Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay so I have a total of ten snakes at the moment. And of corse a red foted tortise, a hamster, leopard gecko, some house geckos and some fish in my main room. But heres the story, I've been moving my snake tanks around, I recently placed 2 kingsnakes, 1 cornsnake & a ball python on the self above my Red footed's cage. And now my cousin and a friend said that they hav seen little black bugs crawling on two of the snakes that are closest to the red footed. I have not seen the bugs yet, but I trust the two who said they have, I dont see any of them in the cages ether. I'm worried as to what they might be???? And why only the snakes by th red footed have them? And how do I get rid of them?? I have aspen bedding in the tanks, a hide log and a large water dish in each cage, and of corse a under tank heater. What should I do to get rid of the bugs? I live in las vegas nv. The local exotic petstore said that I should put a cap full of bleach into the empty tank and fill it with water and let it soak for an hour or so, and then rinse it out very well and use newspaper as bedding for now. But I'm not sure what I should do? Should I put all fo the items in boiling water and blech the tank? I'm worried about my babys, and right now I dont have enough money to take them to a vet intell I get paid in two weeks. I spot clean their tanks dayly and every 6 weeks or so I take everything out and wash it with soap and water and useally boiling the hide log. Would love any help with this. I've never had this problen before, with any of my animals, thanks for helping me.
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Kurama- Male Ball python
Seven- Female ball python
Avalon- Female ball python
Vodka- Female ball python
Ginseng- spotted Python

Shinnie- Rosy Boa
Hannibal- Male Hypo Boa

Noel- Female Durango Mountain Kingsnake (Greeri)
Leech- unknown Mex black kingsnake

Peanut- Male red footed
Dragon- Leopard gecko
Yuki- House Gecko
Shirgure- House Gecko
Kyo- House Gecko
Blu- Blue tailed skink
Moo- Blue tailed skink
Ryou- Water Dragon (bfs)

(7 dogs, 1 cat, 2 birds, 1 hamster, 18 bettas, 13 goldfish)

Little black bugs.....like pepper flecks? You might notice them under scales, around nose and mouth and eyes, especially floating in water bowls. If this.....likely or certainly possibly mites and I wouldn't mess with all the temporary fixes. Cut to the chase and go to a supplier site like Bean Farm, Big Apple,LLL, Pro Products themselves and buy a can of Provent A Mite. Follow the directions exactly and you will be good to go.

IF the bugs are bigger and more beetle like you are likely dealing with something else.....maybe weevils from bedding.

Another note, after dealing with Entamoeba invadens from a friend's box turtles I would caution that tortoises carry bacteria and protozoans that are much more toxic for snakes and lizards. Wash up between those two beasties.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

I found out that they are mites, and over night alot more appeared. I went to the local petstore and got some jussimite and I'm gonna use that for now, I'll order something better from bigappleherp, but intell it gets here I'll work with what I got. Thanks for the help, and yeah the red footed is underneath them, but he never comes into contact with him and I always wash my hands so I dont know if he gave them to him or not. Thanks for the help ^^
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Kurama- Male Ball python
Seven- Female ball python
Avalon- Female ball python
Vodka- Female ball python
Ginseng- spotted Python

Shinnie- Rosy Boa
Hannibal- Male Hypo Boa

Noel- Female Durango Mountain Kingsnake (Greeri)
Unnamed- Unknown snow cornsnake.
Leech- unknown Mex black kingsnake

Peanut- Male red footed
Dragon- Leopard gecko
Yuki- House Gecko
Shirgure- House Gecko
Kyo- House Gecko

(7 dogs, 1 cat, 2 birds, 1 hamster, 18 bettas, 13 goldfish)

The Provent-a-Mite product, when used exactly as directed on the can (if one does not improvise; uses it as directed), is perhaps the easiest and most effective anti-mite weapon available. From my experience, it is the only product that safely kills mites inside and outside the cages without affecting nearby sensitive animals like frogs.

Mites are a fairly serious problem, and the snakes do suffer. With a single can of P-a-M, you can rid mites from the whole collection, including the tortoise cage.

Snake mites do not feed on tortoises necessarily, but the tortoise cage can be a great place for mites to lay eggs. The progency will then find the snake hosts especially if right on top of the tortoise cage.
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Mark

ALright thanks ^^ I have some on order, the best shiping they had takes up to four days though T_T I'm going to look at the local extoics store tomorrow to see if thay have any, if not it still may take three days T_T My poor babies
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Kurama- Male Ball python
Seven- Female ball python
Avalon- Female ball python
Vodka- Female ball python
Ginseng- spotted Python

Shinnie- Rosy Boa
Hannibal- Male Hypo Boa

Noel- Female Durango Mountain Kingsnake (Greeri)
Unnamed- Unknown snow cornsnake.
Leech- unknown Mex black kingsnake

Peanut- Male red footed
Dragon- Leopard gecko
Yuki- House Gecko
Shirgure- House Gecko
Kyo- House Gecko

(7 dogs, 1 cat, 2 birds, 1 hamster, 18 bettas, 13 goldfish)

Your snakes will be fine. If you can try and remove as many mites as you can now - like remove the bedding and replace with newspaper, clean the snakes of mites directly on them, etc - you will be in good shape for when the Provent a Mite arrives.

I doubt there has been a snake keeper who has not had to deal with them at some point. That is why some people house new animals in a separate room from their established animals. This way, if you discover mites on the new animal, there will be less chance of spreading them. Mites can take up to 2 weeks to show up on a new animal, and they can cover 15 feet or more in a night looking for snake hosts. They are capable little bugs.
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Mark

Sounds like mites from your description. The only ones you can see are those that have fed recently and full of blood. That's why they look black or brown. Unfortunately for me, I've had to fight them on a few different new acquiaisions. They look like...

Best results I've had was a three fold attack.

1) Treat the affected snakes with a product called Reptile Relief. Can be sprayed directly on you snake and will kill every mite on your snake.

2) Treat the enclosure and surrounding area with url=http://www.pro-products.com/miteandtemp.html]Provent-a-mite[/url]

3) Hang a Hot Shot No Pest Strip in the room for anyb straglers. DO NOT use if you have insect eaters in the same room!!!!

A really good write up on LLL reptiles site

provent a mite and reptile relief combo also on LLL reptiles site

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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

Alright thats what they are, and I'll order the other stuff for her to, if they dont have it tomorrow, Should I treat all of the animals in the room? Or just all of my snakes, even though they dont all have mites, I was going to treat their cages just in case. Should I treat the geckos and turtle as well or no?
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Kurama- Male Ball python
Seven- Female ball python
Avalon- Female ball python
Vodka- Female ball python
Ginseng- spotted Python

Shinnie- Rosy Boa
Hannibal- Male Hypo Boa

Noel- Female Durango Mountain Kingsnake (Greeri)
Unnamed- Unknown snow cornsnake.
Leech- unknown Mex black kingsnake

Peanut- Male red footed
Dragon- Leopard gecko
Yuki- House Gecko
Shirgure- House Gecko
Kyo- House Gecko

(7 dogs, 1 cat, 2 birds, 1 hamster, 18 bettas, 13 goldfish)

Ok, Dave has a good idea, but you are new to mites and their treatment. Let slow this ball down a bit.. You have a good sized collection of animals but you only refer to one animal in the posts. While washing your hands between cages, check your other snakes...even the ones in other rooms. Find out how big of a problem you have. A good quick check is to look in the water bowls as the snakes will try to soak the bugs off and mite can't swim (thanks God) and lay at the bottom of the bowl, dead..
One can of prevent a mite may not do the trick if you have an out break in all of your cages but there is time between applications so you have time to re-order another can. If you have P-A-M on the way, I wouldn't go with the pest strip - it could be dangerous if you don't know what your doing. Plus, the use of P-A-M, a permithian based bug spray plus a pest strip could cause nerve damage to your snakes.
-Another dangerous chemical that I have used in the past is Sevin powder. It can be found in most home improvement stores in the lawn care section. This dehydrates the mite, and your snakes and is realy only good for killing the mite after it's hatched.
- Know your enemy! The snake mite has a short life span but can reproduce at an alarming rate. It also move from cage to cage looking for food - snake blood. From egg to adult breeder is aprox 14 days. Eggs will be layed almost anywhere in and around the cage. By the time you see the large adult mite, it's safe to say they have already layed eggs.
- Kill the mites - take everything out of the cages, do the bleach thing, like your were told, remember to rinse the cages, hides, ect. well. Then treat with P-A-M according to directions.
Hope this helps, there is no perfect way to treat them, alot of different meathods work great find one that works for you a go with it.
-Blue

Okay I'll do that ^^ Thanks for the help! ^^
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Kurama- Male Ball python
Seven- Female ball python
Avalon- Female ball python
Vodka- Female ball python
Ginseng- spotted Python

Shinnie- Rosy Boa
Hannibal- Male Hypo Boa

Noel- Female Durango Mountain Kingsnake (Greeri)
Unnamed- Unknown snow cornsnake.
Leech- unknown Mex black kingsnake

Peanut- Male red footed
Dragon- Leopard gecko
Yuki- House Gecko
Shirgure- House Gecko
Kyo- House Gecko

(7 dogs, 1 cat, 2 birds, 1 hamster, 18 bettas, 13 goldfish)

I used prevent a mite & it worked fine for me. You should treat all you reptiles. If mites are in one cage then they're probably in others.