Noticed a few mites on ball python, how do I get rid of them?

Question

I only saw two or three but dont want it to get worse. What product will kill the parasites? Thanks.

Answer 1

please do not use any powders as it can be harmful to your reptiles when they breath it. there is only on good product out there and it's the same product the pro's use to treat there new snake's and if they ever have an out breack. now the name of this product is provent-a-mite also known as PAM and cost about $20.00 for a spray can and it contains 0.50% permethrin now you can save about $15.00 if you buy a lice spray from you local drug strore with the same active ingredient and use it in the same way as PAM . now when you use PAM clean your snake's encloser with hot water and dry it out once dry you spray a few sheets of newspaper with pam and let it dry once it's dry you place it in your snakes encloser and replace your snake. now you will want to repeat this for about 60 days to play it safe and after ever every cleaning get all the old bedding and paper that is use to clean your encloser out of the house other wise it will be harder to get rid of those mites. NEVER SPRAY PAM ON YOUR SNAKE AS IT CAN KILL YOUR SNAKE. remember you must let the spray dry on the paper before useing it.

edit: soaking will help a little but it will not get the eggs form the mites and you will have trouble longer and stress the snake more in the long run it will help in the short run but you need to treat to kill any and all eggs.

Answer 2

As the first poster indicated you will have to treat both the snake and the environment. Soak the snake in tepid water that has a drop or two of dish soap. The soap won't harm your snake but helps the water penetrate the mites and kill them. While she is soaking wipe her down with a disposable cloth to loosen any that are clinging under the scales and take a cotton swab to the area around her eyes, the fold of skin under her bottom jaw and her heat pits. Mites love to hide in those areas. At this point you can also treat her with a safe product like Reptile Relief.
Now the cage. Throw everything out that is disposable like the substrate and soak everything else is a hot soapy solution with a little bit of bleach. Rinse well and let it dry outside for a few days if possible. Wash the tank well including the lid and under the rim. At this point I recommend setting the snake up with newspaper and a disposable hide for a few weeks until you are sure your treatment was successful and then putting her regular cage furniture and substrate back in. It's a little less trouble that way if you need a second round of treatment.

Answer 3

Everybody here has given you the range of advise, I just would add that you need to treat not just the cage and the reptile, but you also need to clean the table it sits on and vaccuum the carpet underneath.
And do all of the above over and over and over. Do a MUCH better job than you need to do, and do it a rediculous ammount of times. These mites are strong like bull. And they have a persistence that seems to be rediculous. Hopefully you have a small collection of animals so you won't have to do this with very many.
This also is why you should keep your new animals seperate, in a seperate room and quarantine them for several weeks before you move their cages into the same room.

Answer 4

Clean the tank and do a mite treatment they sell a spray and a powder at petstores. Give your snake a nice warm soak deep enough that only her head is above water level let he soak for about 15 minutes the mites will drown do not put her back in the cage afterwards it will defate the purpuse.

Answer 5

get at them with tweezers.