Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was holding my corn today and I noticed a little bug on it which i'm guessing is a mite..... What do I do? Should I take it to the vet or just get the stuff to get rid of them and use it immediately?? Or both?? I have other reptiles in the room too? Should I exterminate their cages too? Take them to the vet??

-Drako

I don't mean to alarm you, but I noticed my first ever mites last night on one of my rat snakes. Less than 24 hours later the snake was dead?!? Luckily she was apart from the other snakes, and hopefully the others don't get/have mites. I'm still looking into good solutions for mites as I feel I must do some precautionary things to make sure I don't have mites on my other critters. Provent-a-mite and ivermectin are the two methods I've read about.
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~Sasheena

n/p

There are various kinds of bugs you might see on your snake, but not all are snake mites. You don't want to expose your animals to chemicals unless required.

Look carefully around the eyes and in the groove under the chin. If it has mites, you will probably see them "dug in" in those areas. Do you see a lot of dead ones in the water bowl? Rub your hand firmly down the body of the snake and then look carefully - do you see bugs on your hand? If you are not sure, start by isolating the whole cage in another room while you decide if it needs treatment. You can dust the area around the shelf with Sevin dust (from the garden or feed store)to prevent them from moving into other cages.

Good luck!

Ok, I've looked all over my snakes, all five of them and I don't see any mites or any other bugs dug in or crawling around..... I don't know what to do. The one I saw it on was a snow so I thought it'd be easiest to see them on him, but I don't see any.... grrr. I'm moving the cage to another room and keeping a close eye on it. Thanks.

-Drako