Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm looking for pictures of reptile mites and ticks for comparison and identification.

I recently had one or the other, mites I think, spontaneously appear in a single enclosure in my Q-room at a family members house. It's weird since neither myself or the family member have handled other reptiles in months, all of the reptiles in the room I had been observing for at least 1-2 months, and the insects have not appeared in my collection at my house. I was also surprised that the infestation, which is heavy in the single enclosure, has not spread to any other enclosures in the Q-room even after several days. I couldn't treat it immediately do to storms causing damage locally that had to be dealt with first.

Also a couple quick provent a mite questions for those of you who have used it before.
1) Any idea how long it has to dry/ventilate if drying in cold/humid conditions?
2) Can the substrate/enclosure, once it has dried, be sprayed with water or do I need to just add untreated humid hide boxes into the treated enclosure?
3) Will the dried and ventilated enclosures kill crickets that are placed inside them? I ask because there is a veiled chameleon in the family members house and I am trying to figure out if there is a safe way to treat it given that it eats crickets in it's enclosure.

Thanks for any information in advance.

Sean.
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1.1 BRB
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat

Gotta run. dinner but here's a pic from several years ago

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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Might be those but do you know if ticks attach arround the eyes the way the mites do? Thanks for the pictures Dave.

Sean.
-----
1.1 BRB
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat

Ticks will swell up a LOT larger than mites. Those mites are already engorged with blood, if not you wouldn't be able to see them.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

...it sounds like it is a tick infestation. These you can see the babies and the adults and both have bloated bodies. That might also possibly explain why they have not spread to the rest of the enclosures in the Q-room.

Anyone have info on ticks or a link to good info on them? I'd like to know what to expect from them in general and to figure out where they came from this time if possible.

Thanks again,

Sean.
-----
1.1 BRB
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat

Sean,

can you post a picture? Also, what kind of snake is it? I remember hearing somewhere that colubrids don't tend to get mites??? Is this true?

Mites will tend congregate around the eyes. In all my years of keeping snakes, I have yet to see an infestation of ticks. Ticks seem to be rare on snakes and when you do find them it's usually just a matter of pulling them off and that's that.

Mite infestations are fairly common in collections.

What is the history of the one snake who has them? Is it a recent acquisition? Also, are you sure the pests are feeding on the snake? Could they have come in with the bedding? Commonly, mulches will contain wood mites that will crawl on the snakes but are harmless to them.

I've only used provent-a-mite once (as a precautionary measure). Before the animals arrived, I sprayed the cage and let it dry. Then, I put the animal in the enclosure.

If you're sure these are snake mites and if you're sure they're only in one cage, just remove the snake, let it have a nice lukewarm soak to kill any mits on the animal, clean out the enclosure thoroughly, replace the cage furniture, use newspaper rather than shavings as a substrate, and spray down the cage with provent-a-mite. Check on the can but I think that once the stuff has dried, you can replace the snake. If you're just treating this one encluosure, you don't have to worry about your crickets.
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

Well the enclosure that is infected is a 60 gallon tank with a pair of ball pythons in it that were adopted from a friend of mine by the family member whose house has the Q-room.

I have seen them, aparently attached, both acumulating arround the eyes and crawling on the heads of the pythons. I have also found them crawling arround on and near the water dish in the enclosure. The substrate in the enclosure is orchid bark that has been in there since they were set up in the room.

The pair of pythons were a adoption from a friend who was moving and needed to get rid of them a couple of months back. The insect arround the eyes seem to be feeding since they sit there stationary arround the eyes but they might not be feeding. The bugs didn't come in on the substrate I'm pretty sure since it has been the same substrate, with routine cleanings, for the last couple months and the bugs only showed up in the last week or so.

Since placing a larger soaking dish in the warm end of the tank both pythons are soaking with only their heads out of the water.

The other reptiles there are corn snakes, thayeri kingsnakes, and a veiled chameleon but none of them so far have shown any signs of infestation.

I'm letting a full change of tubs and substrate dry currently after applying proventamite earlier today. I'm planning on changing out the tubs in the rack and the substrate in the tank later tonight.

I have no idea whether colubrids are resistant to mites but that might explain why the bugs haven't spread to some of the rest of the enclosures. I'll try and get a picture of them if I can later today, just not sure if i'll be able to get any decent shots.

Thanks again for the response Mike.

Sean.
-----
1.1 BRB
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat

If you can relocate your insect eaters to a secondary quarantine room, hang a no pest strip, does great on keeping mites from spreading. While I was fighting a mite infestation on some new acquisitions, a minor flair-up occured in my main room, only a few levels in one of my larger tub racks affected. (probably travelled on me ) I was quite worried it would spread to the rest of the room. I treated the affected animals with reptile relief, the enclosures and rack with provent-a-mite. I still kept finding small numbers of live and freshly dead mites (two here, three there). After hanging the no pest strip, in almost no time, all mites were gone and have not seen one since. Another added benefit was gnats, have seen a few here and there in the room for quite some time, now not a single one!!

I always keep all three on hand ready to use if I ever see any of those nasty little bugs again!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Hmmm... where can you get a no pest strip? I tend to have a few gnats flying around in the summer time, and they sure are annoying!
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Aubrey Ross

©
www.SlipstreamSerpents.com

I bought mine at the local hardware store, a quick search and I found this which shows the exact one I got...

hot shot no pest strip

Works great for getting rid of the nasties!!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Sweet, thanks!! I might put one of those up in the snake room this summer if a few gnats decide to show up again. They are so hard to smack in the air! You think you got it, but when you check your hands nothing is there.... then it flies by your face just to taunt you.
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Aubrey Ross

©
www.SlipstreamSerpents.com

Your's must be cousins to the ones I had, same buzz ya just to irritate ya thang!!
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats