Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My little mot het has been soaking in his water dish up to his nostrils everyday how do i know if I'm dealing with mites?
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1.0 FWC,1.0 motley het sharp, 1.0 columbian,1.0 ETB, 1.0 jungle carpet , 0.1 sunglow albino,0.1 bolivian amarilli,0.1 great basin rattler, 0.1 albino monocle

Pour the water from the water dish into a white container, (if the water dish is not already white)and you will see the little black specks that look like pepper. If you dip in and get one on your finger, it will easily smear if you rub it against a piece of paper.

Mites are pretty easy to identify if you take a good look. If you are using substrate, get it out of there and do a good thorough cleaning. Give you snake a good once over looking for little black dots that move. If you don't find anything try using paper towel for substrate for the next week, if you have mites they'll be very visible on paper towel.

Also, a soaking snake could also be a temp situation. If your cage temps are a little too toasty for the boa, they sometimes use the water bowl to cool off.
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Alberto Dimatteo
www.InvincibleBoas.com

Thank you for the help,i keep his temps 80_90°.and a cool area of his enclosure so i am doubting that it's a temperature issue, i throughly disinfected his cage and decor, ill try the paper towels, has anyone tried jurassimite? I sprayed him down with that today, thanks again i hate thinking my babies are sick.
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1.0 FWC,1.0 motley het sharp, 1.0 columbian,1.0 ETB, 1.0 jungle carpet , 0.1 sunglow albino,0.1 bolivian amarilli,0.1 great basin rattler, 0.1 albino monocle

For mites, the only products that actually work are ones that contains I believe permethrin. If you buy the name brand, Prevent o mite is the way to go. If you want a cheap alternative you can get flea bedding spray at walmart that is pretty much the same thing. I have used both with identical results and no adverse effects. These products are not to be sprayed on the boa but rather the enclosure and paper towel bedding. Do not spray the water bowl and do not introduce the boa back in the enclosure until it is completely dry or the boa can suffer brain damage from the chemicals. Once dry it is completely safe.
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Alberto Dimatteo
www.InvincibleBoas.com

Thank you for the all the advice
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1.0 FWC,1.0 motley het sharp, 1.0 columbian,1.0 ETB, 1.0 jungle carpet , 0.1 sunglow albino,0.1 bolivian amarilli,0.1 great basin rattler, 0.1 albino monocle