Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i found some little with bugs in my balls water dish i think they are wood mites or wood lice.two questions 1 are they harmful to my ball and 2 how can i get rid of them?

use the generic(for cost reasons) lice spray. you can get it at any pharmacy....

do you mean lice spray that humans would use that is safe for a ball python?

1. Wood mites are completely harmless to anything except wood. They are not interested in snakes, people, rats etc.
2. The only way you can get rid of them is to stop using wood. It is almost inevitable that you will have wood mites if you use any shredded or shaved wood product.
Do NOT treat them with a lice spray as suggested, you'll only contaminate the snakes enclosure and cause health issues that were otherwise nonexistent.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

If they are already in the water, then they are probably in your snakes bedding laying eggs. They suck the blood of your snake until full, then they drop off and find a place to lay eggs. It can be a huge problem if you don't nip it in the butt NOW!!

what is the best way to get rid of them?

even the little white wood mites suck blood from them? i was told by multipul people they dont harm them i however always have treated them and got rid of them anyway. i always used nix as i was told its alot safer than the spray. and i was told to do one bottle of nix to one gallon of water
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reed&Sunny at www.ReedsDragons.com & www.KillerEnclosures.com

They are harmless, they are just a complete pain in the BUTT.
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

Wood mites do not feed on blood. They feed exclusively on wood. That's it. Wood.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

I'm told that TRUE wood mites are harmless to reptiles, but non-the-less a real pain in the butt. I use Provent-A-Mite. Alot of people use regular human Lice Spray because it is several dollars cheaper ($13.00 cheaper, I think, to be exact), and I have not heard of negative experiences in using it. However, I'm not willing to risk it. I use Provent-A-Mite is made for reptiles, so its the way to go.

I've gotten reptile mites, the real blood suckers, from feeder rodents once. And wood mites show up in your aspen. When I open a bag of Aspen, I put it in a big contractor's trash can at intervals at a time, usually in quarters. Put a quarter of the bag in, spray the surface, miz around, let dry completely, and repeat till gone. I do full cleanings monthly, and every 2 months during those cleanings I Provent-A-Mite my bins. I have 49 snakes so its pricey, but well worth it in my opinion. Mites live in your snake's environment, not on your snake -- your snake is just food.

Always remember, the liquid version or the fumes of any spray is lethal to your snake, but the dry version is harmless.

Hope this helps!
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

Tho they won't "harm" balls -- they will crawl all over them which can be irritating and stressful.

If you've got them -- get rid of all your substrate and either use newspaper for a while or hit your tubs with some Black Knight for a while make sure it's dry before replacing snake).
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Tosha
JET Pythons
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