Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i need to know if anybody has seen this. the other day i was cleaning some cages and noticed some really, really tiny bugs or mites of some kind. i don't know what to compare them to. they're super small but you can see them. they were mostly in groups on the surface of the water and on the water dishes. they look white. what could they be? are they something that could really hurt my snakes? i know they are much smaller than a flea and you have to look close but they are visible. any help/advice is greatly appreciated!

thanks!
greg

Yes you have mites. Do a forum search on mites and you should find lots of good advice on how to deal with it. Just warning you though, it is a huge pain. Good luck. BTW I use and reccomend ivermectin for snakes.
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International Snakes Meetup
International Herpetology Meetup

You really don’t give enough information for an identification, but it is possible that you have grain mites, not snake mites. Grain mites are not parasites of snakes. If you are using a substrate like wood shavings or wood chips, you might be able to eliminate the problem by cleaning your cage thoroughly and switching to a plain paper substrate.

Agreed,

Have seen this before but it was related to the substrate rather than an infestation of the animal by mites. What are you using as substrate? Do you see any of the little buggars on the animals? I suspect it's not a huge problem BUT a little more info would help.

Regards,
Jeff Nichols

The bean farm.com, and order yourself a can, then switch over to newspaper for substrate. Good luck.