Reptile & Amphibian Forums

? Water to nix ratio any one?

Sounds to me, like you may have a case of the mites. They are the most " GOD forsaken, terrrible thing that could happen to a collection. " I am glad that I have not had to deal with them in a long time. I have always been big on " using none medications and non-chemicals, " when it comes to treating Reptiles and I was doing alot of research the other night and found something of great interest. Mites, can be hard as hell to get rid of and in the past, Vapona Strips were the only thing that I ever seen that would work. You will hear good and bad about using them and the fact is, " it is a chemical. " I may have found an alternative, that would be all natural and would not hurt the snakes, " actually I found the guys that found it. " The name is " Hypoaspis Miles. " Hypoaspis Miles, is a predator mite, that farmers have used for ages to combat other mites that infect their crops. Hypoaspis miles, has no need to feed off of Reptiles and Mammals, they love to eat other mites and their eggs. I read, were some Herper's in Australia had tested them on some collections that had been infected by mites and the Hypoaspis Miles, devoured them all in time and the eggs and there were no repeat epidemics! This could be a Godsend! After the Hypoaspis Miles, eats all of the bad mites and their eggs, they just simply die of starvation and do not affect the Reptile at all. GOD forbid, if I ever got mites, I would definately give this a try and it is pretty simple logic; " kill a predator, with a predator. " If you go into your google search engine and type in " Hypoaspis Miles, " it will pull up different sites that carry them and they are cheap and rush delivered. This could be the answer to our prayers and we may never again have to subject our Reptiles, to any Chemical to eradicate mites again! Number one, of course is to prevent it from happening to begin with and quarantine anything new. I hope someone who is suffering from mites right now, will read this and give Hypoaspis Miles a shot and let the rest of us know how it worked? It will not happen over night and you only have to put about 3tspoons of them per cage and bring the humidity up a little and they will hatch and go to work. The guys from Australia, seemed to be highly thrilled with their results and I will see what else I can find and post further information. .........Johnson Herp

I find the use of predatory mites very interesting and would welcome any first hand experience information on them. I also do not like the idea of using chemicals to solve the mite problem, and would have no issue using the predatory mite solution if it proves out to be a viable fix. However, I did post the following information on another forum a few weeks back. I believe pest strips to be an excellent choice for mite control when you have all the facts. I will admit that the active ingredient, dichlorvos, is a serious organophosphate insecticide and acetylcholinesterase inhibitor and must be used with caution. But, if properly used, and I stress properly, it is one of the best and safest ways to eradicate mites. Serious boid hobbyists have been using dichlorvos strips since the 1970’s without incidence on literally hundreds of snakes. The key is to know what you are doing and use it properly. I conducted a personal study on the use of dichlorvos while at the University of Kansas in the late 70’s. I came to the conclusion that the quantity of strip that appeared to work the best was about one square inch of strip per 5 cubic feet of cage volume. This gave an interior air concentration that was just strong enough to kill the mites over a 12 hour time period. The water was always removed and the strip section was suspended from the middle of the roof of the enclosure inside a perforated container. It should only be left in the enclosure for about 12 hours and air vents should be covered as well as possible. This was repeated at weekly intervals for a month. I think toxicity problems come about when keepers leave the strips in the enclosures for too long of a time period, some even leave them in for days or weeks at a time and then wonder why they have problems. The 12 hour weekly treatments for a month will pick up any new mites that enter the cage from the room itself after the first treatment, and any eggs that may hatch later. This is needed because it appears to me that the eggs are somewhat resistant to this treatment. Also, the efficiency of the strips drops off rapidly with use, so they should be sealed in their packaging between uses and disposed of after the four treatment period. When used with care and attention, I have never heard of any adverse effects with regards to the snakes that it was used with from the many collection owners I have spoken with. Additionally, numerous vets have spoken highly of it’s use, even Dr. Klingenberg. It's pretty tough to beat its ease of use, efficiency, and safety when used correctly.

Kelly

I agree. Kelly. When I first got into the Hobby 20yrs ago, I made alot of stupid mistakes and mites was one of them. I never seen any adverse affects on using Vapona, accept the fact " that it worked " and worked well, when as you said; " It is used appropriately. " However, it was always in the back of my mind, that it was a chemical and our beloved Boas, can sometimes go a long time without showing any signs of distress. Since I do not have mites, I have no need at this time to try Hypoaspis Miles, but I hope that some who do, will try it and let us know. As I said; " Quarantine, is the real preventative measure. " By the way, thanks to you I have stopped going to the Anacaonda forum. Man, I got out of the Giants years ago, but seeing your stock, tempts me greatly. Good luck and in all actuallity, I would love to see some more of your Greens............Johnson Herp

and your post about the Hypoaspis. I hope to hear some information from someone who has used them. I don't take as many photos as I should, but I will try to post some more of my greens in the future. Thanks,

Kelly