I feel that the key to succesfully getting rid of mites is by breaking the mites' lifecycle, which occurs about every 13 days.



I don't like using chemicals on or around my snakes. The few times that I've had mite infestations I used a "natural" approach. It's cheap, too. Takes more work but its effective.



(1) Remove all cage furniture, water bowl & substrate.



(2) Clean cage thoroughly with a solution of aprox. 5% bleach/95% water. Keep in mind while cleaning that you want to remove any/all mite eggs, too. I usually make one slow swipe at a time with each side of a paper towel or sponge instead of using a circular motion or random wiping, which can end up just spreading the eggs/mites & not picking them up. Make sure all fumes have evaporated before placing snake back into cage.



(3) Clean water bowl and cage furniture the same way and discard old substrate.



(4) Soak the snake in the tub or wherever. I usually run my hands down its body to knock off mites that aren't already under the scales. I've heard of some succes with the cooking oil suggestion mentioned earlier but I've never tried it.



(5) Use newspaper or paper towels for substrate and leave out cage furniture. Only water bowl & substrate.



(6) Repeat these steps every 7 - 10 days and within 2 - 3 weeks the mites should be gone, without the use of any poentially harmful chemicals.



A water bowl large enough for the snake to get into so it can completely submerge itself in the water is a big help. My burmese would get in it and soak with just her nostrils sticking out of the water, drowning the mites.



I hope this helps!



HH
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

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• Mites - ta2edskin, Sun Oct 15 13:11:27 2006
• RE: Mites - metachrosis, Sun Oct 15 14:05:19 2006
• RE: Mites - ta2edskin, Sun Oct 15 16:44:11 2006
• RE: Mites - Mathtchr, Sun Oct 15 18:06:49 2006
• RE: Mites - metachrosis, Sun Oct 15 19:19:48 2006
• RE: Mites - metachrosis, Sun Oct 15 19:32:19 2006
• RE: Mites - HappyHillbilly, Sun Oct 15 23:47:06 2006
• RE: I left out ........ - HappyHillbilly, Mon Oct 16 08:58:13 2006
• RE: I left out ........ - metachrosis, Mon Oct 16 20:12:30 2006
• Please Read . . . - slithering_serpents, Mon Oct 16 12:31:03 2006
• RE: Please Read . . . - ta2edskin, Mon Oct 16 16:37:40 2006