Hey guys I'm new to the forum and well I have a Ball python called Ziggy, it's around 1 1/2 years old.

So today I decided to buy a medium rat for Ziggy since it has gotten bigger, I was feeding it small rats before. I got home and I gave the rat to the snake and halfway through the swallowing process, I noticed some ticks or mites on the rat and I'm worried that they will latch on to my snake... They were incredibly tiny so I'm not sure what they were.

After the rat was in its belly I put the snake in a tub with a bit of water to remove any potential pests, and then I sterilized the feeding container I used with some alcohol and water.

So my real question is, can my snake acquire ticks/mites from a rat?