WC Ball Python Tick Treatment/Guide

First, let’s explore some history on your snake and where it came from. Ball pythons or Royal Pythons are normally found in Africa. Many of the genetic abnormalities that are known as ‘morphs’, once came from African imports or the eggs they produce. They were then selectively bred for their unique characteristics and sold throughout the U.S. to breeders and as pets.



Gravids are often purchased because they are full size females often in excess of 3000 grams and ready to lay 6-10 eggs within a few months. A low cost of under $100 often attracts those looking to try their hand at egg hatching, hope to win the genetic lottery and hatch an amazing morph, or simply looking for a large female breeder for future seasons.


WC snakes either came from Benin or Ghana, which are separate parts of Africa. Snakes from Benin usually lay eggs several weeks earlier than those from Ghana. This is due to the humidity and temperate changes that trigger the mating season occurring a few weeks earlier in Benin. Ball pythons are often found in termite mounds, jungles, etc. by locals and sold through traders for export to America once a year during the ‘gravid season’ (Nov.-Feb.). After February the snakes from Benin start to lay eggs, and it is no longer safe to ship them, as laying eggs in their travel bag during transit can cause damage or death to the eggs

Handling:

Handling any wild caught animal can be a scary thing. Snakes are no exception and it may take a little time to get used to handling your import. In my experience out of 100 snakes there may be 3% that hiss when disturbed, and 1% that will actually threaten you with a strike pose or bite. Most get over this after a little bit of handling. Some may never have reduced aggression and may never be a good or safe ‘pet’. Keep in mind that these girls are gravid too, and are a bit hormonal. Usually a month or so after being removed from their eggs they calm down quite a bit. However, in my collection I still have a few nasties from last year out of a couple hundred imported animals. If you are unsure of how to handle your snake or are afraid of getting bit then ask for help or get some leather gloves until you reach the appropriate comfort level. Always approach your snake slowly and read its body signs. If it is balled up it is generally less aggressive, if it is in a ‘strike pose’ or hissing you should approach carefully, and if it is stretched out and exploring its enclosure it is generally less aggressive.

Feeding:

In Africa ball pythons tend to get very large and feed mainly on soft fur rats. When it comes to feeding WC imports some will take live rats, dead rats, live mice, dead mice, gerbils, or ONLY soft fur rats. There is no way to tell prior to selling them when they are gravid, as females will not eat when they are carrying eggs. About two months after laying eggs we find that we are able to get most of our imports to start eating on a good regimen. Feeding WC Imports can become a challenge, but there are a lot of tricks for difficult eaters.



1.) Make sure they have an adequately sized hide box: We find that hide boxes, particularly with WC’s, helps to ensure a feeling of safety similar to their natural environment.

2.) Feeding environment: Feeding in the late evenings often results in better results than early in the morning. Individual housing of each animal is preferred, and lighting cycles should be regulated. Do not disturb or handle the snake on the day of the feeding, as this can stress the snake.

3.) Wash Down After Egg Laying: Snakes can smell the scent of their eggs on their bodies, the bedding, and their cages. You need to thoroughly clean the cage, replace bedding, and wash down the snake with soapy water. If you don’t, she will think she is still sitting on her eggs and will take longer to get eating!

4.) Present a variety of foods: Most WC’s will eat soft fur rats or gerbils, however they can be very expensive and hard to locate compared with rats.

a.) We usually start by exposing each snake to small rats or large mice to see if they will eat them without any problem. If they do eat them we make sure to move to adequately sized large rats, as most imports are in excess of 3000 grams (too big for mice).

b.) If they do not accept the mice or rats after three tries, we then take bedding from our soft fur rats and rub it into the fur of our normal rats. This smell often is enough to make a good deal of WC’s take the food. As time progresses we rub less bedding on the animal, until ultimately none at all (if possible).

c.) If they do not take the rats or mice after the soft fur bedding rub we resort to feeding normal soft furs. By this step over 90% of the animals should be eating with some regularity.

d.) If your animal still will not eat at this point you can place a soft fur rat or gerbil in the cage overnight. We are hesitant to do this because the rat may injure the snake on rare occasions. Most WC’s will devour a soft fur rat during the evening/night hours when the lights in the room are turned off. Another option is to place a dead soft fur rat and snake in a large brown paper bag and zip tie the top overnight, in the morning the soft fur should be gone.

e.) Finally, if the animal starts to lose weight and will not eat despite consistent and regular attempts at the above steps, take it to a veterinarian.

f.) Force feeding can be an option, but it is a very stressful one for only the most difficult of eaters. We will not discuss that here, as it is an option that should be recommended and monitored by a licensed veterinarian or very experienced snake keeper.



Parasites:

In Africa the main natural parasite on ball pythons are ticks (Amblyomma latum). It has been hard for me to locate concrete data on this particular reptile tick and its ability to spread zoonotic diseases (those which can affect humans). I can only speak from personal experience in saying that I have never witnessed this tick attempting to burrow or bite myself or other mammals (mice/rats), rather only to affect reptiles by wedging themselves under scales. That being said, I do not have enough data to rule out the possibility of them carrying disease outside of reptiles, and strongly suggest never crushing or handling them with bare hands (as I’ve seen others do).

They grow from the size of a large dot ( * ) to the size of a small pea when engorged with blood. They change color from bright red when very small to a black color when full size.

Reptile mites are simply not an issue as they are not native to Africa, from where they are imported.



All of the animals we sell, including the one you just purchased, have already been treated for ticks. They have been treated once in Africa prior to leaving Ghana, and then again when they arrived at our facility for their initial quarantine. All of the treatments we’ve used are aimed at ectoparasites (external ticks), and not endoparasites (internal parasites). These treatments seem to be very safe for the eggs within the animal, while still removing the infestation outside their bodies. If you wish to do a more thorough internal parasite treatment, speak with your veterinarian about recommended products (preferably after the eggs have been laid).

It has been our experience that after our treatments almost, if not all of the external ticks are killed before we sell the animals. There can occasionally be ticks that enter the vent (area where the animal excretes, and later lays eggs from). These ticks can be difficult to remove because they literally can crawl inside the animal to hide.



When the snake lays her eggs you may see a few ticks on or near the eggs. This is because the expulsion of eggs from the vent forces all of the internal ticks out. If possible, as soon as the snake lays her eggs remove her carefully from the clutch and fully inspect all eggs. Look on every angle, in between eggs as they harden together, and around the enclosure for ticks just to be safe. If you see any, wear a pair of latex gloves (to be safe), and remove the ticks with a pen or other instrument by brushing them off into a small container filled with a little bit of cooking oil (any oil works) to drown them. You can also simply dispose of them in any fashion you wish. Sometimes we’ll see no ticks at all, and others we’ll see quite a few despite any external treatments.



It is for this reason that we also are including the treatment recommendations below, just in case any of the ticks that may have hidden in the vent resurface.



Treating WC’s for ticks: The following treatments are for information purposes only! They have been used successfully by myself, and some have been recommended by a veterinarian. However, I am not a veterinarian and only use any of the methods below at your own risk!

1.) Permectrin II : Permectrin II is a god sent to anyone with ball python tick or mite problems. Its active ingredient consists of 10% Permethrin. It is my recommended choice and in my experience the most effective tick and mite killer. I’ve used it on over 100 gravids last year with no deleterious effects on the snakes or on the eggs they laid (do NOT treat eggs directly). To treat the animals simply take two tablespoons of Permectrin II and mix with one gallon of water. Place the mixture in a spray bottle and spray the entire animal (avoiding head and eyes) with the mixture. Place the snake in a open ventilated area and allow it to sit with the pesticide on its body for approximately 15 minutes. Then take the snake and completely wash with dish soap and fresh water to ensure all the pesticide is removed. You should see ticks dropping off and dying instantly. Some ticks may be buried in under scales, but still be deceased. During the next shed you should see any remaining tick exoskeleton corpses on or near the shed skin. *This also works very well on mites!*

2.) Fipronil: This is the active ingredient in Frontline spray and many other over the counter tick removal products. My veterinarian recommended this product for treating reptile ticks, but warned that the effects on reptiles were not fully researched or well-known. I bought Frontline spray and used it on a few gravids with mixed results. When spraying the snake I used the stock concentration of 0.25% Fipronil and thoroughly sprayed the snake (avoiding the head/eyes) and allowed it to sit in an open/ventilated area for approx. 15 minutes as above. Then take the snake and completely wash with dish soap and fresh water to ensure all the pesticide is removed. It seemed to kill some of the ticks, but not all, particularly with those that were hiding deep under the scales.

3.) Olive Oil: In my opinion this is the least effective option, and it does not work very well. The idea is to coat the surface of the snake with oil to ‘choke’ the ticks and prevent their breathing. Nice theory, but the reality is that after several repeated treatments with oil, the snake movement seems to remove some of the coating in the enclosure, thus making it ineffective in my case. It may work for others, but not in my experience.

4.) Hand Removal: The ticks can be removed with tweezers or another manual tool to some degree. The problem is that if you see one, there are probably MANY more and you cannot see or remove all of the ticks at once, thus they will breed and continue to infest your snake. It is a time consuming, ineffective, and frustrating option. It can be used to some degree of success if you visually see ticks on/near the vent or on the head.

5.) Prevent-A-Mite: It seems to work well on mites, but not a total knockout on African ticks. It takes down a few, but not all. I would say it is better than the hand removal method and olive oil, but not as good as Fipronil or Permectrin II. It can be used on the bedding/enclosure for an added level of protection.



All of the snakes we sell are treated with Permectrin II according to the above instructions. I am unaware of what is used to treat them for parasites when leaving Africa, but it does not seem to kill them all, so we do another round for good measure. To my knowledge, other WC gravid suppliers do not treat their animals at all, and may or may not pay the extra charge for treatment in Africa prior to shipment.



Housing:

There is a huge plethora of data on the web about housing for ball pythons. I’m going to briefly touch on what I use in house, as it pertains to only my personal experience. I use 41 quart Sterilite bins equipped with a large water bowl, large hide box, and filled with a variety of bedding types. We also have a melamine rack system which utilizes heat tape and Helix™ controllers, which provides a ‘hot spot’ and cool spot between two ends of the cage. The building of such a room is complicated and will not be discussed here, but more research can be done on the web.



1.) Bins: The bins are clear (34 3/4"L x 16 1/2"W x 6"H) and ¾” holes are drilled along the length of the tubs to allow for adequate ventilation. They are large enough to allow the snakes to move around freely.

2.) Hide Box: We use cardboard hide boxes big enough for the snakes to fully hide under, however any material works. (Cardboard can sometimes get wet, so you must check to ensure it does not get damp/moldy).

3.) Water Bowl: The water bowls we use are 96oz. clear deli cups (9.75" x 3.0"). These are large enough to accommodate most animals for a good deep soak. If you have an extraordinarily large animal be sure to get a larger bowl.

4.) Bedding: I have tried several different beddings with mixed results.

a.) Aspen shavings is ‘pretty’ to look at, but it keeps their enclosure very dry, often resulting in incomplete sheds. It is nice for spot cleaning and rarely gets moldy with proper checking. If the bedding gets into the animals mouth during feeding it can cause sores in their mouth. Whenever feeding be sure to remove the Aspen from the enclosure or be very watchful to ensure no mouth rot.

b.) Butcher paper is nice because it does not get into the animals mouth during feeding, but on the flip side it is not as absorbent as Aspen shavings. This is mainly a problem if the snake is coming out of the water bowl frequently.

c.) Coco Fiber was a nightmare of an experience for me. It caused excess humidity that was uncontrollable in the enclosures. It also was very difficult to feed in the presence of coco fiber as it gets on any wet surface and constantly needed to be washed out of the animal’s gums to prevent mouth rot.

d.) Tekfresh bedding is similar to Carefresh™ available at most stores. It is somewhat expensive, but it keeps a good humidity level and is very low dust. It is particulate bedding that is easy to move out of the way when feeding, and is my personal favorite.



Egg Laying:

The most exciting part of buying a gravid is to see what will hatch out. It will probably be a normal snake, but you may win the genetic lottery and get a whacked out morph. Usually the most common morphs I’ve seen hatch out are yellow bellies, pastels, reduced patterns, strips down the back, banded patterns, and more. To get to that point though you must carefully incubate the snakes eggs, and pray she mated with an amazing male in the wild.

Most of our WC balls hatched out 6-7 eggs each. Some of the larger gravids had 10-12 eggs, and the smaller ones had 4-6. Sometimes you may get a ‘slug’ or ‘dud’ egg. This is easy to spot as they are noticeable yellow, usually very small, and sometimes hard. This is basically an unfertilized or problematic egg. If you are not experienced or unsure, simply incubate the slugs too, just in case it is a discolored or small, but viable egg.

1.) About 25-30 days before your gravid lays eggs she will have her ‘pre-lay’ shed cycle. It is her last shed before she lays, and you can set your clock to a 25-30 day window of egg arrival.

2.) When your snake gets ready to lay her eggs she will usually move all the bedding away from one end of the enclosure and get ready to lay her eggs directly on the plastic enclosure. This is a tell tale sign that she is getting close to laying. This can be a major problem if she decides to lay her eggs on the heat source (in our case the heat tape side). The extra heat from the tape can kill the eggs if they are left in with the female to lay on them. Many times the female may abandon her eggs or simply do a poor job properly heating/cooling her eggs. For this reason and many more I HIGHLY RECOMMEND removal of ALL eggs for separate incubation.

3.) The first thing to do when getting ready to remove the eggs is to carefully remove the female. WC’s are usually pretty docile, but you get your occasional nasty one. Either way, when a female is sitting on a clutch of eggs, you need to assume she is going to be aggressive, and always be careful of bites (although usually they are more bark than bite). I find it easiest to put the enclosure on a table and approach her from behind and gently grab her head, then slide my other hand down her body and uncoil her from the eggs. Place her in a separate bin while removing the eggs.

4.) Remove the eggs one at a time, or as a cluster if they’ve already hardened together. Check EACH egg for ticks to ensure they are completely parasite free as described earlier!

5.) Place the eggs in your incubator or incubation room. You can do a Google™ search on all the different types of incubation rooms and setups. There are some commercially available at places such as www.bigappleherps.com. They are very reputable and their incubators work well.

6.) The most important part of maintaining an incubator room is temperature and moisture. We keep our incubator room temp at 89F with a Helix™ controller (precise digital controller) and oil filled radiator (less fluctuation).

7.) The humidity we maintain by keeping a mix of 25% Perlite and 75% Vermiculite. We pre-soak the material in enough water to clump it together but not drain water when squeezed gently.

8.) I’ve also written on each egg with a pencil or pen to help identify each egg from the animal that laid it. Pencil and pen markings seem to have no effect on the eggs health.

9.) The eggs usually hatch in about two months after they are laid. You will see some eggs dimple in, others stay plumper, and others change colors. Don’t be concerned about their appearance, just hang tight and wait it out. If you have a dead or moldy egg cluster, just leave it be. It will not hurt the other eggs, and removing it may tear the shells of other eggs if it is tightly attached to an adjacent egg.

10.) If all goes well, you will start seeing snakes slowing coming out of the eggs. Do NOT force the snakes out, as it may take a day or two for them to leave the egg shell, but this is a natural process of acclimation to the environment.



Hatchlings:

Hatchlings can be a challenge for a couple of reason I want to touch base on briefly. This isn’t meant to be a complete guide, but rather just some personal pointers.

1.) You should separate hatchlings after their first shed (they will look pinkish when first hatched) into separate enclosures, or keep the number of animals per enclosure very low. If you house too many together they will burn a great deal of energy crawling over each other, which can lead to stress and starvation.

2.) Feeding hatchlings can be hit or miss. Some snakes will be large and others smaller. You can usually start feeding them pinkies or hopper mice. Some will be great eaters, others not so much. If you have a tough eater it often helps to take a business card and gently slide it over the lower jaw. Then slide a pinky into the snakes’ mouth by gently pushing it forward and off of the card. Often this gives the snake enough initiative to take the meal. If the problem persists see a veterinarian.

3.) Keep in mind that your hatchlings are small and can get out through very small holes. Containers housing them need to be secured tightly!



In conclusion I hope the guide above helped answer some of your questions about your purchase and may help you keep your snake and offspring healthy. If you have any questions feel free to contact us anytime at sales@rarepythons.com.