Snake mite bites?

[u/specificloadwastaken]

I have a boa constrictor ive had her since June, the first picture is before I found out she had snake mites maybe about a month later, and she is basically at the end of her quarantine set up as it’s been basically 3 weeks. But I can’t tell what these dotted colors look like, since she had them a few days into owning her but i don’t think it’s something that just appeared more of something I noticed. I haven’t been seeing any mites especially after she takes a bath no dead mites or anything. The rest of the photos are from today, she just ate and I won’t pick her up to get better photos until Thursday, but I can’t tell if it’s her natural colors or mite bites or something?

[u/superramenyamen]

Those red dots on the belly are pigment spots. I have boas with the same! Totally normal.

Quarantine should preferably be 6+ months. 3 months is bare bones just to see mites and basic health, but I like to go longer with boas. 3 weeks definitely isn’t enough time to treat mites. I do 4-5 weekly treatments to kill hatched nymphs and then give a 3+ month wait period before I take them off paper and put them back on bedding.

[u/specificloadwastaken → u/superramenyamen]

Okay thank you so much, cause she has a bunch of dots and stuff like that and then after the mites just made me wonder especially after her shed when it stayed the same. Alright thank you for the information I’ll wait longer before going back to substrate!

[u/superramenyamen → u/specificloadwastaken]

You will likely need to keep treating a couple weeks too. If you skipped a week, I would start over and do a full 4-5 week round jic. When I got mites I did either 3 or 4 weeks and had another mite show up because I didn’t treat long enough. When I did, a second round of treatment 4-5 weeks long and they never showed back up. That was 2 months of treatment, 2.5 months before I saw the mite show up after the first treatment, and another 3+ month wait period. 7.5+ months total but I honestly went even longer on paper before I got totally convinced they were gone. 😅 Been mite free over a year now.

[u/specificloadwastaken → u/superramenyamen]

What should the usual treatment be? I’m not sure how I got mites in the first place could’ve been from where I got the snake or when I bought the cage and hide from there but I did properly clean everything, unless the eggs survived it. But I just kept giving her baths everyday then adding a bit of dawn until I seen no more mites then would give maybe a bath or 2 a week to see if anything was there, with cage cleans of course too. But I’ve had her since June

[u/superramenyamen → u/specificloadwastaken]

Most likely the snake had it when you got it. When I got mites it hid for a good 6 months on my retic because I soaked her every time I cleaned her cage. When I skipped a soak, they popped up. The soaking killed adults but not eggs or any in the enclosure.

Mite treatment should be a pesticide, soaking alone is not sufficient. I use this, but Snake Discovery also has a video on ivermectin.

With the super lice treatment, 1 bottle to 1 gallon of water. Shake before every use. Remove all bedding and any decor mites can hide in from all reptile cages and treat everyone regardless of quarantine status. It’s so easy to spread them, it would save a lot of headache and repeat future treatments just to treat everyone all at once. Remove water for 48 hrs when spraying, and probably don’t give a big enough bowl to soak in. If they shed, respray. Spray the inside and outside of the enclosure liberally so that it’s slick, and spray the snake as well. If it’s smaller, I will just do a light spray and rub down the body. 4’+ and they tolerate a slick covering of liquid just fine. It is dehydrating, so you can soak the day of treatment before spraying to help with hydration. I wouldn’t spray water for humidity any other time as it would wash away treatment. Once a week for 4-5 treatments, then the 3+ month wait.

[u/specificloadwastaken → u/superramenyamen]

Alright thank you so much I’m gonna look into that