When I buy a new snake, I always quarantine and wait for a defication to have a stool sample taken. Recently, I added a couple of snakes to my collection and after the quarantine period put them on the rack with the rest of my animals. When I fed last Friday night, I saw a small black dot in one water bowl on the whole rack. I didn't think it was mites because I know they usually appear in large numbers. I continued to check the snake daily and noticed the snake I was monitoring did not eat and was soaking in her water bowl. I immediately knew I had mites and got to work to get rid of them.
I called a couple of people to get some different angles on what to do. I began by making a diluted bleach and water solution and cleaned all cages with it and removed all aspen and switched to paper. I then sprayed the snakes with Reptile Relief and put Mite-Off in their water dishes.
Tonight, Brian gave me some excellent tips on prevention of mites rather than trying to not have to worry about treating them. So, here is what he said. He told me that mites are nocturnal and are not host specific. Therefore, they move from cage to cage at night. To combat this, Brian advised to wipe down the rims of my tubs with a rag sprayed with Provent-A-Mite. This will cause the mites to die when they try to crawl out of the cage and into another one. Also, wiping down your rack with a towel sprayed with Provent-A-Mite will aid in prevention of mites. Brian also told me that Provent-A-Mite has a 30 day shelf life, so if this is done once a month it will aid in prevention of mites. I will begin today with a once a month wiping of my racks to prevent future problems.
Luckily, I was able to discover this problem very early because of daily monitoring of my animals. I am passing on this information because I feel that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I think it is smart to try to prevent a problem rather than having to deal with later on down the road.
I would also like to thank Brian Gundy for giving me very good information about mites and how they get into a snake collection. Brian told me that he went to a seminar hosted by Dave Barker. In that seminar he learned that mites are airborne before finding a host. Brian also told me that animal husbandry, or lack there of, has nothing to do with mites finding their way into snake cages at some point in time. Brian Barczyk also said that it happens to the best of everyone, and if you haven't had mites you haven't had snakes long.
I hope this information helps anyone who deals with this in the future, as I am sure we all will. I am going to begin an aggressive prevention program so that I can decrease the probability of getting mites in my collection.
If Dave or Tracy read this and have an article they have published or something to add, please do so. I would love to have more understanding on the life cycle of mites and how they find their way into a collection and measures they have discovered to prevent and or treat mite problems.
Again, thanks to those who helped me and I hope this helps other people prevent or deal with any problems that arise in the future.
-----
Happy Herping,
Jody Barnes
Royal Kreationz
My snakes aren't fat, they're big boned.
Thanks for listening last night. It was a blast. I'm glad I helped a little in the future prevention of mites. It's just something we all have to deal with. Thanks again, Brian (BHB)