Diamond Python with over 100 ticks on it.

Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum

Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
I think people on this website are way too sensitive; OP saw a wild animal in its natural habitat and left it alone. I thought one of the golden rules was to leave only footprints and take only photos, right?

Amen. There must be a lot of greens supporters on this forum :lol:
 
What did you expect the OP to do?

Pick it up? They are not a fan of snakes as it is, and why put themselves in danger when they may not know much about them. Plus when they tried to help, it only aggravated the poor snake.

Call someone? What if they had no phone, no reception etc?

Run as fast as lightning to an accessible phone? Who is to say the snake would be where they found it?

I honestly shake my head at some keyboard worriers who somehow predict the EXACT situation people are in and then slam them for 'not doing what you would do'. Get over yourselves.

To the OP: Thank you for sharing these pics... as distressing as some cotton-wool people have found them, I appreciated seeing something that I have never seen before.
 
Last edited:
This thread is on fire !
So do something or don't do something ?
Is the animal suffering ?
Is it going to die without intervention and is that the right thing to do ?
You all have your own opinion on these points but something to consider.

I have not read any literature that ticks cause paralysis in reptiles.
If you can point me to something that does, please do, I have been looking since the last thread on a tick infested snake.

From what I have read the issue to the snake is the possiblity of anemia with a large infestation.

Now, from what I know, ticks attach to the host for a maximumm of 10 days (adult female)
Larvae will blood feed for 4-6 days and Nymphs require a further blood meal for 4-8 days.

Here is a reference
Ticks

So based on that, every single tick on the subject snake will drop off in 10 days or less.
If this occurs and the snake does not come into contact with another area highly infested with ticks at the various stages of their lifecycle, and manages to escape anemia, it should recover fine.

The snake looks quite large in size so what are the chances of anemia?

Having a go at one another does nothing, understanding what is the right thing to do helps us all!
I'm not saying helping is not the answer but also, I'm not saying it is the answer.
 
Last edited:
the worst I ever saw had 125 large ticks and loads of small ones
made complete recovery with zero dramas
fed within 24hours
have seen diamonds and mashies full of ticks virtually submerge for hours
dont know if you can drown ticks??
but they seemed to think they could
 
If you're such a supporter of nature and letting things be natural....Stop keeping reptiles in cages.
 
Things die, ticks, snakes, wombats, people.

Just in case some people forgot.
 
I hope the majority of you NEVER go into the bush. Leave it for the people with half a brain to enjoy.

i have MORE then half a brain thank you, one half of it tells me NOT to touch a snake especially if i have NO experience, NO pillowcase handy to put it in, NO snake hook to pick it up with, ive seen most snake lovers in this site tell non snake people,NOT TO TOUCH

honestly why cant you get it thru your half a brain that not EVERYONE likes snakes and if this is a snakes lovers only site i guess you better kick out all of those in here that have lizards huh and keep it to snake lovers only

if i had come across an animal i was COMFORTABLE in handling that was so tick invested then YES i would rescue it and take it to a vet

would you prefer i pick up a snake i cant identify and hold it in my hands while i drive to a vets? would you be happy with me risking MY life to save a snakes?
 
Tell that to all the people who have had dogs, cats and live stock die due to paralysis ticks.
If you think wild and domestic animals should have a similar human involvement then try putting a bowl of cat food infront of a snake and see what happens, maybe then you can leash it and walk it around a park while it pees on all the bushes. We have a responsibility to animals we take into our care but I can assure you that snake with or without ticks wants nothing to do with you.
 
For someone with more than half a brain that peice was worded very confusingly.

Sorry i don't understand. Are you saying that people should interfere with nature doing its thing or not?

I hope the majority of you NEVER go into the bush. Leave it for the people with half a brain to enjoy.

i have MORE then half a brain thank you, one half of it tells me NOT to touch a snake especially if i have NO experience, NO pillowcase handy to put it in, NO snake hook to pick it up with, ive seen most snake lovers in this site tell non snake people,NOT TO TOUCH

honestly why cant you get it thru your half a brain that not EVERYONE likes snakes and if this is a snakes lovers only site i guess you better kick out all of those in here that have lizards huh and keep it to snake lovers only

if i had come across an animal i was COMFORTABLE in handling that was so tick invested then YES i would rescue it and take it to a vet

would you prefer i pick up a snake i cant identify and hold it in my hands while i drive to a vets? would you be happy with me risking MY life to save a snakes?
 
I dont remember when I posted a thread asking people to name my dragon for me but meh... seriously this site is way too emotional some times..
 
Okay, I'm a bit tired tonight but Jeannine I think you and Waruikazi agree?
 
If you think wild and domestic animals should have a similar human involvement then try putting a bowl of cat food infront of a snake and see what happens, maybe then you can leash it and walk it around a park while it pees on all the bushes. We have a responsibility to animals we take into our care but I can assure you that snake with or without ticks wants nothing to do with you.

Thank you for completely missing the point.

The quote said that host animals do not die from ticks using them. I know several people whose pets and live stock have died for that very reason as the toxins lead to heart failure. Therefore it is reasonable to expect 'wild' animals would suffer similar effects from hosting significant numbers of paralysis ticks. It was not a comment on husbandry needs or practices.
 
If you're such a supporter of nature and letting things be natural....Stop keeping reptiles in cages.

Inkage, I'm not sure it you are referring to me but if so, I lean towards letting things take their natural course however, I do agree with people rescuing animals which have been caught in human made natural traps like bird nets around their garden.
My post was more to encourage thought on the natural occurrences on reptiles in the wild and whether interference is necessary.

On another note, I also think there is a place in this world for reptiles which are captive bred and kept.
 
gone way off topic. i understand everyones debate, remeber all eveyone has different views and ideas.
 
Scleropages;2139411 As much as I like snakes said:
Wow, I totally disagree with this. I reckon ticks are the most useless, non beneficial parasite found in the wild. I hate the mongrel things. What purpose do they serve?
 
ill try a little better seeing as it was confusing

everyone is going on about how this person should have 'helped' the snake, pray tell me exactly how they should have done this?

you had someone out in the bush obviously without the equipment needed to do a rescue so come on how was she/he suppose to do it?

we are also told NOT to interfere with mother nature yet everyone is abusing this person for NOT doing exactly that,in this case i would definitely NOT interfere because i personally am not comfortable around snakes if i had encountered it in my yard i would have contacted the snake handler but not if i was out in the bush

also why should someone who is NOT use to handling snakes or simply doesnt like them put their own life at risk? this person stated they 'knew' it wasnt a venomous one but why take a chance, they could still get bitten, right?

mm i think perhaps i read Waruikazi comment wrong and a re read i see what they were saying so yep i agree with them, i read it to mean the opposite

ive exceeded my pain threshold and not reading correctly

im still curious as to how and what exactly 'some' members of this site expected this person to do about the snake? also if they should have humanely dispatched out can someone tell me how they should have done this? after all not everyone carries a euthanasia box in their car or a knife, or should they have got a large stick and just kept hitting it until they felt it was dead? or perhaps dispatch it by hitting it on the head with a large rock until they were sure it was dead? although its pretty obvious good old mother nature had another purpose in mind for this snake and if this member had never come across it no one would have been any wiser
 
Last edited:
Quite often snakes in the wild are actually infested with ticks. There are extreme cases like this one. This snake more than likely has had these parasites for quite some time with no I'll effects. If you want to be Mother Teresa, just go to FNQ and spend your time taking ticks of wild snakes. After the 10th snake you come across with ticks, I'm sure you would be over it.

Dan
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top