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I was wondering what would you do if you had mites. I found them on my snake today,she just shed. I just got her last sunday from the tinley park show. Would anyone use sevin dust? I want to get some provent a mite but dont have enough money till wed then the shipping takes 3 days. thanks steve
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Steve
1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.1 Aru GTP
home.wi.rr.com/stevesreptiles

Soak the snake in a 85-90* bath for about 20-30 min while you bleach out the cage. RINSE THROUGHLY,then rinse it again.
You have any liquid cooking oil? Coat your hands throughly with the oil and allow the snake to crawl thru your hands a few minutes to coat the entire snake.Be careful not to load the vents(nose) with oil.The oil will choke out the mites that may not have come off during the soak.
That Sevin dust idea will kill your snake so dont go there.

M/

Thanks for the reply. I have cooking oil, after I put it on her how long do you leave it on for and then do you just rinse her off. For the bleach do you dilute it with water or just use it straight then rinse it off really good? thanks steve
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Steve
1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.1 Aru GTP
home.wi.rr.com/stevesreptiles

Never heard of the cooking oil approach, but it sounds interesting. We use frontline. We treat the cage, and the snake, withhold the water bowl for a day or so, and then watch the animal. You have to get the Frontline from a vet and it is pricey, but it is effective. Read the directions and wear gloves. It reeks, so use it in a ventilated area. Our vet approves it.

If you have a Vet that makes such recommendations I would run from such detrimental advise !!Frontline is a very powerful pesticide which has a history of complications to animals it was designed for.WHY would a DVM subject a fragile herp to such inhumane abuse?Good gaawd man thats just plain wrong!!

M/

>>Never heard of the cooking oil approach, but it sounds interesting. We use frontline. We treat the cage, and the snake, withhold the water bowl for a day or so, and then watch the animal. You have to get the Frontline from a vet and it is pricey, but it is effective. Read the directions and wear gloves. It reeks, so use it in a ventilated area. Our vet approves it.

Use about 2 tablespoons bleach per quart of water
Replace substrate with paper towl or newsprint, coat the snake with oil and just leave it alone for a few days.Theres nothing in the oil that will harm the snake and it will wear off pretty quick.
Mites will usally cause stress and stress will often induce a shed cycle.After a shed the snake will be all fresh again.
The use of Pest Strips works 99% of the time,completely smacking down a mite issue in less then two weeks without subjecting the animal to potential poisening from/like extreme treatments.Careless use of pest strips will also do more damage then good in the long run.
If common sense isnt ones strong suit then stay with the Provent stuff as its more forgiveable,cost 3 times the amount and is no less the 2/3rd less effective then other time tested methods.

Best Of Luck !

M/

>>Never heard of the cooking oil approach, but it sounds interesting. We use frontline. We treat the cage, and the snake, withhold the water bowl for a day or so, and then watch the animal. You have to get the Frontline from a vet and it is pricey, but it is effective. Read the directions and wear gloves. It reeks, so use it in a ventilated area. Our vet approves it.

I feel that the key to succesfully getting rid of mites is by breaking the mites' lifecycle, which occurs about every 13 days.

I don't like using chemicals on or around my snakes. The few times that I've had mite infestations I used a "natural" approach. It's cheap, too. Takes more work but its effective.

(1) Remove all cage furniture, water bowl & substrate.

(2) Clean cage thoroughly with a solution of aprox. 5% bleach/95% water. Keep in mind while cleaning that you want to remove any/all mite eggs, too. I usually make one slow swipe at a time with each side of a paper towel or sponge instead of using a circular motion or random wiping, which can end up just spreading the eggs/mites & not picking them up. Make sure all fumes have evaporated before placing snake back into cage.

(3) Clean water bowl and cage furniture the same way and discard old substrate.

(4) Soak the snake in the tub or wherever. I usually run my hands down its body to knock off mites that aren't already under the scales. I've heard of some succes with the cooking oil suggestion mentioned earlier but I've never tried it.

(5) Use newspaper or paper towels for substrate and leave out cage furniture. Only water bowl & substrate.

(6) Repeat these steps every 7 - 10 days and within 2 - 3 weeks the mites should be gone, without the use of any poentially harmful chemicals.

A water bowl large enough for the snake to get into so it can completely submerge itself in the water is a big help. My burmese would get in it and soak with just her nostrils sticking out of the water, drowning the mites.

I hope this helps!

HH
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

In step #2, Cage Cleaning, I left out something important. After cleaning with bleach/water solution, use plain, 100% water to rinse cage and then let fumes evaporate before placing snake back in.

Sorry about that!

HH
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

Thats the whole point of rinseing thourghly,there shoudnt be anything to smell if its done correctly.
Just a fresh smelling cage.Doing a search on the use of that other Provent stuff will confim less then favorable results by many consumers,thats why many arent return customers. Other method(s) have already described and work far better for half the price of one can.(less shipping)

Best of Luck

M/

>>In step #2, Cage Cleaning, I left out something important. After cleaning with bleach/water solution, use plain, 100% water to rinse cage and then let fumes evaporate before placing snake back in.
>>
>>Sorry about that!
>>
>>HH
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>>It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

Read this first:
http://www.vpi.com/9VPITipsAndTechs/TheWarAgainstSnakeMites/TheWarAgainstSnakeMites.htm

Get Provent-A-Mite, it is the easiest effective non-harmful method.

WASH CAGE: While you're waiting for Get Provent-A-Mite to show up do soak your snake the following way, and while you are doing that do clean the cage with dileted bleach & water, and rinse thoroughly.

SOAK SNAKE: Soak your snake in water that has a few drops of dish washing liquid in it (like Ivory liquid etc., no strong ones with antibacterial stuff), this will break the surface tension bond between the snake and mite allowing the water to get where the mite is.

CAGE FURNITURE: Sterilize plastic and ceramic stuff, and throw away all wood, you just can't clean it good enough, and mites can hide in really tiny places, and the three larval stages (Yeah three larval stages!!!!) and egg stage are even tinyier.

In the 80s we used stuff like No Pest Strips, but today we have MUCH better stuff, and Ivermectin, well it's for other animals, no studies have ever been done on herps so don't chance it with the snakes you love.

After you soak the snake and clean the cage, you can replace the snake on white paper towels and a light colored or white water bowl big enough for them to soak in. Mites bug snakes, they soak to get some relief. If you see black specks on the paper or in the water you have adult mites again.

Use Provent-A-Mite as directed when you get it, meanwhile do all the above every 3 days until it arrives.

Good luck,
Caden

Thanks for all the help. I am going to clean the cage and soake her till the provent a mite. Thank again for the replys I will pot a pic of her soon. Steve
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Steve
1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.1 Aru GTP
home.wi.rr.com/stevesreptiles