Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, I've done a dumb thing with my baby. I have a albino burm about 4 ft and I used wood chips for subsrait and he suddenly has developed tiny black spots on him. They don't seem to be "bugs" of any kind, it appears to be dirt embedded in the scales. Some of it comes off in a bath or trying to rub on it, but some of it seems to be "stuck" for lack of a better term. It seens worse around his face the white under his mouth is almost speckled. If I'm not mistaken Mites appear red, not black and as I said it looks like dirt picked up from the wood, but he is my pride and joy and I don't want to take any chances so I'm asking the experts here for advice. Needless to say, the cage has been cleaned and the substrait replaced with newspaper. Should I be concerned or just keep with newspaper and keep giving baths and keep watch? By the way, he eats just fine, a little picky once in a while but just downed 2 Med. rats tonight and is soaking in his water dish right now after being held and loving the attention (he really is a sweetheart). Thanks for your advice.
-----
1.0 Albino Burm
0.1 Red Tail Boa
0.0.1 Red Corn
0.1 Cocker Spaniel
1.1 Cats
0.0.1 Yellow Nape Amazon
0.0.1 Military Macaw
0.0.3 Peach Faced Love Birds
1.0 Child
0.1 Wife

sounds to me like mites. I'd suggest getting a small pair of tweesers and delicately try to remove a few of them from under the snakes scales and put them on to a peice of white paper. If they are as i suspect, mites, then you will clearly see them moving on the white paper.
I am not sure exactly as to why, but everytime i have used bark on any of my snakes before, it has not been long before mites have appeared.
Having mites doesnot always mean that the snake will stop feeding, so never rely on that to help a diagnosis, by the time that the snake stops feeding due to mites, then you have a real problem on your hands.

Anyway hope this helps

Before you take them off with tweezers you'll need to spot them on the snake. But a little lub on the spot on the bug (vaseline works). This way the bug slips off COMPLETELY. If you don't, you run the risk of tearing off the body and leaving the head on the snake. That will continue to cause irritation to the snake. A sure fire way to determine if your burm has mites is if it sits in its water more than it should. They'll sit in the water to relieve the irritation. GOOD LUCK

Yea it is most likely mites. Mites on snakes are usualy black. I would go outside and remove as many as I could, dump out all substrate outside somehweres and then get soem kind of mite spray and spray your snake and enclosure then put newspaper on the bottom and nothing else. I usualy do not even put a water bowl in and let it soak about once a day (wahs off the snake and the enclsoure before soaking) You should ge fewere and fewer mites until they are all gone. I would not use anykind of bark even after the mites are gone. Good luck getting rid of the little turds.
-----
Justin

when you introduce something like bark or wood into the cage, you should bake it first to kill any would be critters. I believe it's the lowest setting on you oven for about 20-30 minutes. Long enough to get what you introducing hot enough to kill what's inside of it. Wood won't catch fire if it's 200 degrees in your oven with no flame touching the wood (keep an eye on it anyway). Then let it set until it cools. For substrate though, newspaper sure is easiest. I hate the way it looks but you can't beat it for practicality.

DZ