Hello and Help

[NukeStar]

Hello all! I hope everyone is doing well tonight.

I am new to the ball python world. Last year I picked up a female yellow striped pied from Brian Gundy (i love that guy) She is around 15 months old now. Around a month ago I picked up a male banana, I like him very much.

Ignorance...not always bliss.

I have had a couple snakes in the past but when I was younger. A year ago I realized I had space, time and ignorance. So, I decided last year to properly get into a project. I went with a Banana/Coral glow Pied as my goal (I absolutely fell in love with them when I saw the pics of them). So I say it now.. this is a personal project, I am not doing this for any type of monetary gain. I did my research (I thought) and bought the basics. A few weeks ago, I bought my little banana man. About a week after I received him, I saw tiny black spots. My thought... "I have not seen a banana/coral glow develop their spots that soon". My ignorance.. "wow, cool"

Horrible realization

I came across a youtube video of a ball python with mites... NOOOOOOOOOOO! they look exactly the same as what my male has. @#!*&@!

Then I realize my female pied and him have been hanging out... !@&%$&( !@% !@#$ $^$%&# @#%#@$%&$^#$^#$ %^@$@#$

Before I take them to the vet, I have to ask everyone... Are these mites? If so, what safe and extremely effective treatment options are there?

Steps I took so far.. The rack was taken down completely, each one is in a seperate and ridiculous 75g tanks on either side of the room(makes no difference I'm sure), rack is out and ready to be scrubbed and sanitized, a wednesday vet appointment was made.

Pics...









I am sorry about picture quality, they were taken by my iphone about an hour ago. I can take more if needed. Feel free to blast me for the ignorance, any other info would be GREATLY appreciated as well!!!

Mark

[mohawk]

Yep .... those look like mites .


It is a good rule of thumb to quarantine any new snakes, and not bring them anywhere near the rest your collection .

Mites are not that big of a deal. Clean out your tubs, or cages. With the snakes, and water dishes removed, spray the
entire inside of cages/tubs, substrate, and surrounding area with Provent-a-mite, and let it dry. Give your snakes a soak in warm water, to kill some of the mites that are on them. Dry them off and put them and the water dishes back in the cages. In a few days, the mite problem should be resolved.
Re-spray the cages with Provent-a-mite after each time you clean it until all mites are gone.

[dr del]

Bananas can develop black spots as they grow but wipe him down with a damp paper towel and inspect his eyes and heatpits.

You are looking for little black dots about the size of this period.

If it is mites then you will need to treat all your snakes/ enclosures as you completely skipped quarantine.

ETA: missed the bit you mentioned the black spots - I should stop speed reading at this time of the morning.

[NukeStar]

Thanks much for the info. I honestly appreciate it!

mark