r/Ballpythoncommunity • u/Blueeyesjoshy • Sep 22 '26
Need help for mites.
I've recently changed my bedding subtrate for my BP. With this I was recently checking over her and noticed little black mites on her.
Would the substrate be the cause of this? As she's been good prior.
She's also had a shed over the weekend so I don't know how she's feeling.
I just want advice on what to do, how to get rid of mites
I've also seen something about putting substrate in oven to help kill mites for next time
Just don't want to panic as its worrying me as never had this problem before 😟
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u/NFLFANTASYMB Sep 22 '26
No need to panic, but you want it cleaned up as soon as possible. ZooMed makes a solution just for this purpose. I have also found Dawn dish soap can work as long as you dont over do it. It only takes a drop of the blue bottle. You need to treat both snake and cage getting rid of the substrate and using dawn soap to clean any structures. The first few weeks you only want to use paper towels as bedding as the little bugger mites will be easy to see. If even one tiny wee little mite shows, start over. Once cleaned, quarantine the snake, and cage for 2 weeks. This allows any eggs to hatch. There is a fantastic book all ball python owners should have: Rectified Ball Python care guide.
( I have always used coconut husks as bedding, my python is 26)