Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Today someone gave me a 3 foot long male ball python.They also gave me a 30 long with all his soiled cage accessories . I took the snake because they said if I didn't they were going to have it inhumanely euthanised.The snake is fat and has been eating obviously but I started too look over it and noticed, it is missing scales and has some bites on it,I also found ticks on the snake, 2 that were in the vent ,and 2 on the body. I bought Reptile relief from Petco that says it will kill mites and ticks on contact sprayed it the went back and removed them with tweezers.What else can I do for this animal I am going to keep using the reptile relief on it until it sheds. I also went ahead and gave him a dose of parazap. Any other suggestions?

Keep it AWAY from your existing collection to start! I would suggest investing in provent-a-mite from ProProducts (or some comparable product). Just because you got the "visual" tick doesn't mean your problems are gone. There may be eggs or you may have missed one.

In addition to this, get the animal dewormed since it's likely to have internal parasites as well. Look at Panacur and Flagyl to start.

Good luck to ya!

Ron

Hey there, it never ceases to amaze me how people can treat animals. I do pit bull rescue myself, but anyway...I bought a ball python just a few months ago, an impulse buy, I didnt know any questions to ask, I just know they were easy to handle and I had a large empty tank waiting for a snake. Ended up he was wild caught, you could see the missing and damaged scales from the noose they use to catch them. He was LOADED with internal parasites and worms. My advice is to get this guy (or girl) to a herp vet to check for any internal nasties and get rid of them ASAP. Good Luck!

Melody