I happily brought home my first reptile, a baby corn snake (Elliot), on July 6th this year. The following week, as I held him in some filtered sun in the backyard and admired the iridescence on his head, I noticed something moving by his eyes. My first thought was that a tiny bug landed on his head but it disappeared too fast for me to examine it. Then I thought, “parasites?”
The next day I searched the web and realized that I saw a snake mite. I never heard of these creatures and began reading as many websites as I could, including this forum.
I took my snake back to the store. The owner confirmed my fear and offered to treat him with mineral oil. I left him overnight and went home and cleaned like a mad woman. I soaked all the tank decorations in a bleach solution overnight, washed and rinsed the inside and outside of the tank, vacuumed the entire room including walls, window coverings, etc., paying special attention to areas I’d hide if I were a travelling mite, like at the top of the tank. I rinsed the decorations and let them dry in the sun. Then I put them in a plastic bag with a flea collar and left them outside (they are still in the bag). I continued to vacuum daily for two weeks, with a moth ball in the vacuum cleaner bag, in case of hatching eggs, and confined my snake to a plastic box with white paper towels, a scrubbed plastic hut and water dish.
The day I brought Elliot back home he shed. I waited until he was out of his old skin and tossed it in the trash outside in case there were any mites in the shed. Exactly 3 weeks later he shed again but during a time when I did not see him so I did not take the skin out right away.
I never saw larvae, eggs, or more than the original 2 mites and yet I kept cleaning every few days until I was sick of it. After the first two weeks I put him back into the tank using plain newsprint as substrate so I could see any moving pepper-like critters. None seen.
It’s been 5 weeks since this craziness started. I’m so nervous about mites that I’m afraid to take the decorations out of the bag and put them back in the tank. One piece is a particularly nice chunk of driftwood. I read somewhere that the life cycle of mites can be as long as 60 days in certain conditions. All decor were purchased at various stores so who knows where the mites came from.
If I ever see one of those bloodsuckers again I’ll go to a vet and use their treatment of Frontline or whatever they use for eradication. I was too worried to use chemicals on or near a baby.
What a first-time experience for a new pet owner! Okay, I was a little overboard, but being a veteran flea soldier, I knew how persistent some pests can be. Hopefully, I’ve won this war.
Elliot appears to be healthy, eats well, sheds well, is getting more calm about being handled, and likes cartoons. Well, I'm sure it's just the movements on the screen that are interesting to him but it's nice to THINK he likes cartoons. "Angry Beavers" is his favorite.
