Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Id just like to give everyone a quick heads up on a bad situation in the making.

It seems a bad batch of bci hit the market this week. Animals loaded with small gray ticks some very heavily. Mostly hidden in the belly scales, but also found around eyes, on sides, and anywhere in between. I personally spotted one with over 30 ticks on it (a baby).

Im aware of atleast 50 animals in one group, so who knows how many landed in the crates.

So please if your in the market for baby boas, besides looking at color and health. Look for TICKS on the bellys. Gray not black.

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles

Thanks for the heads up Mickey..

For anyone who doesn't have a good quarantine process figured out, allboas.com has some good information for doing this.

Also, I stronly believe that mites can be controlled by catching the problem right away and by soaking the snake in water or a soapy solution as described in allboas.com. And, of course by keeping all new snakes (and the containers they come in) separated from the rest of your collection. I use no pest strips in my quarantine area (outside of the cage)to catch any mites that escape the cages.. I have been very happy with this process and have caught the few mites that came in on a few farmed babies.

Patrick

are there any other special precautions for ticks??
Treat the same as for mites??

Patrick

Of course we all expect mites to be abundant this time of season. But I found it to be shocking myself to see the gray ticks on boas. Ive never seen theese before myself, and they are very small in comparison to the black ticks (could just be baby blacks Im no tick expert).

From what I gather ticks are a far deal trickier then mites. While somewhat easier in theory to get rid of, the long term effects may be far more dangerous. If the ticks head is left in place when its removed you can have big problems. Plus ticks are none to produce very devestating effects in humans (lyme disease off the top of my head) so I could imagine in reptiles they are also very dangerous.

Ive also been told of someone seein a bcc in Raliegh with the same ticks. When asked about the snake, my friend was informed it was a very fresh import. This snake in question was from Texas, while the bci came out of Florida. As such I am very suspicious this is soon going to be a much farther spread problem.

So yes as always follow proper quarintine, but while your at it be on the look out for ticks.

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles

buy captive bred babies from reliable breeders.

Buy some CB babies and save yourself the headache... but even then follow proper quarentine procedures to be save or else you'll need a case of Black knight to fix the mess..

Sincerley,
Rose Hipskind
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www.srsnakes.com

The whole reason I put this post up was to give people browsing some "real time" info on whats on the market this minute.

Sadly I see it all the time, customers who dont know any better are told "O yea, thats a captive bred animal". Some will add "US CAPTIVE" or the real dirt balls will go soo far as to say "I/MY FRIEND BRED IT HIMSELF".

Now all of us who have done this long enough know that with boa baby season, comes boa import season. And we all know to be extra vigilant when buying. We also all are quite aware of quarintine procedures, and methods to rid ones animals of pests.

My question is how often do some of us veterns know of a "bad shipment" and do nothing about it. Being in Nebraska Im at a big disatvantage in this scenario then someone on either coasts. I usually dont know a particular shipment is bad till I either notice alot of sick looking animals of a particular species advertised, at shows, or worse sent to me.

I figured with all the scammers in the world, it would be a nice "heads up" to the community to inform them TICKS are on the loose in baby bci currently on the market (50 known, and no not in my possesion, and who knows how many total in the shipment). Where theese boas are now, or will go who knows. But they are out there, and that means I myself will assume EVERY common baby bci on the market is a import, untill proven otherwise.

So was just a word to the wise, or maybe more importantly the "not soo wise" soo to speak.

Mickey Hinkle
The Lizard King Reptiles

n/p
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www.chrisolsonreptiles.com