Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok.. I see many many pictures of people with their pet burms outside climbing on tree limbs, moving across the ground, swimming in yard ponds and so forth.. Well my first snake was a ball python and I took him outside one day to let him get exercise and play crawling around on the ground exploring.. well when I picked him back up he has tons of little brown/black bugs(mites, i just didnt know at the time) and this was before I knew of provent-a-mite and getting rid of those mites were real pain in the a$$.. ever since then I do NOT let my snakes touch the ground or trees or anything outside really.. I take them outside for sun from time to time but I hold them. I would love to let them on the ground to explore but I am afraid of getting mites.. How do all you guys get away with letting your burm/whatever on the ground without getting mites? could it be where I live? could it be the time of year I had him out? now that I am much more savvy on reptiles and there is such a thing as provent-a-mite I want to try and take my burm out and let him explore. any of you have info about this? (I live in Alabama)

As much as I love my animals and try to learn EVERYTHING about them that I can, I never feel like it's possible to keep my animals happy. They are rather (like you said) forced into confinement. Even a bedroom would be too small to a degree in my opinion when you consider what they would normally have in life in the wild. However, I suppose that there are trade offs. They (if kept properly) live much healthier and dont suffer the same things that they would inthe wild as far as diseases and injuries, etc. It just kinda makes me feel really wierd when I look in at my snakes, or whatever, and feel that I wish that they had better. I wish that I could provide my crocodilians a whole lake all to themselves, or my snakes a whole forest. Of course, that's not feasible unless you are a rich zoo! I guess all we can do is just do as much as we can to provide a healthy lifestyle for our animals and keep them free from pain.

Chris

>>Ok.. I see many many pictures of people with their pet burms outside climbing on tree limbs, moving across the ground, swimming in yard ponds and so forth.. Well my first snake was a ball python and I took him outside one day to let him get exercise and play crawling around on the ground exploring.. well when I picked him back up he has tons of little brown/black bugs(mites, i just didnt know at the time) and this was before I knew of provent-a-mite and getting rid of those mites were real pain in the a$$.. ever since then I do NOT let my snakes touch the ground or trees or anything outside really.. I take them outside for sun from time to time but I hold them. I would love to let them on the ground to explore but I am afraid of getting mites.. How do all you guys get away with letting your burm/whatever on the ground without getting mites? could it be where I live? could it be the time of year I had him out? now that I am much more savvy on reptiles and there is such a thing as provent-a-mite I want to try and take my burm out and let him explore. any of you have info about this? (I live in Alabama)
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U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League
www.uappeal.org

Sorry..

>>As much as I love my animals and try to learn EVERYTHING about them that I can, I never feel like it's possible to keep my animals happy. They are rather (like you said) forced into confinement. Even a bedroom would be too small to a degree in my opinion when you consider what they would normally have in life in the wild. However, I suppose that there are trade offs. They (if kept properly) live much healthier and dont suffer the same things that they would inthe wild as far as diseases and injuries, etc. It just kinda makes me feel really wierd when I look in at my snakes, or whatever, and feel that I wish that they had better. I wish that I could provide my crocodilians a whole lake all to themselves, or my snakes a whole forest. Of course, that's not feasible unless you are a rich zoo! I guess all we can do is just do as much as we can to provide a healthy lifestyle for our animals and keep them free from pain.
>>
>>Chris
>>
>>>>Ok.. I see many many pictures of people with their pet burms outside climbing on tree limbs, moving across the ground, swimming in yard ponds and so forth.. Well my first snake was a ball python and I took him outside one day to let him get exercise and play crawling around on the ground exploring.. well when I picked him back up he has tons of little brown/black bugs(mites, i just didnt know at the time) and this was before I knew of provent-a-mite and getting rid of those mites were real pain in the a$$.. ever since then I do NOT let my snakes touch the ground or trees or anything outside really.. I take them outside for sun from time to time but I hold them. I would love to let them on the ground to explore but I am afraid of getting mites.. How do all you guys get away with letting your burm/whatever on the ground without getting mites? could it be where I live? could it be the time of year I had him out? now that I am much more savvy on reptiles and there is such a thing as provent-a-mite I want to try and take my burm out and let him explore. any of you have info about this? (I live in Alabama)
>>-----
>>U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
>>Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League
>>www.uappeal.org
-----
U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League
www.uappeal.org

I have never had a problem in taking my burm outside. I always check her over before I bring her in to make sure that she isn't bringing me some more uninvited "pets" in with her. It could very well be like you mentioned, the time of year or just the area that you live in. Do you keep the grass freshly mowed or does it stand rather high at times? Also, what kinda trees do you let her on?

Chris

>>Ok.. I see many many pictures of people with their pet burms outside climbing on tree limbs, moving across the ground, swimming in yard ponds and so forth.. Well my first snake was a ball python and I took him outside one day to let him get exercise and play crawling around on the ground exploring.. well when I picked him back up he has tons of little brown/black bugs(mites, i just didnt know at the time) and this was before I knew of provent-a-mite and getting rid of those mites were real pain in the a$$.. ever since then I do NOT let my snakes touch the ground or trees or anything outside really.. I take them outside for sun from time to time but I hold them. I would love to let them on the ground to explore but I am afraid of getting mites.. How do all you guys get away with letting your burm/whatever on the ground without getting mites? could it be where I live? could it be the time of year I had him out? now that I am much more savvy on reptiles and there is such a thing as provent-a-mite I want to try and take my burm out and let him explore. any of you have info about this? (I live in Alabama)
-----
U.A.P.P.E.A.L.
Uniting A Proactive Primate and Exotic Animal League
www.uappeal.org

Well.. when I did put my first ball on the ground it was in summer and grass was mowed.. and I think it was a dog-wood? tree that I put her on.I haven't taken any reptiles and let them touch the ground since.

My understanding is that the mite(s) that we all fear and lothe are very specific to reptiles, although I recall there are several genera/species that are included as parasites.Its hard to explain how your snake got infested so overwhelmingly...how a major population of host-specific parasites could be just waiting in the grass to infest your snake. That being said, the important things are that your animal is well taken care of and that there is no specific health need to take em outside anyway. I do it for me and I say that its good exercise for the snake. One thing for sure; it drives the jays crazy!

Hmmm...I take all my snakes outside in the summer. Burms, boas, carpets.
Have'nt seen any sign of mites from them being on the ground yet.
Maybe here in the north we don't have them? Nah...
that cant be it.
I try to get all my herps "sun time" during the hot months, and this has not caused any problems with mites at all.
For the life of me, I can't imagine your snake being a magnet to mites the instant it hits the ground.
There has got to be some other underlying cause.

I don't know if it was "instant" I left the snake on the ground for quite a while before picking it up. It seems odd to me as well after hearing/seeing so many others do it with no problems.

Don't get me wrong, but I'm inclined to believe your snake may already have had mites. As was already stated, reptile mites are species specific. It had to have gotten them from being in close contact with another snake with mites or been in a cage that had mites in it. If it was a new snake the mites may just not have been bad enough for you to notice till then. Mite populations DO kind of explode . You may not see them at all at first, or maybe one or two. Then a few days later BAM!! they're everywhere. One mite can lay thousands of eggs. and they do it every few days. That is why they are so difficult to get rid of sometimes. JMHO.

Quig

I think ur ball already had mites,u probably just didn't notice them,u said it had a bunch(if i remember wat u said)of mites,its unlikley that it was just ur ball,i take mine out all the time(during the warmer months anyway)

here is the pic that didn't show up