Ticks??

So my Aunt (who has given me some questionable advice that I don't follow because I know it's not right) keeps asking me about ticks- not mites (tried to correct her by saying "you mean mites?" She said no, ticks)- TICKS on Dewey.

Naturally, I was concerned so I looked up "snake ticks". They're huge?!

In 0 of Dewey's pictures have I seen anything that looks like a tick, and my dad said (after also looking it up) said he didn't see anything like that either.

If if they're so big and obvious, why is she telling me that I have to, and I quote, "thoroughly check under ALL the scales and will need help from another person". This seems like an unnecessary, stressful, and bogus procedure to me. But I'm not an expert, so I need you guys to tell me...

should i I be concerned about "ticks" on my beep and do this? Or is it another piece of her... off.. Advice?

I would say her advice is definitely off. If it were ticks you would see them, same with mites. You can check your snake for mites by easily dragging your hand along the body of the snake and they will move, or even come off on your hand.


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Originally Posted by OneEyedFox

I would say her advice is definitely off. If it were ticks you would see them, same with mites. You can check your snake for mites by easily dragging your hand along the body of the snake and they will move, or even come off on your hand.


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this is EXACTLY what I told her but she insisted that I was wrong. I had a funny feeling. Thank you for reassuring me.

Ticks can and do infest wild snakes. I'd be very surprised to find a captive one infested with them.

Ticks will generally be found on WC imports, and there is not much checking to do, a tick on a snake (especially a BP) would be very easy to spot.

The likely hood of a CB infested with ticks is very slim, sure if it was kept near an infested WC it is possible but even then most conscientious people treat their import for internal and external parasites.

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Originally Posted by GiddyGoat

So my Aunt (who has given me some questionable advice that I don't follow because I know it's not right) keeps asking me about ticks- not mites (tried to correct her by saying "you mean mites?" She said no, ticks)- TICKS on Dewey.

Naturally, I was concerned so I looked up "snake ticks". They're huge?!

In 0 of Dewey's pictures have I seen anything that looks like a tick, and my dad said (after also looking it up) said he didn't see anything like that either.

If if they're so big and obvious, why is she telling me that I have to, and I quote, "thoroughly check under ALL the scales and will need help from another person". This seems like an unnecessary, stressful, and bogus procedure to me. But I'm not an expert, so I need you guys to tell me...

should i I be concerned about "ticks" on my beep and do this? Or is it another piece of her... off.. Advice?

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Totally off advice. Sounds like one of those old wives tales that ends up doing more harm than good. You'd clearly see ticks on a snake.

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Ticks and mites are members of the same group. Mites are small in size and ticks are larger. Even for snake mites, checking under EVERY scale is unnecessary. Preferred location for any member of this group is the groove around the snake's eye. (Good hiding place with thin skin and lots of blood vessels.) If there are no mites or ticks there, chances are they are none elsewhere on the body.

I've seen at least two species of ticks on wild caught tropical snakes. The big grey ticks ranged from around 1/8 inch to around 3/4 of an inch long. The smaller brown ticks were 1/4 inch long or smaller. I never got a real identification of species from a professional tick man, though.

IMO, preferred removal method is to take hold of the tick with tweezers and gently pull backwards until the tick's mouth parts release. Then drop the tick in a bottle of alcohol. I took over 100 ticks off a boa constrictor that way back in the 1970s. Any insecticide that will kill snake mites will also kill ticks, but that doesn't get the mouth parts out of the snake's flesh. A wound from embedded mouth parts is likely to fester. However, an insecticide killed tick will not wander.

Different types of mites and ticks like different types of animals (or plants) as hosts. The nice part is that mites and ticks that like reptile blood generally think that mammal blood tastes terrible. So a reptile tick is unlikely to go for a human.

Your aunt means well. She may be generalizing from the wood ticks that get on people and suck blood. Those have gotten on me, and I did have to check myself over carefully to get rid of all of them. And sometimes I had to do it a second time. :( IMO, about all you can do is thank your aunt for her concern and tell her that you and your father have checked Dewey without finding any ticks. Good luck.

Here, here. I second what paul says. Your aunt meant well but was working with poor information. A white lie in this case wouldn't hurt.

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Thank you for all of your replies. As I said, Dewey doesn't have anything noticeable like that on him, but the way she insisted you couldn't see them sounded very weird to me. I knew it was possible but the way she described it seemed off and she keeps pushing it on me.

Again, thanks for all of the information/reassurance.