Mites?

[Ailuros]

Hey! I have a relative who has gotten into the hobby, she bought a fire morph ball python about a month ago. He has been eating very well, and has had one shed with her. I have in the past bought snakes from this person, and have had no issues with any of my animals from them. They all eat amazingly, no mites, and are thriving under my care.

But, when handling her snake and giving tips on handling (she is younger) I've noticed a mite, twice now. Each time it is just loosely crawling around the snakes face, and come off with little hassle. I am sure to kill them afterwards and check him over for any more. He is on paper towel, still in QT with a hide and water dish. These are typically replaced weekly and his water is kept fresh. I have never seen a mite crawling around on the paper towel, nor in his enclosure. Just on him.

The second time I found what'd I'd assumed to be a mite, I checked him and his enclosure again (to no avail but the original one I'd seen) and then let him go into his hide. I used hand sanitizer and went to go check on my collection. We share a house, but my collection is several floors down from where she keeps hers. I checked over everyone (Boas, Bps, Carpet python), and found nothing. Not even on the animals I'd gotten from the same seller.

Now that these have been spotted twice on her snake, I will be taking extra steps to ensure my collection isn't harmed by any pests she may have and would greatly appreciate advice on how to help get rid the snake of them and prevent them from spreading to my snakes.

[BeansTheDerp]

A soak in warm water with some dawn dish soap should solve the mite issue on the snake. Make sure it is monitored though in order to stop any soapy water drinking. I've heard/seen people wiping their snakes down in olive/vegetable oil in order to get mites off as well but I don't see it suggested often enough to consider it my number one reliable tip.

[Bogertophis]

A soak in warm water with some dawn dish soap should solve the mite issue on the snake. Make sure it is monitored though in order to stop any soapy water drinking. I've heard/seen people wiping their snakes down in olive/vegetable oil in order to get mites off as well but I don't see it suggested often enough to consider it my number one reliable tip.

First off- No advice is better than incomplete, misleading or false information. We don't want any harm to come to snakes when owners need & ask for help.

Soaking a snake for about 20-25 minutes in luke-warm* water with only a drop** or 2 of Dawn or Ivory dish soap will drown many or most of the mites on them, but still may miss some since the snake's head isn't underwater (& shouldn't be!) A soaking snake must be constantly supervised, not only so their body remains submerged as much as possible, but so the snake doesn't drink any soapy water- it will cause digestive upset.

*Use a thermometer to make sure the water isn't too hot- remember that the right temperature for a snake will feel cool to us, since we're roughly 98.6* F- so if the water feels warm to us, it's too hot for your snake & could harm them. This (& also the lack of traction in bathwater) is often the reason that snakes appear to hate being bathed.

**Only a drop or 2 of mild soap is needed- it's only to break the surface tension of the water so the mites drown rather than float or swim.

Unfortunately, a snake that has readily observed mites will most likely need another method besides bathing to ensure the mites are forever gone. See post #4 below.

NEVER wipe a snake with oil of any kind- it causes future shed problems & isn't an effective way to get rid of mites. There's a reason you don't see this suggested often- it's a bad idea.

[Bogertophis]

Further mite treatments discussed here:

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...=1#post2771656

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...s-looking-good

https://parasitesandvectors.biomedce...71-022-05611-1

[BeansTheDerp]

First off- No advice is better than incomplete, misleading or false information. We don't want any harm to come to snakes when owners need & ask for help.

Soaking a snake for about 20-25 minutes in luke-warm* water with only a drop** or 2 of Dawn or Ivory dish soap will drown many or most of the mites on them, but still may miss some since the snake's head isn't underwater (& shouldn't be!) A soaking snake must be constantly supervised, not only so their body remains submerged as much as possible, but so the snake doesn't drink any soapy water- it will cause digestive upset.

*Use a thermometer to make sure the water isn't too hot- remember that the right temperature for a snake will feel cool to us, since we're roughly 98.6* F- so if the water feels warm to us, it's too hot for your snake & could harm them. This (& also the lack of traction in bathwater) is often the reason that snakes appear to hate being bathed.

**Only a drop or 2 of mild soap is needed- it's only to break the surface tension of the water so the mites drown rather than float or swim.

Unfortunately, a snake that has readily observed mites will most likely need another method besides bathing to ensure the mites are forever gone. See post #4 below.

NEVER wipe a snake with oil of any kind- it causes future shed problems & isn't an effective way to get rid of mites. There's a reason you don't see this suggested often- it's a bad idea.

Yes thank you, I intended to return to my post and add to it and go into further detail but was in a rush. Guess you beat me to it.
And thanks for mentioning the oil thing, I will keep that in mind!