Ok heres the situation... @ days ago, my first snake, a 7month roayl didnt eat for the first time, which got me slightly worried. But i decided to give him 3 days, and ill try again tommorow. But just now, as ive been cleaning his waterbowl, i noticed small black specs in the water. At first i thought it was just som tiny bark chips or something, but upon closer inspection, they turned out to have legs and to be moving. This comes as a surprise for me, as i handle my sanke quite often except right before and 3 days after feeding, and ive never seen any signs of mites on him... The question is, are they mites or could they be something else? And if they are mites than what do i do? God i am so worried... Shpuld i change all the bedding in the viv? Should i bathe the snake? how do i get rid of the mites? ayaya plz help =/

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1.0 Royal pyhton - Hannibal

BTW i just checked my snake, althoguh hes in a ball i cant see any mites on him... whereabouts are they usually found?

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1.0 Royal pyhton - Hannibal

u need to gut the viv, soak all items in a hot weak bleach solution, bath the snake in warm water, and keep him on newspaper with minimum contents in the viv ie.. hide and water bowl, do u have any frontline spray? aslo hoover all round the viv, in and out and wash that in a weak bleach soloution to, allow plenty of time to dry and air.

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check around the eyes and under the chin

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mites will burrow under the scales, and there a pain to get rid off! but saying that.... the way i do it, they have been gone after 48 hrs.

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as for the weak bleach solution is there a ready made one i could buy, cos i dont wanna getting the concentration wrong or anything...

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1.0 Royal pyhton - Hannibal

u can buy mite treatments, but then u have to go get it blah blah.... treat the snake with frontline spray, spray onto cotton wool and dab the snake with that, dont spray direct onto the snake, also avoid the head area, just dab a bit under the chin. the bleach just put a cap full to a bucket of water. wash everything (except the snake) in it, leave it for a bit then rinse it! straight forward really!

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ummm but i cant see any mites on him... not near the chin not near the eyes... im handling him over white paper to see if anything falls of him but no... ill put up pics of the buggers from his bowl...

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1.0 Royal pyhton - Hannibal

if they are a brown or red colour, they are mites, and its better to be safe than sorry!! else you'll have your own collony of mites! royals and boas are particually partial to mites! also they could be from the substrate, has he been soaking in his water bowl? thats a sign.

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nop he very rarely uses his wb tbh.... atm hes more playful than ever and i cant see any mites on him... have u gota pic of what mites look like on snakes ? theres been nothing weird in terms behaviour recently except him not eating... oh and he hasnt shed in the 6 weeks ive hd him...

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1.0 Royal pyhton - Hannibal