Strange Ball Python Behavior??

[tarakatrine]

i have a 4 yr old adult male ball python that i have had for a month. i got him from a pet store and he had a minor mite infestation. i have treated him and the habitat and i kept him isolated until he shed letting him soak in a bath for 15-30 minutes daily to drown the mites . i havent seen anything on him in a couple of weeks. tonight i noticed he was rubbing the tip of his face on the front of his terrarium. he was like..applying a lot of pressure as if trying to scratch. does anyone know why he would do this? does it mean he may still have mites in his heat pits? how do you get them out of the pits? i have heard that its okay to flush them under water in brief quick intervals. this doesnt sound safe. does anyone know anything or if there is another reason other than mites that snakes might do this?

[Jay_Bunny]

Usually they do that to start the shedding process. They rub their nose on something to get the skin to start coming off. I've never had a snake that would rub it's nose on surfaces for any reason other than that though, so he may just be stressed from all the baths and such.

[dr del]

Hi,

What did you use to treat him and the enclosure - you might be seeing the eggs starting to hatch from the first infestation.

Try running a damp paper towel over him and looking for black or brown spots on it and closely examining the heat pits and around the eyes.

This is a good thread on mites.


dr del

[tarakatrine]

yeah he just shed....i kept him isolated until he shed and he has been back in his enclosure for about 4 hours. i treated it with provent-a-mite. i am certain that i wont find any adult mites on him at this point. i baked his hide log twice at 275 degrees for 3 hours each time. i boiled all his plants and then washed them in the machine and then the basking branch was washed with a bleach water solution then i poured about 15 pots of boiling water over it. i have vacuumed the bedroom around his terrarium countless times. i mean...i really went all out getting rid of these things. i put forth a lot of effort. lol. i wouldnt think that there would be any visible mites left. i know that if there were any living mites or eggs...they had to be in his heat pits, but it seems like i would be able to see them..and he looks all clear. maybe there is still skin over his face and i just cant see it? i dont know but i just took him out and he crawled on top of his cage and was doing it again on the power cord to his heat lamp. he also was rubbing the back of his head on my hand like a cat would do. its really odd.