Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought two snakes off of a guy here in the classifieds three weeks ago. I let them settle in for two weeks and then tried to feed them this week. I noticed both were in their water dish. I took them out for inspection and found mites everywhere. I used a 10% bleach solution and cleaned both tubs and soaked down the rack for tonight. I will get some proventamite tomorrow. They were already crawling in the cracks and crevices of the rack I built. Any suggestions? I saw his ads on here all the time and I know he has a lot of stuff. Is this pretty common or not?

Get those snakes away from the rest of your collection. It is very annoying to get rid of, when they are all over all your snakes.
Clean the surrounding area of the cage, Soak the snakes(Id recommended soaking all your snakes), Use Preventamite to clean the cages and use on the reptiles as directed, and I have only had one mite problem in the 12 years Ive owned Ball Pythons, but i'm sure it has happened to anyone who has been with Reptiles for some time.

Keep us updated on their health! Best of luck!
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Got Balls?
Josh Molone

I forgot to mention I did soak them tonight for about 15 minutes. I could not believe how many mites were in the tub when I took them out!! Thanks for the reply.

Just keep at it, and you should gain control over the Mites.

It's my pleasure.

Best of luck, my friend!
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Got Balls?
Josh Molone

Be careful with Provent-a-mite...you should NOT spray it directly
on your snakes! Also do not leave the water bowl in the cage when spraying. Keep water out for a good 24 hours. This product works great when used as directed, but it can cause neurologic problems if used in excess.