So Many Ticks Were Feasting on This Unlucky Python, They Looked Like Living Scales
By Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | January 15, 2019 06:46am ET
A snake that was recently captured near a suburban home in Queensland, Australia, was covered with hundreds upon hundreds of ticks. So many of the bloodsucking parasites clung to the snake that the unfortunate reptile looked like it was wearing a second coat of living scales.
When Tony Harrison with Gold Coast and Brisbane Snake Catcher attempted to retrieve the snake from a swimming pool, he noticed that the partly submerged serpent was blanketed in more ticks than Harrison could count, he said on Jan. 9 in a post shared on Facebook.
"I figured it to be at least a couple hundred," he said on Jan. 10 in a Facebook video.
Harrison brought the snake to Currumbin Wildlife Hospital Foundation in Queensland, where 511 ticks were removed from the python's body. The snake, dubbed Nike, was finally pronounced tick-free on Jan. 12, but was still "very unwell" with anemia, hospital representatives wrote on Facebook. [8 Awful Parasite Infections That Will Make Your Skin Crawl]
More:
https://www.livescience.com/64499-snake-511-ticks.html?utm_source=notification
Damned ticks! Never knew they attack reptiles, too.
= new reply since forum marked as read
An Australian carpet python found in a Queensland swimming pool with 511 ticks attached to it is now recovering in a hospital. The hospital posted a photo of the recuperating python and thanked well wishers.
Date 14.01.2019
Author Andy Valvur
A python that was found in a Queensland swimming pool covered in ticks is recovering in an animal hospital after vets successfully removed 511 parasites from its body.
The carpet python was found in a backyard in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast by snake catcher Tony Harriso, who said the snake entered the pool in an effort to drown the ticks.
The snake was taken to the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital for treatment, where vets tested it and removed all of the ticks over several hours.
Not 'out of the woods yet'
The hospital said the ticks had left the python, which they named "Nike," suffering from anaemia.
"Nike also has a nasty infection which may have caused his immobility, allowing the ticks to take advantage of him," the hospital said. "Nike isn't out of the woods yet, but we are hopeful he will make a full recovery and be released back into the wild in the coming months."
More:
https://www.dw.com/en/tick-infested-snake-recovering-but-not-out-of-the-woods-yet/a-47068972
Healthy Carpet Python.
Young Carpet Pythons.
(When I read the first article, and saw the python was in the water, I wondered if he might be trying to drown those nasty ticks. Ordinarily, one never thinks of snakes actually thinking through problems like getting rid of painful problems. Looks as if they are one more animal which has also been seriously underestimated. Good for Mr. Python.)
