My ball python has mites but I just fed him last night....do I wait to treat?

I got Albion about a week and a half ago and he has been lying in his water dish the last couple days, so I checked for mites and didn't see any. So I fed him last night as usual and while feeding I saw them: the little black dots of terror. I only ever see one at a time on him but I have noticed it twice and am fairly certain it's mites (I saw one on his eyeball this morning :(). However, I don't see anything in his water dish after he's been soaking so maybe I caught it early?

My question is: if I fed him last night, I'm not supposed to handle him for 48 hours, yes? Then should I wait to treat him? Also, I have read many different treatment options; any suggestions on what works best? The infestation looks minor at this point.

I couldn't tell you about the handling thing but almost everyone I've seen on the forum appears to swear by Provent-A-Mite. I'd personally probably risk it depending on how much interaction treatment entails. If it doesn't involve too much on the snake I'd treat and get rid of them ASAP. Good luck!

Thank you! Unfortunately, I live in a town without a pet store, so 1 day shipping on amazon is my best bet for a product and that one does not appear to be an option :(. However, Amazon has a couple off brand products that both have 4+ stars. Best bet?

If you have a pharmacy or WalMart close by you can get a 2 oz bottle of the NIX or RID cream-rinse treatment for lice. The active ingredient should be 1% permethrin.

Directions on using it are at http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...it-with-AaronP

I wouldn't wait to treat but handle your BP as little as possible while doing so. So, while you're treating his enclosure, hides, etc. rather than bathing him, put him into a tub that's already been treated (and dried).

IMO - Provent-A-Mite is worth it. There's a reason it's recommended by everyone.

http://pro-products.com/

yeah, quarantine your albino immediately. don't worry that u just fed him. put him in another tub/tank on paper towel. i would also quarantine it's enclosure that you found it had mites in.

you could pre-soak your BP in warm water before treatment.

1. use Natural Chemistry reptile spray on your animal. use as directed. clean and change paper towels in the quarantined enclosure after each treatment. a few days of treatment should kill all mites.

2. throw out substrate and plant products and clean, scrub, sanitize, sterilize the enclosure, hides, etc. completely. u can spray down with the reptile spray or use Provent-A-Mite. leave uninhabited and monitor for mites for a few days-week. i would give it another cleaning each time u see mites reappear.

3. i would at least dust your other snake enclosures with Provent-A-Mite.

good luck. monitor everything. keep it separated, keep it clean, keep happy snakes. :)

I only have one snake, so quarantine isn't an issue. The issue is that prevent-a-mite would take a good week to get to my house. I ordered an alternate product that will get here tomorrow and will work with what I can. I also might consider the lice treatment option if I want to jump start tonight. Will he be okay for 24 hours until the product gets here or should I take some other precautions? I can still literally only find one mite on him and none anywhere else--I'm not suggesting that makes it not a big deal, but less urgent hopefully? I want to have a working product when I deep clean the terrarium and my precious python in hopes of ridding him of the pests 100%.

Having dealt with mites twice I would have already gone scorched earth on them, but then I have 80 snakes in my collection so waiting to treat is not an option.

Any new snake I get has its QT enclosure, paper substrate, and hides treated with permethrin (the insecticide in PAM/NIX/RID) the day before the snake arrives, and I wipe it down with Reptile Spray when I pull it out of the shipping box. If it has mites I know it within a day.

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Originally Posted by jena.chris

I only have one snake, so quarantine isn't an issue. The issue is that prevent-a-mite would take a good week to get to my house. I ordered an alternate product that will get here tomorrow and will work with what I can. I also might consider the lice treatment option if I want to jump start tonight. Will he be okay for 24 hours until the product gets here or should I take some other precautions? I can still literally only find one mite on him and none anywhere else--I'm not suggesting that makes it not a big deal, but less urgent hopefully? I want to have a working product when I deep clean the terrarium and my precious python in hopes of ridding him of the pests 100%.

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Order the provent-a-mite, but get some of this as well:

http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Chemis.../dp/B000NGU7NQ

I use both when I have a mite problem.

That's what I ordered! I am new to all of this. Do you think he got it from the pet store or picked it up around the house? Should I not have been putting him on the carpet? And now if I vacuum and wait a few days will they die off if they did come from the carpet? I have so many questions haha.