Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My friends that I sold 1 of my pastels to awhile back came over the other day. They said they have to bomb their apartment for fleas so they asked if I would hold the snakes till it was done clearing out I said ok. WELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL little did I know they didnt change the substrate before bringing me the tank and animals and now my snake room is infested with fleas. What do I do now?

Well, one positive thing is that it does not effect the snakes (not snake mites, count your blessings!!!).

Fleas are a pain in the rear, and you will have to bomb or something like that, but you need to clean out EVERYONE and put them somewhere that is trustworthy and fleafree, and just wait it out. (If you can)

Things like this happen... It'll be alright.

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www.HeathersHerps.com

-Ohh, what a Lady-

Balls for Life, Baby!

Another option would be a small amount of sevin dust(5%)sprinkled in the affected areas.

Iv'e used this to create a barrier from my quarantine and main snake rooms before...should kill fleas as well as it does mites.

gl
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Charles

I would go to Walmart and get some Equate Lice Bedding Spray (same ingredients at Provent-a-Mite) but only about $3 a can and spray the floors, walls, etc. It won't hurt the snakes or any other animals and as it is an aresol it will penetrate everywhere to kill the mites (any any other bugs that might be hiding). It also breaks down very quickly so no lasting affects.

For long term protection I installed a fly sprayer (runs on batteries and smells like lemons) in my snake room. These are the same things they install in resteraunts they smell good and you will never have to worry about any types of bugs becoming an issue.

Just note fleas have a specific life cycle so you can kill the ones to you see...but you will need to repeat the treatment in about 2-3 weeks when the new eggs hatch.

Good Luck

You're actually kind of lucky that it is just fleas. By bringing in an outside animal and all of its gear with no quarantine puts your entire collection at risk. They even told you before hand that they had fleas. I'm not trying to beat up on ya. I know you are already having a bad day. I'm just making the point that everyone should be more careful when bringing in new animals. Good luck with your pesticidal efforts ;o)

They dont have ANY other reptiles at all but the ones I sold them. They bought the pastel from me about 2 months ago and I JUST gave them a little normal female last week. I knew how and where these babies were housed so I didnt need a quarantine for this particular situation (except for the durn fleas)had I known they would go into the bedding I would have told them they need to wait.

Ya, I hear ya but that is exactly my point. No matter what you think you know about where an animal is coming from, it's still a risk. If they had other friends that had a boa collection, it is not unthinkable that they could have came over, handled the ball and transmitted IBD to it. An unlikely scenario but many people have lost entire collections costing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars all because one snake came from a trusted location. It worries me when some other collector wants to see my reptile room. Non-collectors don't really worry me because they won't be carrying anything that could be transmitted to my collection but I don't let too many of them in either.

and where they keep the bag of aspen bedding is where many of the fleas have been living. I dont blame them for not knowing, hell I didnt know. I thought fleas had to live off a host to live.

.........can I use the garlic flavored or must I use butter ?.........yea.I know....provent- a -mite.....it isn't 100% worth a crap either.......and at $18 a can it should kill all mites within a 1/2 mile radius .........

.........dog and cat fleas go to a host and drink blood...then drop off and hang out in carpet and furniture and dust balls under stuff........when hungry they just jump back on the warm dog /cat......they won't bother humans that much unless the host animals are removed......then they get less picky about blood type.......they can go up to a year without a meal ........I am not sure where they lay eggs...on host or in objects full of holes like a couch........I think on obects......

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...........all you have to do is try it........
...........studies are fun.............

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Karl Buckler
http://www.genetic-investments.com

49 Assorted Ball Pythons
200 Rodents
65 Gerbils
0.1 Boxer (Karma)

great as does the cheap lice bedding spray from wally world and it wont hurt your animals (after it dry of course).
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Greg Power
B.O.A. Inc
boainc@gmail.com

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