Columbian Red Tail Boa

Question
I have owned "Charlie" for just over a year.  He seems healthy and hungry.  I just noticed he has mites.  Tiny black dots that move.  I found approx 6 mites.  He just shed a couple of days ago.  Is this something I can take care of on my own or should Charlie be seen by a vet.

I'm not an expert with snakes, but want Charlie to have the best life possible.

Thank you have much for taking the time to educate me.

Teresa

Answer
Hi Teresa,

yep you can sort out the mites yourself but to warn you mites are an absolute nightmare to get rid of.

the first thing you should do is strip the tank bare, all the substrate, hides, plants water bowl...everything. next, hoover out the tank to get rid of any substrate or whatever left. you now need to get some hot water - as hot as you can safely dip your hands in - and dilute down some disinfectant. (its better to use reptile safe disinfectant that can be found at reptile pet shops although normal disinfectant if diluted correctly and the tank is thoroughly dried afterwards is fine). scrub the tank from top to bottom with the disinfectant and hot water. you need to be very thorough with this, mites get into every small crack.

whilst doing the above, fill a tub large enough for your boa to sit in comfortably with lukewarm water and pop him in to give him a bath. this will help remove some of the mites on his body and ease his itchy discomfort. you can also dampen a clean cloth and run it the length of his body to further remove the mites. after doing this make sure you wash your hands and arms thoroughly encase any mites have found their way onto you- don't worry they are harmless to humans.

once the tank has dried from disinfecting it, replace the substrate with newspaper instead until you are sure all the mites are gone. newspaper makes it easier to spot them and its easier to clean. as for the hide boxes and plants, fill a tub with nearly boiling water and place them in and leave them for a few minutes - this will kill any mites present. rinse the water bowl off and place it back in the tank. i would advise leaving any hide boxes and plants out for a few days just to be safe.

hopefully after a few days you will find there are no more mites at which point you can return to normal. if you do find mites however you will need to repeat the above things again unfortunately until they are gone completely.

if you find you cant get rid of the mites using just the above you can get a hold of an anti mite spray from most reptile pet shops. follow the guidelines on the back of the bottle and that will kill off any remaining mites.

i hope this helps, thanks for your question

Andy