Mite problems

[Efurthy]

Hello everyone, i purchased a ball python about a month or so ago (give or take). Last week I found a small bug on my hands after handling him, and at first thought it might have been a tick. After this happened a second time, I did my research and realized it must be mites rather than ticks. Upon inspecting him though I couldn't find any other bugs. The past few days he's been opaque so ive been leaving him be. It's been about 3 days so I figured I'd check on how his whole process is going. When I picked him up there was no question he has mites. They were all over the place. I've read about a few different opinions on whether to treat them or not when they're about to shed (not to mention the risk of being bitten when they can't see very well). Anyways I couldn't stand seeing him like that so I covered him in vegetable oil head to tail. For the most part all of them are gone. I soaked him for a bit in warm water too and put him back.

Nowi realize I need to do a deep clean of his cage and him again over the next few weeks. Now besides him catching these from the place I bought him from, could it have came from the reptibark? I've heard stories of that. Should I go ahead with a full treatment or wait until he's shed? Any additional tips for how to knock these suckers out? Also.. Is there any immediate danger with these mites? I'd be heartbroken if something happened to him. Do I wash the reptibark or should I bake it or just throw it out entirely? Bleach or no bleach.. Best products etc.

Thanks!

[nachash]

There's a ton on here about mites already, not to say your question about repti-bark carrying them, or your overall issue isn't pressing.
I have used repti-bark without problems of mites for about 4 years. Mites are an arthropod designed to survive just about anything, so to say that it is impossible would prove to be impossible. But it would be better to think about where they likely could have come from.
All parasites have life cycles closely tied in with their hosts. There are also requirements for populations to start out with a particular threshold in order to get to critical mass (infestation).

Likely answers, they were on the snake in numbers too hard to tell, and grew larger in population over the past month. Or you maybe have supplies that were used and not fully disinfected (when I had mites it was due to that and I paid for it with hours of scrubbing).

This is one of the things in life that follow the adage of ounce of prevention > pound of cure. After a month you should do a full cleaning anyways, a weekly light cleaning, and daily spot checking. Next some like the prevent-a-mite and other chemicals. I find taking the snake out, giving it a bath while using a cotton swab with mineral oil gets mites off the snake (make sure to check facial pits). Now put the snake in a temporary enclosure, then go to work on the habitat. I mean go to work, bring the dogs of war, go nuclear with bleach 1:10 ratio to water. Rinse until you can't smell bleach, and until you are sure you haven't a mite in the world on your snake's proverbial shoulders, go with newspaper or paper towel for substrate.

Cheers

p.s. mites appear to give the same symptoms to snakes that lice give to humans, so I imagine the snake is pretty annoyed. Stress in reptiles is a hazard like any organism. So good luck!

p.s. Pitch the used rept-bark and make sure to wash ALL cage equipment and decor. Bleach is safe if used properly, ensuring the enclosure doesn't have bleach remaining. All chlorine will evaporate with time, so if worried just wait until then, rinse out again and dry.

[KMG]

I like Reptile Spray. You can get it at Petco and its safe to use on animals.

Toss the bark and clean everything with the spray. Them put the snake on paper towels. The white makes it easy to see the mites, which will hopefully be dead. If you still see mess after the three say wait repeat.

I Knocked mites out with only one treatment. The stuff worked great.

[nimblykimbly]

I had mites once on one of my snakes, ironically about a month after I got it. I did a thorough exam when she got here and saw nothing, QTed her for one month, and not long afterwards she had them. I'd say yours probably had them from wherever she came from. I sprayed every one of my snakes with reptile spray regardless of the fact that I saw no mites on any of them, thoroughly cleaned every snake tub with green soap, wiped down the entire rack and then sprayed a mist of PAM on the whole rack, and the surrounding carpet as well. I followed up every 2 weeks with a spray down on the snakes of Reptile Spray, for 6 weeks, just to make sure. It's better, IMO, to be proactive than to try to fight an outbreak later. Good luck!! Get some Reptile Spray for sure!