Mites?

[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.