Tick on Ball Python?? What to do?

[dizzydynamo]

Even if you didn't get the head out the snake's body will eventually "push" the head out on its own similar to a splinter. The head is no longer alive and the body will know what to do when it sees a foreign object. It is not going to burrow itself inside. I don't think there are any species of ticks that can survive on a reptile so I am thinking that your snake was just an "accidental host" from a mammal and would not be able to survive (complete its life cycle) on your snake anyways.

[satomi325]

. The longer it is attached, the greater the chance of transmitting pathogens.

But sometimes when trying to remove a tick, if you some how crush, squeeze, or push on the body, any sort of bacteria and pathogens have the ability to "vomit" through the mouth and into the blood stream.
(according to my parasitic entomology course)

[snakesRkewl]

Did it look like this?


I pulled this out of the top of the head of my breeder yellowbelly male back in 09

[Lana's_mom]

Thanks everyone. I will be keeping a close eye on her for quite a while.
SnakesRkewl - Yes that is what it looked like. Thanks again everyone.

[jharris08]

just throwing something out for the future...I had a bad mite problem with a bearded dragon a few yrs ago, and my mom is a hairdresser, so I used "Tea Tree" natural peppermint shampoo to soak my dragon in the bath tub....it made the mites very irritated and caused them to fall off and drown.
dont know if it would work with ticks, but its all natural and ticks and mites are in the same family, so theoretically it would be worth a shot.

[snake lab]

A small dab of nail polish remover will work to back a tick out and make it easy to get off. Ticks are common in imports.

[MasonC2K]

I know it's all doen now but but just so you know...

The tried and true southern method of tick removal is to hold a flame from a match or lighter to the ticks butt. They don't like the heat and will back out on their own.

[Mike41793]

I know it's all doen now but but just so you know...

The tried and true southern method of tick removal is to hold a flame from a match or lighter to the ticks butt. They don't like the heat and will back out on their own.

How do you think the snake would tolerate that? My guess is not very well haha

[MasonC2K]

How do you think the snake would tolerate that? My guess is not very well haha

Good question. It works on people and dogs just fine though. As long as the flame doesn't make contact with the skin it should be fine I would think though.

For harder to get to places where an open flame would be problematic, heating up the end of a pin and touching the tick with it has the same affect.

[enchantress62]

The match thing is an old remedy. You don't put the flame to the tick you light the match, blow out the flame, and place the hot tip to the tick. I've also heard that painting it with fingernail polish, white out, or any paint like chemical will smother it and cause it to pull out. I've never tried any of these things but my mother used to check us for ticks when we lived in Florida and she used the matches a lot.