Posted by:
Buggzter
at Thu Nov 15 21:45:52 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Buggzter ]
He's on an under-tank heater for 50-60 gal containers, and our house is about 75*... He's been on the UTH for 4-5 days at a time before, and nothing has changed in the cage other than replacing the substrate after the mites and the different water bowl which is occupied by him. It's possible that it's too warm for him right now, but he has about 2.5' of space that is NOT on the heater that the bowl isn't on. Maybe he's just being odd for awhile - a man I trust who knows large snakes in the wild fairly well and has been breeding herps for a few decades says that sometimes his larger boids would just go on a water-binge in the fall for 3-4 weeks, and be hungrier as well. Maybe it's just the time of year for him?
I'm using DeFlea's "Reptile Relief." "Reptile Relief works through a different mode of action than pyrethrin based pesticides to kill mites and other reptile parasites." "2. Reapply as often as necessary, but not more often than at 3-day intervals. 3. Do not treat snakes for at least 6 hours after shedding their skin." Since it kills mites on contact, but I'm not sure of eggs, we did treat him 3 times before and sprayed the cage down twice, then bleach cleaned. It's possible more eggs on him hatched, so treatment is tonight. I unfortunately have BABY oil, not mineral, so my shopping list for tomorrow includes mineral oil. 
For treating him, tho, we actually spray a papertowel and wipe him down thoroughly, although I'm considering a coat of mineral oil as well (I've read that it works well on killing the mites). Either way, I think that I might give him an oil coating once a week for a couple months just to make sure any eggs are gone. Right now I'm just going to think about the next few days - just too much to do with getting ready to move in another two weeks... Another reason that cage will be his in 3 weeks. We knew we'd be moving into a larger place, so we didn't force it to be done before that.
Thanks for your help! 
~Krystie
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RE: no mites visable - Buggzter, Thu Nov 15 21:45:52 2007