New and need help! Please!

I did a reptile show today that show cased my Tortoises. For the help, the owner of this shop gave me a free baby ball python. I took it home and set it up in my reptile room. Came back and checked on it and noticed some small snake mites on him. This is my first ever BP but I have other reptiles and did some research about them as I wanted one for awhile now. I have him in a 10gal with paper towels and a UTH with a water bowl large enough for him and a hide on the warm side and one on the other. temps are about 85-90*F on the warm and 81-83*F on the cooler end. He seem fine and is doing well, not stressed really but I don't want this mite situation to get worse.

I have $0.00 to my name and the only money I have goes to feeding my animals. I do not and will not tap into those funds. Can I soak him in warm water with a couple drops of Dawn soap and leave him in there for awhile such as 30min to and hour? While soaking, change the paper towel and clean everything with hot water and some watered down bleach? Will this all worm ok? The infestation is not bad from what I have read. I soaked him once and he just floats... And I did not see any dead mites but I saw a few on his head and one in his hide.

What can I do and am I doing this right?

Please help, I would really appreciate it as I can be known to over react to these things!

Further questions... Will mite get in my dresser and on my clothes? I am paranoid about my other reptiles as I do not want to transfer them to my torts or my leopard geckos... Is that possible? Since he is a baby, Having him in a new home, and killing mites, will he be stressed like no other? Will he refuse to eat for awhile?

I would separate him from you other reptiles, always quarantine new additions.

Dawn soap and baths will not get rid of the mites, you need to get a can of Prevent a Mite: http://www.pro-products.com/index.ph...d=53&Itemid=59 and do as the instructions say.

Also is your UTH regulated with a thermostat/dimmer/rheostat? How are you measuring hot and cold side temps?

But besides all that...contact the person you got the BP from. See if they'll help you out with the mite issues, since you only got him today.

I use a hydrofarm thermostat. I will contact them!

There seem to be very little mites, like one or two. I have seen a few around his eyes. I will take him back and see if they will cure him before I bring it back home.

So you had your reptiles at the shop that has mites? I would have some concern about that. I know that mites happen, but I would distance myself from that shop until/if the situation is fixed. I would just return it and not worry about getting it back. Just save yourself the headache!

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

I would separate him from you other reptiles, always quarantine new additions.

Dawn soap and baths will not get rid of the mites, you need to get a can of Prevent a Mite: http://www.pro-products.com/index.ph...d=53&Itemid=59 and do as the instructions say.

Also is your UTH regulated with a thermostat/dimmer/rheostat? How are you measuring hot and cold side temps?

But besides all that...contact the person you got the BP from. See if they'll help you out with the mite issues, since you only got him today.

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Soap bath wouldn't help at all?

Obviously you'd still need to clean the cage and do the baths about once a day for like a week, but....

heres a question, if the shop had not given you the snake but you came home and gave spread mites to your reptiles ( yes you can transfer them via clothes etc) how would you have treated them?? mites can come from many sources, so you should really have cash available to treat your animals for anything that may come about, even if you have to put money away each month / week, if you cant afford to do this you maybe have to ask yourself the question, can you afford them? as the upkeep of these animals includes vet and treatment costs not just heat and food.

In the mean time you will have to find the cash from somwhere to treat everything, there may only have been a few visible mites but you wont be able to see their eggs. and if not treated properly you will soon see more......

over here we use either ardap, frontline or callingtons, not sure what the best treatment available over there is or if its the same as here.
soap and water wont do at all it will not kill the eggs

sorry to be blunt.

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Originally Posted by fionab

heres a question, if the shop had not given you the snake but you came home and gave spread mites to your reptiles ( yes you can transfer them via clothes etc) how would you have treated them?? mites can come from many sources, so you should really have cash available to treat your animals for anything that may come about, even if you have to put money away each month / week, if you cant afford to do this you maybe have to ask yourself the question, can you afford them? as the upkeep of these animals includes vet and treatment costs not just heat and food.

In the mean time you will have to find the cash from somwhere to treat everything, there may only have been a few visible mites but you wont be able to see their eggs. and if not treated properly you will soon see more......

over here we use either ardap, frontline or callingtons, not sure what the best treatment available over there is or if its the same as here.
soap and water wont do at all it will not kill the eggs

sorry to be blunt.

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That was actually a really nice way of getting your point across! Most of the time people just say, "if you don't have emergency cash, give the animal to someone who can take proper care of it" Or something worse.

I would immediately return be snake. You can buy a small normal for less than it'll cost you to treat he mites. Wait til you have a bit more money available and then find yourself a mite-free BP.

I took it there and they treated it for free and they said they will until they are gone for good. They said they had a small mite issue a couple months ago and I know for a fact it had mites before I brought it home. I just didn't have time to take it back last night. I have her home now and in a quarantine tank with a disposable hide and glass water dish. I soaked her in some warm water and mites did fall off that were dead.

Should I still take her back? What are the chances of her being TOO stressed out, she is a baby? Also, I have no other snakes and have never owned one. I only have a leopard gecko and some tortoises.

What is the best thing too do? I do have some money but I would have rather wanted them to treat it, not me.

Heres the plan. I have no money now. I do not get paid for another week. I do have a "Herp Savings" in my account. I recently drained it to get my tortoise a new bulb and light fixture which got me down a lot. I put ever so much back when I can for my animals. This was kind of on a whim as he just gave it to me for free for helping out as I kind of showed in interest in them. I am going to take it back tomorrow so they can just re sale it and focus on my other animals till I get back into it. I'm sorry for some of this confusion and possible typos as I am on an iPhone most of the time, A little hard to type on that :P

I will let you guys know as I do try as hard as I can with these things. I did have an Ideal enclosure for the BP. Perfect temps, hides, water, food plan, etc... But I was not ready for this possible infestation. They did treat her and they did offer to keep treating and give me some tips. But I am going to do the right thing and return her and possibly provide a better home. They have treated the store before and had great success with mites. This was just a flare up as this does happen to some of the best shops. I feel good about letting them know about this to help stop the problem till it got worse.

Thank you all for your help and I will be back for more info, BEFORE I ever get another snake of any kind and just do some more research. :)

Took her back today :'( They were also treating all the reptiles in the store... I was impressed! I am upset I had to do so but I know for sure she is in good hands as they called to check on her today and I told them the plan. I'll be doing some more research her though for the future, just not ready for now.

Again, thank you all who helped!

Good for you! The snake will be fine, and you saved money because you did the right thing. Stick around the forum if you're interested in getting a BP, also there is a Leo forum and Tortoise forum here as well.:)

Awesome! I am apart of a leo and tortoise forum as well on other sites :) Ill check these ones out!

But to reassure myself and not worry tonight, will my leo and tort be ok from mites?
I vacuumed and simple greened everything and changed all my bed stuff as well as wiped everything down!

I think they can get it too but it's unlikely seeing as you had her there one day and weren't like rubbing them all together.. Check them daily...but they should be fine.
Well, the loe/tort forums are allot less active, you can always browse. Hope your other reptiles are alright!

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Originally Posted by chasethorn

Awesome! I am apart of a leo and tortoise forum as well on other sites :) Ill check these ones out!

But to reassure myself and not worry tonight, will my leo and tort be ok from mites?
I vacuumed and simple greened everything and changed all my bed stuff as well as wiped everything down!

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Was the Bp put into qt when you received it, or was it near your other reptiles?

I don't know if they will be okay, but I'd keep an eye on things just to be sure. :)

Same room for about an hour before I discovered then instant Q!

Just keep checking the. It's unlikley.

I went over board on the cleaning. I could have killed anything (not my animals though :P).

It was a slight infestation but could have gotten bad pretty fast... I did not see any adult mites but some smaller ones... about this small ( . ) So not to big and some a little bigger.

I am planning on getting another bp after I move to a new house. I live in a pretty large apartment but not large enough. I AM able to keep these animals as I do have a job, even though I am 17, this makes it easy as I pay no Bills! hehe

I will be on here asking questions every now and then. :)