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acs102
Snake Mite
USA
8 Posts |
 Posted - 28/12/2010 : 04:35:23
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First off, hello! I've been lurking for awhile now, mostly in the King Snake forum. My boyfriend has posted over there about our milk snake Roxy. He surprised me on Christmas with a baby royal python. I've wanted one for awhile but I was going to wait and save up for a spider or possibly a bumble bee, but I must say, this is a lovely looking normal. I've named him-her-it Meshuggah (it's a band, hehe  ), "Meshy". Instantly fell in love, he's so cute.
One problem. Our usual reptile guy didn't have any baby royals, so he bought from a chain pet store. After picking him up to say hello, I noticed a little bug crawling on my hand. Knocked it off on the table, squashed it, and it left a bloody splat. After a closer look we realized that the poor little guy was crawling with mites. So I spent the day researching how I could get rid of the nasty little critters- this forum was very helpful. I put him in a container with some warm water for about 20 minutes while I soaked his tank and accessories in some hot soapy water. I then took him out and dabbed his cute little face with some vegetable oil and put him back into some fresh warm water with the oil added to it. There were so many bugs at the bottom of the container when I was done, I felt so bad for the poor snakey. We haven't noticed any mites since, so hopefully they're gone for good and haven't spread to the milk snake. He seems healthy otherwise, I may make a vet appointment to have him checked over just in case. Quite active and curious, I watched him last night as he explored his new home. Doesn't mind being handled, I'm actually surprised I didn't get nibbled on while I was dabbing his head with the vegetable oil.
Now I notice that he is starting to shed. That came as a surprise, he didn't really get glazed over and blue like our milk snake does. The skin just started peeling on his face. I have a question about that, how long does it take for a royal to shed? Once it starts peeling, it only takes our milk snake a half an hour or so and comes off in once piece. This little guy was out rubbing his head on things earlier and a small piece came off his head, but now he's back in his cave sleeping. Should it all come off in one piece? I misted the tank to make it a bit more humid for him.
Apparently they've been feeding him live mice at the pet store. They didn't know how often, their response to my boyfriend when he asked was that they fed him whenever he was at the door and looked hungry. Morons; makes me want to go rescue all of their other reptiles. So from what I've read, he should be eating about once a week, right? And I'm not really sure how big of a mouse he should be eating. No idea on how old he is, my best guess is maybe a couple months, he's pretty small. Any suggestions on how to switch him over to frozen prey? I'm going to wait until after he's all settled in and done shedding, then maybe I'll try offering something dead. Otherwise feeding will be the boyfriend's job.
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Edited by - acs102 on 28/12/2010 04:44:55 |
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Blackecho
Royal Python Admin
United Kingdom
11327 Posts |
Posted - 28/12/2010 : 08:53:54
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Hello, beautiful snake and congrats on the attack on the mites (I hope it isn't a long battle).
The shedding and the state of it is probably down to the mites and the oil, the snake will shed as part of the natural defence to remove mites and the oil will make the shed break up and not come off in one piece. Give him a couple of days before you try to help him remove the rest of the shed.
How much does he weigh? - that will give an idea of prey size. Personally I get Royals onto rats asap (they can take a pinky/pup rat from hatching). Aim for 10-15% (roughly) of the snake's body weight, so a 100g snake would get 10-15g of prey. Just try warming a thawed one up really well, dry with a hair-drier and see if he'll take it on the end of tongs.
Good luck. |
 
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GMac
Grumpy scots admin
United Kingdom
1152 Posts |
Posted - 28/12/2010 : 09:23:48
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hi and welcome, and very nice present and lovely royal.
the only thing i would suggest with regards to the mites is you may be best putting it in quarantine for a while, by that i mean keeping it in a completetely seperate room from the milk snake, as while the live bugs may welll have gone there may well be eggs waiting to hatch and this will minimise the risk of it spreading to your milk snake. |
Royals, Corns, Boa, Kings, Hoggy, Ratsnakes
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CoN
Yearling
United Kingdom
400 Posts |
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n/a
deleted
7384 Posts |
Posted - 28/12/2010 : 12:26:04
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Hi, and welcome to the forum, and welcome to my namesake (I believe 'Meshuggah' is Yiddish for 'Bats'?)
Well, I'm shocked, but not surprised ...it's the same in the UK - some shops are brilliant, others are disgusting. Meshy is very lucky to have gone to you, lovely little guy and hope he settles down with his shedding and feeding - I bet he feels miles better already!
All the best. |
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Royalbob
Royal Python Moderator
United Kingdom
1115 Posts |
Posted - 28/12/2010 : 21:01:36
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| hi and welcome. Hope he's all sorted soon. He's lovely |
1.0 Enchi butter
1.0 Enchi X Pastel
1.0 Fire het clown
1.0 Bumblebee
1.0 pinstripe
0.1 Enchi Fire
0.1 Pastel calico
0.1 Yellow belly Pinstripe
0.1 Lemon pastel poss het clown
0.1 Het clown
0.1 Yellow belly
0.1 Green Mojave
0.1 HC Albino
0.2 Normals
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Robert
Royal Python Moderator
United Kingdom
957 Posts |
Posted - 29/12/2010 : 10:44:45
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| I totally agree with Gmac keep him on paper towel and check regularly for any indication of mite and it is important to keep him away from other reptiles for at least 8 weeks to ensure that you do not spread the infestation should there still be eggs present. Welcome to the forum and keep us updated with his progress :) |
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reptiledanny
Old Royal - I Post too much!
United Kingdom
2106 Posts |
Posted - 29/12/2010 : 12:04:34
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| hi and welcome to the forum, i am at the moment as well fighting the battle with mites lol there hideous little things |
1.2 royal pythons 0.1 hog island boa 1.0 corn snake
sig made by stapey |
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acs102
Snake Mite
USA
8 Posts |
Posted - 30/12/2010 : 02:55:33
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Thanks for the welcomes! And thank you for all the help. He still hasn't made much progress on the shedding. I'm going to soak him in some warm water to help him along, and it probably wouldn't hurt to do so once more to make sure the mites are gone. I do have paper towel on the bottom of his tank and I haven't noticed anything. Both snakes are in separate rooms and I'll also be steam cleaning the carpets tomorrow to ensure that nothing fell off when I was handling him-- The little pests kind of creeped me out.
Can mites spread to other reptiles too or do they just have a taste for snakes? Because I do have a leopard gecko as well. She's living at my mother's house right now, but I handle her when I'm there and she will be coming with us when we move into another apartment.
quote:
Originally posted by BurnedAtTheStake
Hi, and welcome to the forum, and welcome to my namesake (I believe 'Meshuggah' is Yiddish for 'Bats'?)
Bats, huh? Cool! It's fun to say, and ever since I've started listening to the band I thought it would make a good name for a pet
quote:
Originally posted by reptiledanny
hi and welcome to the forum, i am at the moment as well fighting the battle with mites lol there hideous little things
Oh no! Good luck with the battle. |
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acs102
Snake Mite
USA
8 Posts |
Posted - 30/12/2010 : 06:41:01
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Little update. Meshy shed, but it didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. I soaked him for awhile and put him back into his tank. All of the skin came off in pieces with the exception of his tail, one eye and a patch up by his head. As I was helping him out with those, I noticed that a tiny patch of scales came off his back  . There are a couple other rough spots as well, I'm trying to figure out if they're damaged scales or if it's just more skin that needs to come off. Any suggestions? I don't know what happened  . Poor snake is having a rough first week home. |
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Edited by - acs102 on 30/12/2010 06:42:23 |
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Blackecho
Royal Python Admin
United Kingdom
11327 Posts |
Posted - 30/12/2010 : 06:42:17
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When you say warm water, remember that what feels warm to you will be far too hot for a snake, go for water of similar temp to the hot end of the viv, so around the 32C mark.
Then after 15 - 20 mins, allow them to slither through a towel with you applying gentle pressure. |
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Royalbob
Royal Python Moderator
United Kingdom
1115 Posts |
Posted - 30/12/2010 : 09:02:00
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As BE said just gentle pressure. There's also a great sticky here for eye cap removal if your confident enough.
I would try what BE has suggested first though as it might just all come off doing this.
http://www.theroyalpython.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3502 |
1.0 Enchi butter
1.0 Enchi X Pastel
1.0 Fire het clown
1.0 Bumblebee
1.0 pinstripe
0.1 Enchi Fire
0.1 Pastel calico
0.1 Yellow belly Pinstripe
0.1 Lemon pastel poss het clown
0.1 Het clown
0.1 Yellow belly
0.1 Green Mojave
0.1 HC Albino
0.2 Normals
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Benji54
Hatchling
United Kingdom
59 Posts |
Posted - 30/12/2010 : 10:55:52
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| to check if its damaged scales or more old skin, turn the snake in the light and if its a greyer/bluer patch that fells slightly "grippy" when you gently run a finger across (compared to that velvety smoothness of fresh skin) its almost definitely old skin. not a hard and fast rule but its instant and easy to do. |
1.0.0 royal "ophion"
1.1.0 corns "wotsit" and "biscuit"
0.1.0 coastal carpet python- "serendipity"
0.1.0 bunny rabbit (?) "Truffle"
RIP Prisma Pequeno- Brazilian Rainbow Boa |
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acs102
Snake Mite
USA
8 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2011 : 07:54:17
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Meshuggah just had his first meal at home; I tried a small frozen mouse, thawed it out and fluffed it up with a blow dryer. He seemed to enjoy it, spent about 10 minutes trying to squeeze it to death. I'm very relieved that I don't have to go with the live ones.
I took several pictures that I'll post in the photo section, but I just wanted to share this one here because you can see where the scales came off when he shed. Should I put anything on it or is it best to just leave it alone? It doesn't seem to be bugging him at all. |
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Royalbob
Royal Python Moderator
United Kingdom
1115 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2011 : 08:56:53
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Excellent news, if he's eating that's a good sign he's on the mend. Especially going from live. He looks adorable.
For where the scales have come off I would just rub a little diluted F10 solution on there to keep the area germ free. The scales grow off the skin tissue and there doesn't look like any damage there so in time they will grow back. Great stuff to have handy as well. he'll be right in no time. Great pic as well. |
1.0 Enchi butter
1.0 Enchi X Pastel
1.0 Fire het clown
1.0 Bumblebee
1.0 pinstripe
0.1 Enchi Fire
0.1 Pastel calico
0.1 Yellow belly Pinstripe
0.1 Lemon pastel poss het clown
0.1 Het clown
0.1 Yellow belly
0.1 Green Mojave
0.1 HC Albino
0.2 Normals
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prozacbear
Yearling
United Kingdom
130 Posts |
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n/a
deleted
7384 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2011 : 16:10:45
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quote:
Originally posted by prozacbear
Hi
Looks like a Lovely Royal and will soon get better with some TLC , I believe that Meshuggah can be translated as bats, but in the sence of batty rather than the animal, a closer translation from Hebrew would be 'crazy' or 'driven mad', Terry Pratchett uses it as the name for an insane golem in his book Feet of Clay, and it's just the kind of name a Swedish metal band would love 
Great name for a great snake, and what do I know I called my Royal Guybrush
LOL - yeah I call myself Bats 'cause I'm bipolar, lol - not! (But we won't go into that now lol!)
I always did wonder about Guybrush - where did that name come from? There's a very good thread about snake names on general forum... hint hint!
Ah, realise I could have googled it, but I'm lazy. Guybrush is a cool name, whatever, and so is Meshuggah.
Names are important! |
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prozacbear
Yearling
United Kingdom
130 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2011 : 17:09:05
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quote:
Originally posted by BurnedAtTheStake
quote:
Originally posted by prozacbear
Hi
Looks like a Lovely Royal and will soon get better with some TLC , I believe that Meshuggah can be translated as bats, but in the sence of batty rather than the animal, a closer translation from Hebrew would be 'crazy' or 'driven mad', Terry Pratchett uses it as the name for an insane golem in his book Feet of Clay, and it's just the kind of name a Swedish metal band would love
Great name for a great snake, and what do I know I called my Royal Guybrush
LOL - yeah I call myself Bats 'cause I'm bipolar, lol - not! (But we won't go into that now lol!)
I always did wonder about Guybrush - where did that name come from? There's a very good thread about snake names on general forum... hint hint!
Ah, realise I could have googled it, but I'm lazy. Guybrush is a cool name, whatever, and so is Meshuggah.
Names are important!
I've seen a few head shrinkers myself in my time 
Gubrush is the name of the hero for a series of computer games called Monkey Island. I'm a bit of a nerd to be honest. While playing the game a while back with my husband I declared that my next pet will be called Guybrush, I did not know then that my next pet would be a snake, so he was actually named before he was born
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Guybrush (royal python) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csapnto_Q5I
Cassiopeia (Brazilian rainbow boa) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5VQhPP7qVM&NR=1
Smaug (deseart iguana) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3ZD_SFA8Lg
Axos & Sutekh (cats) http://youtu.be/AFCgZcHXuTU
Nessie & Nemo etc ( tropical fish) |
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n/a
deleted
7384 Posts |
Posted - 02/01/2011 : 17:22:33
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LOL Prozacbear - not a good scene is it??
Wow, it's strange how the name comes before the animal - that's happened to me so many times!
Guybrush is a COOL name!! |
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New to royal pythons
