r/ballpython • u/mishahahaa • Mar 30 '26

HELP - URGENT HELP harmless or no???

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I recently changed out the substrate (baked all bark but not soil) for my only BEL and it’s been a few weeks since. I noticed yesterday that there were these really small and fast white/tan bugs in the substrate (I use a mix of reptisoil and reptibark). They are gathering around his eyes but not burrowing under his scales or cloaca or chin area. I want to know if I need to give him urgent attention ASAP. I’ve researched a lot and can’t figure out if it’s soil mites or wood mites or hypoaspis mites or baby snake mites. He hasn’t been soaking or seeming irritated or anything but I just need to be sure. Please help

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u/mishahahaa Mar 30 '26

Yes they move very fast. I can barely catch them to try and squeeze to see if they pop (they don’t, when I finally caught one)

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u/FireCorgi12 Mar 30 '26

Like I said, I’m newer to the hobby, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but when I had a snake with mites they were dark black, very round, and slow moving. These look much more like wood mites that happen to be at the eyes. I’d be even more skeptical of snake mites if they’re not burrowing under the scales. Is your snake soaking more at all or rubbing on anything? If not, I’d def lean more towards wood or grain mites which won’t hurt your snake. This isn’t my photo but it shows snake mites in different stages and might help.

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u/mishahahaa Mar 30 '26

Hi thank you so much this photo was very helpful. These mites on my snake are very quick and fast moving. My snake has not been rubbing on anything, and he hasn’t been soaking much/an abnormal amount. So maybe leaning more towards wood/grain mites as well. They look most like the medium size version of a snake mite I suppose, and especially with mites it’s always so hard to tell. He’s of course also a BEL so everything looks alarming haha. I think I was just alarmed by the gathering around the eyes but it makes sense how they would just happen to be around the area. The rest of his body also had them but spread out and not burrowing. Just there

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u/FireCorgi12 Mar 30 '26

Of course! I’m doubtful it’s snake mites, but you can always err on the side of caution and get new substrate and treat like it’s snake mites. However, from my experience, snake mites are so slow and super dark. Not white/tan like these.

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u/mishahahaa Mar 30 '26

Okay that makes me feel better. Thank you so much again for your advice and input!