I swear every day I find something new with this girl! I just got her a month ago and it seems like she's in worse shape than Petland knew about. They told me that she had been tested for parasites and everything was good. Well, Tonight when I was looking at her eyes again (I think she has retained eyecaps), I had her around my neck and I noticed a little spider like thing crawling around in between her scales. It was so small it was hiding underneath her scales, and running around on her like a road map. I caught one with a pair of tweezers and killed it. I only saw two on her, and only killed one. I looked all over for more, but I couldn't see anymore. I am sure there are more though because she has lifted/sticking out scales all over her body (about 15-20). I thought this was just because she was old. She also has quite a few dry/brown patchy areas on her skin that look like old retained skin. The people that had her before me did not care for her very well. They fed her ok because she is over 2500g and 5 ft. long, but as far as caring for her body, they were awful. Her spurs were so caked in old shed that they were hardly visible. I was able to tweeze it all off and they are nice and clean now. She is going into shed right now....her belly is nice and pink/almost redish and I think her eyes are bluing. Its hard to see because she has cracks in her eyeballs (which is why I think she has retained eye caps). Her eyes look like they have a road map on them. They aren't dented in, just crackly looking. I can see her pupils through her caps and they constrict and open nicely with light, and she is moving her eyes within their sockets nicely. I have some pics of it on another thread titled (How do I tell her age?). I will try and post a pic on this thread so you don't have to search back. This girl must have had eggs on her when I bought her and they've hatched lately. CAN HUMANS GET SNAKE MITES? I've been handling her daily and she's been sitting around my neck a lot.
Tomorrow morning I will soak her for a while to drown any mites, and then clean her cage with bleach and water. I don't have a soak bowl for her in her cage because she is too big to have both hides and a bowl, but I do have a good humidity level. She hasn't been drinking any water, but she's been eating very well. Since I've bought her she's eaten about 12 mice (3 a week). Petland told me that she pooped the morning that I bought her, so I do not expect her to poop until she does this shed. My other ball is free of mites that I can see....unless he has eggs. I have kept them apart and have been using alcohol gel in between handling. I will treat him and his cage as well just in case though. What do you suggest? Should I go and buy some treatment for the mites? Are they mites? They look like little spiders crawling all over her. Like I said, I've only seen two on her. She only shed about 7 weeks ago.....would the mites force her into a shed? A natural way to rid them? I think that she is a wild caught snake because of all the marks and a scar I found close to her tail about 2 inches long. It's barely visible only at a distance. I know nothing about her previous owners. they abandoned her in an apartment building and someone brought her into Petland. I just hope that she's not REALLY sick and dying slowing on me. I paid $585 plus supplies for her and we really love and care for her too. I am using coconut bark mixed with wood chips as a substrate. This probably is a good medium for mites to multiply in hey? My God, I am so worried about her. She is our pride and joy, and I want to breed her next October. Monty, our male, we purchased 7 months ago from a young boy in southern Alberta, Canada. They were practically starving him....only feeding him 2 mice a month. I feed him 2 mice every week. He is a little over 500g. He was under 400g when I bought him and 3.5 feet long. Very skinny. He's put on weight though. So please recommend a treatment regimine here for me???!!!!! And please tell me that myself and my other warm blooded animals are going to be ok from these mites......????? The only thing that I've notice in Martha's behavior the past few days is that she is constantly going back and forth from her warm hide to her cold hide (about 6 times a day). Almost like she is restless. I have her housed in a 40 G breeder tank.
Here are some pics of Martha's eyes, her body size, her mouth, etc....There are a few of my smaller Male as well at the end.
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