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More on How to Avoid a Python Strike
How to Keep Your Ball Python Healthy
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Summary: Learn how to keep your pet python healthy in this free video on pet snake care.
Nichole Bragg is the reptile expert at the Pet Kingdom in Cottonwood, Arizona. Call them at 928-639-4283.read more
"On behalf of Expert Village, I'm Nicole, and I'm here to tell you about ball pythons. Some health problems that occur in ball pythons involve external parasites, which would be mites and ticks which we talked about in the previous section. Mites can be pulled off but they will always reproduce themselves. It only takes one to reproduce, so you'll end up with thousands of them in no time. What you need to do if you find mites on your snake is you need to buy a pyreathrins based mite treatment. They also have mite treatments in pet stores that are not pyreathrins based but are made for snakes. These treatments usually require you to spray down their entire enclosure and the snake, for three days or so until the mites are gone. There's another external parasite which is ticks. Ticks can pull off with tweezers and then the sore that's left by the tick, you can just apply some triple antibiotic ointment for a few days and the snake should be fine. Recovering from ticks is very simple as well as recovery from mites. The problem is, if it goes untreated, it can cause neurological problems. It can cause infections and it can cause death in your ball python. So that's something that you really want to get taken care of as soon as possible. Some other problems include gastoral intestinal problems, such as inflammation of the lining. Which would come from internal parasites and this is something that is very common in wild caught specimens. One sign of internal parasites is bloody stools. If you see bloody stools, that's often a sign of internal parasites and you would want to take that to the doctor as soon as possible. Bring with you a fecal sample so the doctor can look it over. Another sign of internal parasites would be what's called star gazing where the snake will lift his head and stare straight up into the sky and just kind of stand there in a daze."
eHow Article: How to Keep Your Ball Python Healthy
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Comments
wingedwolfpsion said
on 8/2/2008 Oh, I did mis-state here--permethrin, not pyrethrum. That's what Provent-A-Mite product contains, and it's a specific permethrin that has been tested and is safe for reptiles. Most pyrethrins, as I said, will kill all cold-blooded animals, from mites to reptiles. They are only safe for warm-bloods.
wingedwolfpsion said
on 8/2/2008 Oh, lovely, let's tell people how to KILL THEIR SNAKE. Pyrethrins are largely deadly to reptiles. Pyrethrum-based products SPECIALLY FORMULATED for reptiles are safe if used as directed. Nothing else! NEVER use any insecticide NOT specifically formulated for reptiles, and follow directions carefully.
Mites are tiny and hard to see with the naked eye, she confuses them with ticks here again. Ticks can simply be pulled off and killed. Inspect carefully for slightly raised scales that may harbor a young tick, harder to see than an adult tick.
Stargazing is a serious neurological sign...very occasionally amoebic infection could cause stargazing, or exposure to toxins (hey, like pyrethrins). There is also an extremely deadly and highly contagious illness called inclusion body disease which can be carried asymptomatically by boas (though it kills many of them as well). It is deadly to pythons and causes stargazing. It is not caused by parasites, but by a retrovirus. If you come across a stargazing snake, inform the management of the place, leave, and sterilize the bottoms of your shoes before entering your own home if you have any other animals. Wash your clothes and yourself before going anywhere near other snakes. This may be an excessive precaution, but it's better to be safe than sorry. This virus appears to be airborne!