Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've got a Carpet Python that likes to soak in his water dish on a regular basis, but tonight when I looked in his dish I saw little black things sitting at the bottom of the water dish. I know alot of snakes will soak to try and drown mites, but when I took him out and examined him, I couldn't find anything. Nothing near his eyes, nothing in his scales, nothing. Nowhere in the cage are eggs or even the silvery dust that they tell you to look for as mite feces. Is there anything else these could be? I changed his water and kept a sample of the old water to show the vet, but in the meantime, can anyone think of something else this could be?

-----
1.0 Anery Columbian Redtail Boa
1.0 Striped Irian Jaya Carpet Python
0.1 Gray Banded Kingsnake
1.1 Ball Python
1.0 Sunglow Striped Corn
1.1 Leopard Gecko (Male-Albino, Female-Reduced Pattern)
Various Fish

Most likely the black specs are bits of substrate, I noticed you're using a bark/wood product of some sort.

To test, of course you can use a microscope to verify... the samples taken to the vet will give you this information.

Even easier, take a suspect black grain and place on your fingernail. Press another fingernail from your other hand against it to squish it. If it bursts and there is a small amount of blood (it's meal) then you have found a mite.

Ian