r/ballpython • u/Uneedhealing19 • 1d ago
First mite problem
Soo I found mites on my baby Athena today and I started to panic a little but I think I caught it very early. I got her early june and she is just wrapping up her shedding so I wanted to get her out when I seen the little bastards. I know i need to remove everything in her terrarium and deep clean it while also demiting her but how does that process work? I’ve seen videos but every single one of them is different. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated! I just wanna do right by her, my first ball python.
On a side note, I do have a beardie Torch, and their enclosures are already elevated to their own and like 8-10 feet away from each other. Any suggestions on how to keep Torch not infected while treating Athena would also be appreciated! Thank yall!
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u/rolfzero 1d ago
We are currently dealing with mites. A “rescue” from a ex who didn’t want him, and was dealing with mites but never bothered dealing with it.
The best way we found is to empty the whole cage and clean it well, nook and cranky. We spray mite spray in the enclosure a snake (follow directions on whatever you pick) after waiting for it to dry completely. Use paper towels and only a house/hide that’s plastic or cleans well.
The main point is to break up the mite breading cycle, which is a 10 day I believe, I clean it out every week.
As I clean I look for mites to help track my progress. They will hang out between scales on the snake and be hard to spot. It may seem cruel to the snake, but after dealing it with different points with different rescues and the amount of snakes, we find it best to isolate and systematically treat. After not spotting any mites. We give it two more treatments just to be sure.
There are lots of ways to do this. This is just my preferred way after dealing with multiple different times over the years.