Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay I was just feeding my ball and I noticed little tiny bugs near where I was feeding her under her hide. Now normallly I would think they came from the mice since she will eat only live....but after her shed on the 19th, she stayed out in the open; wouldn't go into her favorite hide. I thought that was wierd, but figured it was something to do with the temperatures so I've been playing with them.
The substrate is 6 months old so I know that if there were bugs from that I would have seen them before now. I immediately though mites, but I don't see anything ON her and she's in a room by herself with no contact to other reptiles or animals.
Has this ever happened to anybody else before? Could it be they just got in thru the wire mesh?
Thanks for you help!

merlin

My guess is mites. 6 month old substrate!?!? I clean mine whenever my snakes "go potty" and once a month either way! If you haven't cleaned the cage in 6 months, it is MOST LIKELY mites, they thrive in filth, just clean out the cage and do a search on here, there have been thousands of great info about getting rid of mites here. I have never had mites, so I am not going to give info on how to treat them from hearsay. Good luck!
-----
"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are." - Kurt Cobain

"You laugh at me because I am different; I laugh at you because you are all the same."

~~ Krystal - Future breeder of Pythons, Geckos, we'll see what else later! ~~ www.geocities.com/krystal19_85 ~~

6 months is entirely too long. let us know what kind of substrate your using as well, that will help. Keep us posted.

Yeah, I'm agreeing about the substrate thing. 6 months is WAY too long; both unsanitary, and irresponsible.

Shut up.

you can be very annoying.

Perhaps you mean well. But I think you have a basic inborn need to show off your superiority which puts you in the realm of trollish behaviour.

VOT

VOT, thank you for so eloquently informing me that you do not approve of the manner in which I conduct myself. It truly is not my intention to offend anyone. However, when someone does not clean their snakes' environment for 6 months, do you not agree that that is poor husbandry, and irresponsible? Do you condone such behavior? Again, congratulations on 'sinking' to my supposed level. Touche.

just dust mites or mill mites or one of the many other little critters..........

reptile mites come from other reptiles not usually from mulch...

..........clean it anyways..........

............JY

If it is dirt as your substrate,it could be Springtails. They are almsot microscopic,soooo tiny. But they look like mites. They are pretty much harmless, they eat dead and decaying matter.but they live in moist dirty areas,which means your substrate shouldve been changed after a month or so.