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This is weird, could it be mites?

peep_827

peep_827

hehehe
I've had one heck of a week, and have been neglecting my snakies (but of course one of the joys of snake-keeping - they don't care! LOL :shrugs: ). But I have checked to make sure they have water and their temps are good - of course. So, early in the week one of my snake's water seemed sort of dirty looking, so I gave him a fresh bowl. So last night I checked again and it was like that again! After opening his tub I discovered that some of the dirt was actually moving - and upon closer exam they are little bugs! They are not black as I've heard mites described - they are light brown and though they are tiny you can tell they are bugs if you look closely. I have had this snake since November with no problems, he seems healthy as can be in fact. I haven't added any other snakes since then, and I checked all my other snakes and none of them have "dirty" water bowls either. It occurred to me that maybe they came from the aspen? I do tend to add a handful here and there after spot cleaning, so it could be that he just happened to get the handful with some bugs in it?

It seems unlikely that mites would pop up out of nowhere, but obviously if it is mites I want to jump on this as soon as possible! Any thoughts would be appreciated . . .
 
I doubt that they're snake mites, Mary. Those really do look like specks of pepper. I once saw bugs like you describe in a bag of reptibark. That's why I don't use it anymore. I've also seen them in wooden window sills, and on wood outside. I've never seen them in a bag of aspen, but I'm sure they like it too. I'd get rid of that bag of aspen, and give the enclosures a normal cleaning and bedding replacement. Good luck.
 
I suspect the mites come in with the wood.. One way to eliminate them is going to paper. Do they hitch a ride in the chips or do they jump on in from a local group of mites??

Regards.. T and J
 
I had those little tan colored bugs in my tank once, but they didn't seem to bother my snake at all. I freaked out when I first saw them and got rid of everything in his tank and scrubbed everything. I asked my vet and she said that they probable came in on the aspen I was using, but that they weren't a big deal for the snake as long as I cleaned everything out. My snake was fine and I haven't seen them since! :)
 
Okay, I dumped everything and cleaned his tub really good. We'll see if I see any more of them. It seemed strange that they were only in 1 tub since that is not a new bag of aspen and it is in all my snake's tubs, but it seemed even stranger to have 1 snake that I've had for 5 months suddenly develop mites. :shrugs:
 
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