Parasites???

[SerpentLust]

My friend told me that after he bought a Ball Python from the pet store for his little sister, it turned out to have parasites. He disgnosed it himself and we have no competent reptile vets in North Bay...I'm not sure if it WAS parasites though...

All he told me was that there were "little red guys crawling around the outside" of the snake...

I thought of Mites right off the bat, but because I don't have that much experience with it, I'm asking you guys....

What could it have been, and moreso, what can they do to get rid of them? (He's not even sure if she kept the snake, which is sad...getting rid of something because it has mites, or bugs anyways, that I know you can get rid of).

Jenn

[Linds]

Little re guys crawling around would be Lizard mites. Easiest way to get rid of them is with Nix. Just dilute 1 bottle of Nix shampoo (can be purchased at any pharmacy) to 1 gallon of water. Thoroughly clean snakes cage, replace any loose substrate with papertowel and keep everything as simple as possible. Remove water dish and spray down enclosure. Spray down snake (avoiding face) and place back in. Replace water bowl (make sure waterbowl is not big enough for the snake to soak in). Repeat again in 4 days, then after another week, and then two weeks after that

[sapphire_moon]

I took everything out except for hides and water bowl. Rubbed vegtable oil on her, and let her go in her cage. In about a week the mites were gone. But they weren't little red dots, they were black ones. be sure to use news paper or paper towls though.

[Linds]

I would strongly discourage anyone from using oil to rid their snake of mites. Oil suffocates the skin and can lead to such conditions as scale loss. It was one of the first methods used to irradicate mites, and isn't a highly effective one, and has since been replaced by safer, more effective techniques.