I don’t know the actual probability of these but this is my experience. When my partner and I were new into snakes, she visited a reptile show and inquired about a sub adult BP. Before purchasing, she noticed black dots on it (easy to see on a white snake), asked the seller if it was mites, and they assured her it was just substrate particles and the snake was mite free. After bringing the snake home she observed the “dots” were crawling around, confirming the snake had a moderate case if mites. Luckily we had quarantined the animal and the mites didn’t spread. But treating the animal took many weeks and was hard on it. It would be a nightmare to deal with a whole collection infested with mites.
We learned our lesson and now we always quarantine new reptiles just to be on the safe side.
Another vender who carries a Burmese python display animal for visitors to get pictures with informed is that after every show he gives his snake a prevent-a-mite treatment.
1 Like