hes acting weird...

[FrankieCarbone]

well my bp has been acting weird lately, and by weird i mean he is more active. Usually he is ALWAYS in hiding in one of his hides, unless its like 11pm+ lately he has been active more earlier, like 7-8pm, and he is always like trying to escape from the tank, he usually never does this, well atleas the time i have seen him out and about. Ok so here is the biggie, last week while i was handling him, i noticed a ant looking thing crawling across his scales. Now i have had BP"s with mites before and what i saw looked nothing like a mite. Yesterday i went ahead and took him out of his setup and i took a magnifying glass to him and just went all over his body to try and find mites, i kept staring at his "black spots" which im 100% sure is part of his pattern, and i was unable to find anything. I combed thru his tank with the magnifying glass and a flashlight and inspected all over, the hides inside and out, and aspen bedding, and found nothing, Finally i took him out again and started inspecting him and after about 15 minutes finally found one of those things crawling on him, but like i said, did not seem like a mite, as it was kind of large for a mite in size and fast, almost like a small small ant.

I placed a order for PAM the other day only to get a "we dont ship to new york" email shortly after.

Like i said, i have had BP's with mites before and these things i saw (only saw 3 of them in the last 2 weeks) did not seem liek mites, they were too fast and different looking, but then again he is so much more active lately, and its like his mission now is to try and get out the tank. ALso i have not seen him soaking in his water dish, and he hasent refused a meal. He ate 2 small mice 3 days ago, and a week ago.

??

[llovelace]

What type of bedding are you using?

[FrankieCarbone]

aspen, always, since i got him in may. However, a few months after i got him i did buy a new setup, still aspen bedding, but i do have a log in there that is bark like, that i picked up at the last expo i went to, u can see it in the pictures in my profile.

[FrankieCarbone]

what else is there that it could be besides ticks/mites???

[LoNeSt4r]

Snakes do what makes them comfortable. I've often noticed how my BP is a lot more active for two or three days after i've fed her. BPs are also notorious escape artists, usually trying to find a way out. I remember once i almost lost her inside my car because she found a hole near the steering column i didn't even know existed. It's why 99.9% of people will suggest getting a cage that can be locked.

As far as what's crawling over him... There's really no way to tell unless you catch one and look at it under a microscope. The vet i take my BP to gave me some slides when i first got her and noticed she had mites. I suggest doing something similar, because it could be a big problem if you don't get it looked at right away.

[cmack91]

ive gotten a couple of those wooden bark hide things, and both had bugs in them when i got them. just throw all your wood in the oven at 200-250 for a few hours, that will kill anything living in them. for now replace aspen with paper towels, soak the snake, and find a temporary plastic hide, and keep observing, and next time you find one of those bug things, try to take it off with some tweezers or something, so you can get a close inspection.