Mites?

A few months ago, when I first got my ball python from my friend cause he was moving away, Hurcules started Shedding. Andd he was sitting in his water bowl. I knew this was a sign of mites, so I checked him, in all the spots, around the eyes, the 'Poop Chute' as my mum calls it, the corners of the mouth, and all over the body. There was nothing on him, me, or the tank. So I figured the humidity was too low even though it was at 70%. I raised it, and he finised shedding the next day, and he wasn't in his water bowl any more. I took him out a few days later (After the skin hardened), and searched him again. Nothing. And nothing left on me either. Did the mites leave after the shed for some bizzare reason, or was he just soaking cause it felt good on his skin?
P.S. He has never had a 'proper' shed, always in peices, my friend fed him live mouse, and he has some scars from before, is that why he hasn't had a full shed? Or is it because he dosen't have enough room in his tank?

Sounds like he was just preshed soaking. If there were mites you would see them on him, you, tank, or in the water.

If there were mites then they would of came from the live mouse that he fed them and if he has mites that's why he hasn't shed properly maybe just to be safe buy some provent-a-mite and use it.Mites can cause really bad problems if not dealt with so try and figure out if your snake has mites.

what are your temperatures within the enclosure? sometimes a snake will soak in the water bowl if the enclosure is too hot.

I have some adult females that like to soak sometimes when they are in the blue and other times I guess just to soak.

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Originally Posted by Chuck1289

If there were mites then they would of came from the live mouse that he fed them and if he has mites that's why he hasn't shed properly maybe just to be safe buy some provent-a-mite and use it.Mites can cause really bad problems if not dealt with so try and figure out if your snake has mites.

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I think the mice could have fleas but not mites and the fleas shouldn't be attracted to the snake. But I could be wrong lol

The temperature is 80 degrees during the day, peaking at 90 occasionally, and it is around 70-75 at night, but he spends his time in the hide on the side with the built in under substrate heater. i have handled him many times scince and no mites have appeared on me.

I bought a red tailed boa off kingsnake and it showed up with mites. The mites are tiny and really hard to spot. They leave white specs all over the snake. (Mite Feces)
During quarentine i used Prevent a mite. And gave the snake several baths in the shower with the super spray nozzle and blasted all the mites off. Never had a reinfestation after that.

So if you dont see any tiny white specs on your snake you should be fine.:snake:

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Originally Posted by CRAZY

The temperature is 80 degrees during the day, peaking at 90 occasionally, and it is around 70-75 at night, but he spends his time in the hide on the side with the built in under substrate heater. i have handled him many times scince and no mites have appeared on me.

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"Under Substrate Heater"? Is this heater in the tank?, or is it an under tank heater? If it is in the tank under the substrate get it out. If the snake gets to it he can get burned.

Hi,

I think we really need to ask where and how you are taking those temp readings as they could definately benefit from some adjustment.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CRAZY

The temperature is 80 degrees during the day, peaking at 90 occasionally, and it is around 70-75 at night, but he spends his time in the hide on the side with the built in under substrate heater. i have handled him many times scince and no mites have appeared on me.

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Have a read of our caresheet to see what I mean.

What are you using to control the heating elements that allows that big of a temp variation?


dr del

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CRAZY

The temperature is 80 degrees during the day, peaking at 90 occasionally, and it is around 70-75 at night, but he spends his time in the hide on the side with the built in under substrate heater. i have handled him many times scince and no mites have appeared on me.

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correct me if im wrong but from this post it seems like you have a hot side and/or an enclosure ambient temperature that will get to 90 degrees at times and a UTH under the cool side hiding spot. im doubting that the UTH is regulated by a thermostat or even a rheostat and i dont know if you are measuring the temp of the UTH with a digital thermometer meaning the UTH can be extremely hot at this very moment.

if this is the case then the snake has no cool side and may very well be soaking because of the high temperatures on each side.

i may be wrong but it would be a good idea to double check your ambient and basking temperatures and try to create a proper warm and cool side. cool should have no UTH with an ambient of 80-82 and warm should be anywhere from 88-92.

if your humidity is good and he has no mites then he may just be soaking for fun... if not then it may be too hot in there for him so just double check.

I have a built in under tank heater on one side and nothing on the other. I'm not sure if I mentioned before but he did stop soaking a long time ago, 3 and a half months to be exact. There is a heat lamp on the side with the undertank heater, and nothing on the other side, but is still kept warm. I do not have a digital thermometer because I could not find one, and my buget is very low. I do have a thermometer/hygrometer in the center of the tank and the temperatures I gave you were for the center. So one side is hotter by a few degrees and the other side is cooler by a few degrees. I didn;t know about Ball-pythons.net at the time so I would have psted some thing then. But he seems fine now. He went through an RI but recovered with the help of $50 medicine and a $50 'check up.' Any how, i dont see any white dots so i dont think they are there. Thanks for everybodys help.