Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently (about 2 months ago) got a male columbian red tail boa, hes about 2-3yrs old.. As of late, he has been spending day and night in his water bowl. This past saturday i watched him slither out of his water bowl for the first time since he had eaten the saturday before to eat. Now since sunday morning hes back in his water bowl. So hes not having a problem eating but he usually spends most of his time on the log under the heat lamp or in his hide box, but for 2-3 weeks now hes been in that water bowl? Is there something wrong or is he just enjoying a nice long long long bath? Thanks in advance

Check the temp in his cage. Should be in the 80-86 range. Mites can also be a problem on boas that soak to much. Check the water bowl and look for little black specks.

check for mites not that he has them or maybe hes gonna shed.

even if you don't see them. I would also say that this is how snakes that have been treated for mites seem to continually reinfest themselves with these little buggers. By that, I mean that even though the adult mites are being drowned, eggs are laid in the water. The snake then ingests the eggs by drinking the water. Then once the snake defecates, a medium for new mites is created. Mites hatch from the stool. Just a theory... but the soaking almost definately means a mite infestation.
Good luck-
Matt Schubarth
Pet Nebula

enjoy soaking more than others. Sometimes Boas will also soak because they have mites or if it too warm. How are the cage temps? Are you sure he doesn't have mites? I know my snakeroom got too warm when we were having high 90's and alot of my snakes were soaking. I remedied that by getting the room cooler but I still have a few that like to soak more than others. Make sure the water is kept clean otherwise he should be okay.

Has he been defecating normally? Sometimes soaking helps them relieve themselves, unfortunately usually in the dish. The other thing that may be possible is he may have been exposed to mites somehow. When infested they tend to instinctively soak to drown off the mites. Look carefully in the water dish and if there's a problem I strongly recommend you need to address it immediately.

oh my god, see this is why i came here to ask you experienced snake owners.. When i cleaned the water yesterday i saw black specs, i just assumed it was dirt and thought nothing of it.. What do i do to resolve this problem?

Look in the classifieds under the caging and supplies section and buy some Provent-a-mite. I believe you can get it from MG Reptiles, Scales, and some others. It is the best product out there if used correctly. Just make sure to follow the instructions on the label because if used improperly, it could harm or even kill your snake.

Matt

is if you have any other animals you may have contaminated them so beware. If not, treating a single animal is not hard but you must be sure to treat the whole cage, accessories, and virtually anything the animal may come in contact with. Be sure to recheck the animal and try to figure out where the mites came from to begin with otherwise you risk recontamination.

what other kinds of animals are these mites atracted to? I have 2 dogs but more importantly i have another snake in the same room. The other snakes enclosure is actually no more than 6 inches from the infected cage.. How can i tell if my other snake has these mites? I see nothing in his water bowl and he hasnt been spending time in there but hes just a baby ball python.. I really appreciate all the help you all have already given me, thanks again.

These are reptile mites, so your dogs should be fine. Once you get the Provent-a-mite, treat both of your snakes cages with it. It can be used as a preventative measure about once a month or so. If I had to take a guess where the mites came from, I would guess that you feed live rodents from a petstore. Some mites probably came along with a rodent. If you feed f/t, then they probably came from another reptile you held, whether that be at a reptile show, pet store, or friends house.
Hope this helps,
Matt

Sometimes you can spot them on the snake, if your snake will let you, inspect the underside of the lower jaw, move the scales/skin around so you can see into the crevices beneeth the scales. I had a ball python with mites many years ago and I could see them there, only a few but one is too many. They tend to migrate there as that's the head is the only part not submerged while soaking.
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife
0.2 kids
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.1 Ball python
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Sorry Matt, you are right about the dogs but wrong about the mice. Reptile mites are host specific, meaning that the only live off of cold blooded creatures. I have another shop in town that is notorious for selling snakes that are covered in mites. Everyone that gets mites, likes to blame it on his shop. Like this, "I bought feeders from "blank" and his mice/rats gave my snake mites". I would love to agree with them to help boost my feeder business but I'm not much of a misinformation type. So I tell them what I have just told you... feeder rodents do not carry snake mites, snakes do.
Respectfully-
Matt Schubarth
Pet Nebula

take out all the substrate and in its place put newspaper.Use this for 10 days buy some prventamite spray the cage after you remove the old substrate.wash his/her water bowl.Before you place the snake in its enclosure make sure the fumes from the provantamite have disasapaited.newspaper is just easy to clean and you should clean it every week the eggs hatch every ten days

Clean the cage every week and retreat with the preventamite (sp?) for several weeks. Would not be uncommon for one or two or more to be off in search of new snake to infest and be away from the treated area just to return later. I have heard stories of mites infecting animals at shows where the path the mite would have to travel was in the dozens of feet (assuming it did not hitch a ride on some unsuspecting human).
-----
Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife
0.2 kids
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.1 Ball python
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thanks a lot guys. I just bought some mite stuff from the reptile store by my house.. The directions say to soak all the wooden objects in the cage with a bleach/water solution.. The cage my snake is in is made of wood, is this going to cause a problem while treating the snake? Also, wouldnt soaking the branch my snake loves to hang around on in bleach cause harm to my snake? I had another question but i forgot so =p

My recommendation is that if the stuff you bought isn't actually Provent-a-mite, return it and order this stuff. Then you can spray the cage and the branches. This is the best an most reliable way to get rid of him. While you wait for it to arrive, clean your cage, and soak your snake in water with a little dish soap. This will help till the Provent-a-mite arrives. Just order it now.
Matt

Im at work right now so im not positive if what i bought is or isnt provent-a-mite, but is the 'provent-a-mite' stuff that much better that i should buy it? I mean what i bought came from a reptile store as mite killer.. Ill re-post when i can tell you what it is that i did buy..