seller sent us a baby ball-python covered in clearish red bugs which were visible all over the snake its body its heat vents nose holes also inside the white pillow case the snake was sent in the snake also had patches of skin stuck coming off especially on its poor head it also kept trying to strike me I did some quick research saw that the skin problem is most likely due to the mites the clearish red bugs on the snake i messaged the seller sent detailed pictures of the mites and skin issues vis txt and via PayPal & he usually responds right away when we were purchasing the snake now he is totally silent on all platforms of communication sent his snake back overnight told him this he still is silent on all platforms of communication have receipt so we have other reptiles & these mites are just like a lice & so we now had to run out buy sprays & supplys to clean everything hopeing to jesus that our other expensive reptiles don’t get these its not good for the health of the reptiles the mites can cause dehydration stress leads to death etc so I believe just asking at this point for a refund of the sick snake is very reasonable also my five year old opened the box My husband & i both carried the box which obviously has mites on and inside it im sure they weren’t just contained to the snakes skin so we had to undress and clean ourselves while cleaning the bed etc everything the box was on our son is 5 and medically fragile and his home health nurse had to bathe him while we washed his clothes and i had to tell him I couldn’t even hug him while I’m cleaning because of snake bugs I feel so bad for the snake I sent back i sent it overnight but what if that seller doesn’t treat that snake obviously if its in this condition he isnt concerned about the health of the animals im really sad for that snake im upset because he ripped us off & now ignored us but for the animals im very concerned he now won’t answer us on any method of communication i sent him pictures of everything & he just flat out ignores all of our communication should i treat my other snakes now with mite spray will my other snakes now get these mites? do I was all there tanks because the box the snake with the bugs came in came in our house? help pls!
If they are actually latched onto the snake, then they are snake mites.
Here is a video on how to treat them. From the sound of it you don’t have a quarantine room setup for your animals, which you should always have no matter if the animal shows signs of issues or not. Set it up in a treated enclosure like what this video shows in a room as far from your other animals as possible. No unnecessary handling and make sure to properly clean yourself before going near your other snakes after treating it. What payment method did you use through PayPal?
payment method not sure my husband did this as a birthday gift and he doesn’t remember but just had to do a dispute with PayPal bc seller is completely ignoring me with is so funny because he says 100% back guarantee not funny but sad for the snake
and no I don’t have a quarantine set up I was thinking about it but didn’t think this stuff actually happened bc honestly everyone in the Reptile community seemed like so knowledgeable and caring of the animals i thought ppl were being paranoid that did this
I keep thinking about her little face even though she was trying to bite me like I feel like shit maybe I should of taken her to the vet for the bugs or something but I just read really quickly that it can spread to the other snakes and I just freaking panicked i really love my other ball pythons I got a few months ago I’m a new keeper but the snake looked sick like I hope I didn’t prolong its suffering or send it to its death i feel horrible
Dont feel too bad and dont beat yourself up about it either because it wont help anything. the good thing is that it is easily treatable and you can buy mite spray on amazon so its a easy fix
There is a reason that the most experienced people in the hobby always talk about quarantining their animals and even Snake Discovery and Clint’s reptiles does it. There is such a thing as healthy paranoia. Always quarantine your animals. Taking an animal with mites to the vet is actually a bad thing, because then you put the clinic at risk of an outbreak. It is best to setup a quarantine and treat it yourself. Also, if the PayPal payment was through friends and family, nothing will be done. You will also need evidence of everything. Though the animal looks like they are a healthy weight, so they likely won’t die so long as you treat the mites. The “loose skin” on her looks like stuck shed. That would be from lack of humidity from her past shed. Also, no using anything that you use for your other animals for her or visa versa.
They can also take a trip to Walmart (or equivalent) and get rid lice/bedbug spray. Same ingredients as snake mite spray for half the cost. That is only to be sprayed in the enclosure and not on the snake though.
ya the seller finally messaged back is going crazy saying that mites aren’t red only black and saying he has 200 reptiles etc going off on me i said please just treat the snake i said she probably has stuck shed from the mites and being dehydration and my husband said when he picked her up she was like scary skinny he could feel her bones not like a new hatchling skinny and the seller is messaging saying he’s not going to treat her he has 200 ball python shes completely healthy he said he can’t even see anything on the picture i sent him same as above so its just like I thought hes going to let he suffer and he said also he’s going to get me taken off morph market for making fraudulent claims or something honestly I don’t even want to shop on Morphmarket now why would I cause myself a huge problem like this having to clean now all day extra shower my 5 year old and husband my 5 year old has a feeding tube stage 1 kidney disease his rn even said the snake looks sick she felt bad but im just apparently a liar and now all we can do is pray the snake gets some comfort from the Lord now i feel horrible ive had health issues its not fun to suffer i did not want a huge problem today i prefer peace
I never even thought about going to the vet would spread them that makes alot of sense and also i stress so bad now about the other snakes we got are like you know 400-500$ snakes 4 in total but I love them i don’t want them to get an issue like mites although now I know its easily treated but still I don’t want the stress
the seller said “there is no red bugs in the Reptile world” I sent him that Wikipedia page that says mites can be red i saw them with my own eyes they are red like filled with blood maybe idk and he said congratulations you can google and he wont treat her
Treatment: Many treatments and products out there will address the adult stage but not the eggs which oftens leads to a re-infestation, product such as Provent a mites and or Rid Bed and Lice spray will take care of all stages, they must be sprayed in the enclosure not the animals and the residual effects will last 2 weeks at which point another treatment can be done if necessary (depends on the severity of the infestation)
Snakes should ALWAYS be quarantined regardless of their origin and pre-treating new additions is always a good idea.
some people will act like they know everything when in actuality they just try to act like they do. just check in with everyone on here because you will get better info instead of someone who goes off on you like the seller you purchased from.
At least they should not be able to sell on mm if we can’t know the name as a community. This is a huge black eye for breeders that truely care about their animals and health.
