Frequent shedding?

[Vengeance]

Couple questions actually, one being does anyone have any pictures of what a mite infestation on a snake would look like?

Question two being what is the shortest amount of time you've seen between sheds.

Reason I'm asking is because Fred is soaking again and he has just shed a little over 2 weeks ago. Now I've inspected him as best I can, I've checked his eyes, around his vent, and around his mouth and see nothing that would indicate he has mites. No little black dots, nothing moving on him, and nothing I can brush off. I'm going to check the bottom of his water dish tonight if he gets out of it for me. Also his attitude is perfect, when I handle him, he activly moves around and flicks his tounge, never hisses or strikes at me when I enter his cage and is usually very active at night. But I also find it hard to believe that he is going into another shed so soon. Last shed was fine, came off in one piece (at least it looked like one piece, by the time I saw it was crunched up into one big ball of skin). He has between 60 - 70% humidity in his cage at all times. He has about 5 hides in his cage 2 on the hot side, 1 on the cool side and 2 more in-between. Temps are 90-95F on the hot side and 80-85F on the cool side. I mean things can't get much more ideal then this for a Ball python I would think.

Could it just be he is getting ready for another shed or should I be looking for something else wrong or could I just be overly paranoid that something is wrong?

[sapphire_moon]

some snakes just soak.....just because they like it i guess. How are you reading your temps. Maybe it's to hot? I'm sorry I couldn't have been more help...

[Vengeance]

I read my temps 2 different ways. I have a Hydrometer/Thermometer to monitor the ambient air temps and humidity in the cage. It's digital, I'm pretty sure it works properly because we I take the lid off the humidity drops down to 40% for obvious reasons. I also have a Temp Gun that I check all my surface temps with, so I'm pretty sure they are all accurate in their readings.

[Big Mike]

Soaking is not always something to worry about. Sometimes they just like to soak.

[Vengeance]

Yea that's most likely it, he just felt like a soak, he got out at around 1 am, I checked his water dish and their was debris in the bottom the the dish but nothing from what I could tell that looked like a tic. It looked more like the dirt he must have picked up from his substrate.

[mykee]

Yeah, if he is shedding again, you're feeding him very well. Good job. However, I have two balls that, regardless of what I do to their enclosures, they're always in the water dish. I was worried about mites also for the longest time, but after 4 months of searching and continuous soaking and not seeing a single black dot anywhere, I chalked it up to have two 'unique' balls.

[Vengeance]

Well it's coming up on a month since I've had the little guy and according to the records I've been keeping he's fed 3 times (hopefully 4 by tommorow) and shed once, so I think he is doing ok. Only thing I need to do is move him to a bigger prey which I will do very soon.

[Vengeance]

Ok **** upon further investigation I found mites. There don't seem to be too many because I only found one or two in his water dish after his soak, I thought it was just debris but I poped one and there was blood inside so dammit! Anyway, have a few questions. I'm heading down to the pharmacy right now to pickup some Nix. But I also have hamsters, should I spray them down as well?? Also considering this is a captive bred snake where are the most common places snakes pickup mites from? I mean can they crawl in through a window or are the usually hidden with substrate? Any help would be much appricated.

[Vengeance]

Ok so here is what I've done so far, I went to the Drug store picked up some Nix. I found this thread...

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23844&highlight=Mite+treatment

and followed the instructions on how to properly dilute the Nix with water. Took out all his substrate, threw it out, took the other bag of spare substrate I had and tossed it as well. Took everything out of the cage, Branches vines, hides, and soaked them in nix. Sprayed the entire cage inside and out, and then placed paper towl on the bottom of the cage. I know must pople would turff all the brances, vines, and hides but I wanted things to be as normal as possible inside the enclousre as possible as to not stress him out anymore. For Fred, I poured a small about of the diluted nix into a bowl, placed him in their to soak and sprayed him down as well. I left him in the bowl during the entire cleanup process. I took his water dish out for the night and I'll put it back in tommorow to make sure any mites on him are killed and he can't wash the Nix off. Can anyone think of somethng I may have missed and point me in the right direction?

[Linds]

I wouldn't soak him in it, just in case he ingests some. If you want to put it on his body (which is an ok idea for the intial treatment), I would recommend spraying your hands and then gently rubbing him down (I let them slide through my hands). Mites are host specific, so your hamster will not be affected. I would also avoid spraying any rodents with it, even in the event they become infested with rodent mites or fleas since they groom themselves. next time (hopefully there isn't) instead of soaking everything in Nix, I would recommend baking or boiling what you are able to. I wouldn't worry about stress levels of changing around the cage in the even you had to get rid of anything either. They are likely to be minimal or none at all. Good luck with your little guy ;)

Another thing, I would change his water bowl to something small enough that he cannot fit in to. You don't want him contaminating his drinking water with Nix :eek:

[Vengeance]

Well ***** I already soaked him in it, wasn't much, I don't think he ingested it, it was barely enough to totally submerge himself. I read on another thread it was a good idea to let him swim around in it for a little while. What harm could come to him if he has ingested some of the solution? I also read that I shouldn't put water in his cage at all for 24hours to make sure he doesn't wash the Nix off. I'm going to put something small in now just in case he has ingested it would be best for him to drink more water to dilute the solution further. As for contaminationg, I intend to change his water every 12 hours untill this is over with.

Also I was wondering if after the 24 hour period should I was him? I'm just thinking that way I can waah all the nix off and give him back his regular water bowl so that if he wants to soak he can.

[alliwolf03]

Ok now.... we have had our ball for a year now and when we first got her she was to our surprise infested with mites I was grossed out completly.. we called our local reptile zoo and was told to use what they use and it is olive oil just to be careful not to get it in her nose. we completly cleaned out the cage. layed news paper down for the night after we completly covered her in it. they say it sofocates them. who knows. the next morning when I woke up the mites where dead on the bottom of the cage. nasty. to be on the safe side we rubbed her down some more. I fell in love with her the moment she let me rub olive oil on her eyes she is such a sweet heart.. we have not had mites again yet... knock on wood. the reptile zoo dosnt like to use nix it is really harsh on the snakes. I dont know I am not an expert.

hope that helps

[jfmoore]

I tend to pooh-pooh those “natural” treatments, like cooking oil. Bring on the chemicals! So it’s interesting to hear when one of them actually works. Thanks for posting about that. It is certainly worth trying when you don’t have a large number of snakes to treat and none of them are tiny hatchlings. I’d recommend soaking the snake in plain water with a drop or two of dishwashing liquid first, while cleaning out the cage, to effect the initial mite kill-off; then afterwards doing the first oil treatment.

Regarding where snake mites come from – you either brought them home with that snake, or it’s almost 100 percent that you brought them in on another snake. Closed collections just don’t get them. I suppose it is possible that an egg-filled female or two could hitch a ride home on you or a feeder animal if you had visited a mite infested place, but it doesn’t seem very likely. I seem to recall you saying on more than one occasion that this animal has been soaking in its water bowl a lot, right? So it’s a good bet that you had the mites from the beginning.

I’ve got a good document that surveys various recommended and non-recommended treatments for snake mites and ticks. It’s too long to post here, but if anyone would like a copy, I’d be glad to email it to you.

-Joan

[alliwolf03]

Your welcome. I would post anything just to help. Pets look to us to protect and help them. The repile zoo said that mites shouldnt happen again unless we get a new snake and introduce it to her. I try all homeo remedies first I cant stand chemicals. To many risks.

[Vengeance]

First time he was soaking was for a shed, he started soaking then stopped for 2 weeks after he had finished his shed cycle. I've had the guy for a month and in that entire month nothing has changed and as far as I can tell from his behaviour he has only had the mites for the last week. I only have the one Ball python and haven't brought home any new animals since I got him. If he had the mites originally I can't understand why his symptoms only started showing up in the last week. Even his substrate was bought before I even had him. So the substrate has been in my house longer then his has. That is why I'm kinda at a loss as to where they came from. I don't handle any other snakes, and hanen't been to another pet store that carries reptiles since I got him. I read something that mites can lay dormenant while they multiply in mubers for extended periods of time, that is only thing I can figure as to why this is just happening now.

[alliwolf03]

With our ball we didnt know she had them for 3 mths. and in that three months alot of stuff happend to her poor baby. but the mites came from the pet store the pet store even said they had just treated her for them after we called. we will never go there again. so I dont know what to tell you. they can lay domant. we all of a sudden saw them and we handle her alot so do my kids. YUCK I hate those things. YUCK. makes me itch just thinking about them. she is fine now. Did the nix treatment work? now that it is treated you shouldnt have any more problems.

[Vengeance]

Well yesterday I changed all the paper towl again and wiped down the walls so that the nix was gone. I left the solution dried on the fake leaves, branches and vines. I took him out and washed him off in some luke warm water. Put everything back in his cage with a new layer of paper towl and his regular water bowl that he can fit in to soak. When I woke up this morning he wansn't soaking I can only assume for now that the mites are gone, but time will tell. If he goes back to soaking I'll have to do another treatment.

[Tigergenesis]

Joan, I'd be interested in the document if you could email it to me.

tigergenesis@comcast.net

Thank you!
:)