Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Never again, should anybody use chemicals to erradicate mites again! I posted a couple of weeks ago, concerning my investigations on using predator mites to kill reptile mites and most of what I found was the use of them overseas. Someone I know " whose name I cannot mention, " had bought a few Boas and put them in quarantine and they were infested with mites. He called me and asked for some advice and told him; " I have not had mites in years, but I heard that Hypoaspis Predator Mites could be the Holy Grail of erradicating reptile mites? " He ordered some from biconet and he said, that he could not believe the results! They have to be put on a bedding other than newspaper in order to work, but within 24 hours they had killed all the living mites and then hunted down the eggs! He said, he paid about 54 dollars shipped for them and the results were UNDENIABLE. After what I have read and now seeing this work for someone that I know, that is proof enough for me. One more way, to keep Boas from having to deal with any type of chemical and that is always a good thing.......Johnson Herp

other living things in the immediate area? We do not have mites and have not for many years, but the first thing that pops into my head is.....what about cats, dogs, plants, and other items in the area. How are they affected? What happens to the predator mites after all eggs and mites have been destroyed? How long do the predator mites live? Do they completely disrupt the reproduction cycle of the snake mite......it just keeps going and going...lol

I am sure we would all love to hear what you have learned..
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Chris & Alliey
www.bloodyleopard.com
E-mail Us

In what I have read, the best results are to those that use a substrate other than paper. In other words; aspen or some other kind of natural bedding. The Predator Mites will not fare well on newspaper and cannot reproduce on it. What I was told, is to put two to three tablespoons of the mixture in 4 and 6ft cages and spray the cages with water to raise the humidity and repeat in about two days. The Hypoaspis will build a colony and devoure the living mites and then go after the eggs. Even the larve stage of the Predator Mites, according to what I was told, will eat the Reptile Mites. They will not harm any plant or other animals, they strictly feed on other mites and small bugs. Once the foood is gone, they simply die off.......Johnson Herp

for the info...
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Chris & Alliey
www.bloodyleopard.com
E-mail Us

I've never used them before, but back a year or two ago ( may have been 3? ) on one of these forums the same topic was posed. A few people took it pretty seriously and tried them. The results were 50/50. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn't. I can't remember who, or on what website forum it was, tried to use them farily recently. They seemed to work in the beginning, but fizzed out and the snake mites eventually won ( I do believe it was a 2 week process ).

I'm thinking the worse the mite infestation is the better the predatory mite cure would work. Have to get the predatory mite colony going with food before it can wipe out all signs of snake mites.

Dunno, just speculating??
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I only treat incoming animals...

If I had to treat my collection, that would be a different story. If it has a shelf-life and the mites only hatch after being watered, does it give you instructions on smaller enclosures? Just not sure if I would get enough uses to justify that kind of money. Plus, I'm bug-aphobic.

The good thing would be if the aspen did contain buggies, it wouldn't after these mites were through with it.
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Delusions of Grandeur feed the EGO...

Do the eggs (or what ever form they arrive in, in the mixture) have a shelf life of any specific length?
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Randall L Turner Jr.
Boas make the world go round.

they need to be used pretty quickly or they will starve.......Johnson Herp

no post
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Randall L Turner Jr.
Boas make the world go round.

Madison your such a hippie avoiding them chemicals

I think this is something, and something to seriously consider. I do have my doubts that it's the holy grail an enthused herper might call it, as nature tends to look for a balance (whether it's 50:50 or 95:5) instead of eradication.

For a breeder, or a single pet kept in a rather easy to clean enclosure, full eradication probably is the simplest and quickest method- this means chemicals as you'd call them.

Where I"m a huge fan of these predatory mites is with animals that are kept in a natural vivaria that would otherwise be impossible to even control snake mites. In these scenerio's a balance might actually be prefered over eradication.

Just my 2bits of course

Ian