Posted by:
HappyHillbilly
at Thu Nov 15 23:38:07 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by HappyHillbilly ]
Hi Krystie!
If you keep sprayin' & wipin' stuff all over your burm he's gonna keep tryin' to soak all that crap off of him. Ha! Ha! I mean that humorously, but seriously, too; not in a rude, crude way. 
If you don't see any mites around it's eyes & under it's beely scales or crawlin' on it's belly, and you can put your hand on the substrate and leave it there for a minute without seeing mites then mites may not be your problem.
You are our eyes, you're relying on us to help your burm & we're relying on you to help us see. I strongly believe you realize that and I get the feeling that you're being fairly thorough, which is needed.
Would you by chance happen to have a screen top on that 75-gal tank? I see that the big water pan you recently put in there is over the heat source; Was the lil' baking dish over the heat source, also?
If the answer is yes to both of those questions then I suspect your burm is merely trying to stay warm or get as warm as it can get.
With an under the tank heater and the fact that heat rises, the screen top can't stop the heat from escaping. The top of the burm's back is most likely more than just a few degrees cooler than it's belly. While it's in the water, that temperature is equal all around it's body and warmer than the top surface of the substrate.
Now, let me jump back to mites for a minute. That Reptile Relief is OK stuff but I don't like putting any chemicals on my snakes/reptiles. Reptile Relief, to the best of my knowledge, since it doesn't use permethrin, does not stop mite eggs from turning into the larva stage. Therefore it does not interupt the mites' lifecycle, which is the only way to get rid of mites (the same way you get rid of fleas; you have to break their lifecycle.).
It's been so long since I've had to deal with mites (watch me wake up to cages full of 'em after this post) that I may be wrong on a few of the minor details. But I believe that every 7 - 10 days adult mites lay eggs.
If a person has mites, all they have to do is remove substrate & snake, clean inside/outside of cage with a mix of 5 - 10% bleach to water ratio. Soak snake for about 20 - 30 minutes, use paper towels, newspaper, etc... for substrate and clean water bowl. Do this every 7 - 10 days, 3 times in a row, and you'll see no more mites.
How much does bleach cost these days? Who doesn't have any layin' around?
I've heard good reports about Provent-a-Mite but I've never tried it. It's supposed to be pretty much a "one treatment" product.
Mineral oil isn't very effective, not at all. Soaking in plain ol' water is much better.
Hang in there!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American
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RE: no mites visable - HappyHillbilly, Thu Nov 15 23:38:07 2007