Are these mites on my BP?

[sarahanne]

I have been treating my BP for mites for 2 and a half weeks now (lice spray for the terrarium and olive oil/baths for him-I can’t find reptile spray anywhere) and there are no visible mites on his body. I never saw any mites crawling on me, and only once saw a mite crawl on him. There are no visible mites on his body, but I have noticed a few black specks between his eyes and one by his cloaca. I have attached images of the specks I am talking about. The specks don’t rub off when I try to wipe them away. Are these actually snake mites? The specks haven’t seemed to move in about a week now and I’m wondering if I misdiagnosed them as mites, because they also haven’t seemed to spread. I’m a first-time reptile owner and don’t have any other experience with mites.
(link to google doc with images--https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing)

[Bogertophis]

DO NOT use oil of any kind on a snake...it tends to mess up their sheds. A drop or 2 of mild dish soap (such as Ivory or Dawn) is all you need to break the surface tension of a shallow water bath so most mites drown. Use luke-warm water, not cold or too warm, & stay right with your snake; water should never be deeper than the snake's "height", nor should the snake be forced to swim in the bath. Try for at least 20 minutes in the bath, to drown the most mites.

This won't get all the mites unfortunately, as some tend to hide on the snake's face (eyes, pits, chin, nostrils) & you must not put their face underwater for this treatment, nor let them drink any soapy water (it will cause digestive upset). Mites tend to hide on their cloaca also. Can't tell from photos, but snakes often have a bit of dirt embedded, or tiny imperfections of color (ie. dark specks) in their scales that are NOT mites. Have you tried wiping those off with a damp tissue?

The bad news is that mites leave eggs around, so even if you think you got rid of all existing ones on the snake, they often come back- especially if you didn't remove all substrate & natural wood (branches, hides, etc) items & toss them out- those offer great hiding places & generally are a loss. When treating a snake for mites, keep the enclosure bare except for hides (plastic) & water bowl, & use white paper towels for substrate (so you can see the mites). Check the water bowl too- you'll often find them floating in the water. Good luck.

[jmcrook]

Doesn’t look to be mites based on the pictures


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[Zincubus]

You can wipe the ‘dots’ off with some damp , white paper towel then if you crush the ‘dots’ with a spoon ... if they’re living things they will be full of red blood ..


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[sarahanne]

You can wipe the ‘dots’ off with some damp , white paper towel then if you crush the ‘dots’ with a spoon ... if they’re living things they will be full of red blood ..


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if the ‘dots’ don’t rub off easily, does that mean they are most likely not mites?

[Bogertophis]

You should be able to rub mites off. Many snakes have some "freckles", small specks of darker pigment that may not have been there when you first got the snake, but came in afterwards.

If the specks rub off, they might also be dirt/debris, so you want to make sure either way by crushing them (as described) to see if they contain blood as they likely would if they're mites.

[Zincubus]

if the ‘dots’ don’t rub off easily, does that mean they are most likely not mites?

I had one half-jammed under a scale years ago and that wouldn’t come off but I seem to recall them wiping off fairly easily normally - although I haven’t been troubled with them for many a year ... I gather they tend to come in with new snakes / on reptile supplies or even after you’ve visited reptile stores or shows .


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[Zincubus]

You should be able to rub mites off. Many snakes have some "freckles", small specks of darker pigment that may not have been there when you first got the snake, but came in afterwards.

If the specks rub off, they might also be dirt/debris, so you want to make sure either way by crushing them (as described) to see if they contain blood as they likely would if they're mites.

Yeah ... 80% of my snakes are either albino or white so any bit of dust or substrate shows up very easily


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[Bogertophis]

Yeah ... 80% of my snakes are either albino or white so any bit of dust or substrate shows up very easily


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For sure! I've had albinos in the past, & only one now, but I've seen so many panic-posts here by others that turned out to be just bits of the substrate. And one time, there was a snake that actually had stained "sides" from the rust-color added to the mulch the owner was using- and boy were they freaked out, lol.