Mites or no :(

[MsAnaRish]

I'm literally going crazy. This is my first snake collection so I got 5 baby ball pythons. I found this black insect in the enclosure. I'm not sure if it's a mite. It acts like a little spider but I'm not really sure how this mites thing works.

 

[Herpetology]

That’s a spider

 

[MsAnaRish]

That’s a spider

I found another one in a different tank. Maybe just baby spiders? Sorry if I come off unaware.

 

[kankryb]

Definitely a spider, mites doesn't look like that

 

[Bluetongue1]

@MsAnaRish,​

You did the right thing getting it checked out. In this case it is much better to be wrong. Mites are similar to ticks in body structure. They have a single main body part, that is round or oval, with eight legs attached underneath towards the front, that stick out the sides. The mouth parts protrude from underneath the front in the middle.

Spiders have two main body parts, the front section called the cephalothorax, which narrows down where it attaches to the rear body part, the abdomen. The eight legs of a spider are attached to the side of the cephalothorax while the mouth parts are attached to the front. There are more than two eyes (usually eight) and these are found above the mouthparts.


Magnified snake mite without additional lighting versus with lighting. A typical spider.