Flea on mouse?

[Jodi2950]

So when I fed Watson this morning I noticed what appeared to be a flea on the mouse as he was swallowing it. He only eats live at this point and I bought the mouse at Petco. The flea jumped off onto the substrate before Watson could get it down...so my question is will this flea in the tank be a problem for him? I'm pretty sure it was a flea. Seemed kinda of big to be a mite though I have never actually seen a mite...
I sure Watson does not have mites right now. He never soaks in his water dish and I 've never seen any on him and we look at him alot. This thing was crawling through the mouse's fur then jumped off! Do snakes get fleas?
I have two more mice that I got at the same time in a sterilite container. How do I get the fleas off of them?
I have flea spray but am sure it would probably kill the mouse. Now what should I do?

[mbuehler]

I don't think the flea will bother the snake. You maybe able to use listerine. I think it used to be used as a delousing agent.

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[Capray]

I also don't think the flea will do anything to him. They generally host off of mammals. It will just die after a few days.

[zeion97]

Mice can have fleas, snakes can not. Mice getting fleas is quite common, duribg a flea outbrwak id you have animals and breed rodets they will latch onto the rodents. My frst colony have them so bad I had to xull around 30 rats. If you have animals that arent treated for fleas id treat them just to be safe. Fleas are a pain.

But in short, no harm to the snake.

[Jodi2950]

Thanks!! We have cats and dogs so will start their summer flea treatment a little earlier this year. Glad to know I don't have to treat Watson !

[Pythonfriend]

fleas are evolved to stick to anything furry, and are heat-seeking, they have no good way to stick to a snake at all. mites are flat and hard and stick to flat surfaces like crazy.

to reduce risk for your other pets, you could hasten its demise by switching the snake to paper towels, just for a short while, a week or so. fleas are quite mobile and can survive for quite a while without food, and he is probarbly hanging out somewhere in the substrate near the heat pad right now.