after you get the snake settled and feeding properly (and get these mites dealt with). You've got literally years to handle this snake but only a relatively short time to smoothly settle it in so my advice is always to focus on that and keep the recreational handling to a minimum at first.

[bamf64]

Snake mites have about a 30 day life cycle so watch for a re-hatch in that time frame. You may find that you need a different product to totally wipe them out. Did you notify the breeder that the snake he/she sold you came with a not-so-complimentary case of mites?

As far as feeding, it's best to let the snake settle in for about a week with minimal fuss or handling before offering it's first feeding. It's also usually easier to offer a new snake the type of food using the method of feeding that the snake knows already. After a number of successful feedings you can then start the transition over to other prey items or feeding methods.

Handling, to my mind, comes last after you get the snake settled and feeding properly (and get these mites dealt with). You've got literally years to handle this snake but only a relatively short time to smoothly settle it in so my advice is always to focus on that and keep the recreational handling to a minimum at first.

yea i am going to call the breeder and tell them. they have a 24 hr guarantee so i cant get a refund which sucks. ya i treated him with reptile releif from Natural Chemistry. he seems fine now hes wonderin around his tub. i cleaned his enclosure and everything in it with "healthy habitat" by Natural CHemistry and scalding hot water. i still am going to check him for mouth rot and things like that in his mouth soon.

ill let him settle in for a week... and feed him some live fuzzys (thats wat he ate at the breeder). and i am going to look for PAM(even though its overpriced at like 20$!) and buy it and spray it all over his enclosure and everything in it. thanks so much for the help i really appreciate it. please freind me on youtube my URL is www.youtube.com/bamf64 incase i hav any more questions.