Recently i have found little black bugs crawling on the outside of my cornsnake. I have another snake which i keep in a separate tank which recently died. When it died it had close to 50 of these black bugs crawling around its neck. What are these little bugs and what do i do to get rid of them? Are they what killed my snake? Where did they come from?
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little black bugs
- Thread starter dhs545
- Start date
Rachel
Vet nurse in training!
yeah, I agree, it sounds like you have a mite problem (well your snakes not you!). It could have killed your other snake if there are lots of them, they feed on your snakes blood you see. Kinda like fleas on cats and dogs. You will have to completely disinfect your snake tank and ALL cage decor and find some mite killer to use on your snake (not sure what you have where you are so you'll have to ask around (vet, breeder etc). If you have other snakes check them too. Mites are ba*t*rds to get rid of! Oh, and if you have plants in your tank (real ones) get rid of them. I had mite problem a while ago (they were windowsill mites so they didn't do anything to the snakes thank god) and the mites were breeding/ living in the plant soil. Had to ditch the plants and replace them with plastic ones. HTH
Matt L
New member
The last time I had a mite problem was with my burmese pythons. The treatment I knew to use back then was soaking in water with a couple drops of dish washing liquod. This works and is safe for adult snakes. Ivermectrin mixed 8-10 miligrams to 1qt. water works much quicker. It can be sprayed on the snake and enclosure. Do not soak the snake in this solution or get it in its drinking water. Being an external parasite , mites are probably the easiest to get rid of, but you don't want them to spread throughout your collection. Isolate all sick animals.
Matt L.
Matt L.