Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I swear I am going to never go into another reptile shop again!

I have a collection of almost a hundred snakes and lizards and some new snakes I just acquired brought in mites. I try to keep new ones seperate, but with only having one house and so many animals, and both my husband and I going back and forth to take care of them, it's almost impossible for mites not to spread.

I have only had one previous experience with mites and that was about 6 months ago, and it was a minor infestation. I put up some no pest strips and viola, the problem was gone in no time.

For some reason, this time that is not working. I bought new pest strips but the mites are just getting worse and worse. I have some Frontline, and I have put some of that on the worst affected snakes, but even that is not working 100%, though it's only been a day or so...so maybe I'm just being impatient. Is this stuff safe to spray in the cages? Is is safe to use on Hognose?

My collection consists of mostly ball pythons, but I also have high end Western Hognose (so Provent A Mite is out), corn snakes, rosy boas, leopard geckos, and tree frogs.

I was going to keep using the no pest strips, and get more Frontline to treat all the snakes. The geckos, frogs, or corns don't seem to have any mites, at least not yet.

Does anyone have any advice for eradicating mites in this type of multi-animal environment? Also, my ball pythons are in a deep rack system, so trying to clean all the cage surfaces is almost impossible unless I disassemble them.

I've been reading about using Ivermectin, but don't know where to get it. I have used a product called Camicide around my exotic birds, but I've heard it's not safe for reptiles.

I'm going to use the Frontline (if I can find more) or Reptile Relief to get the mites off the snakes, but I am at a loss as to what to use to treat the environment since I have Hognose. Unfortunately, some of the hognose do have the mites. Some of my hognose are worth $5K each, so I can't take any chances with them.

Any advice anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

dmmalpert@hotmail.com

They use Ivermectin at a local reptile zoo i volunteer at and from experience, it works. When mites get around, they really get around. So it's best to be safer then sorry. Especially in between enclosures, wash your hands and arms and try not to go directly from one enclosure to another as mite will travel on your clothes and such. i would contact any successful local breeder to find a supplier of Ivermectin, I'm not sure where to get it but i could try and find out for you. You mix 1cc with 2litres of water, i like to use it in a spray bottle to disinfect the tank. clean out the whole tank if possible. Spray down the tank with the ivmec mixture and wipe dry. spray all tank furnishings (waterdish, tree branches) with ivmec and put infreezer (or if you live in Canada, outside) for a few days if possible. Bathe snake in ivmec mixture (i usually dillute it just a little more) for a good 15 mintues or more. Spray tank once every day and bathe snake every 2 days. Consult more experienced users for treatment of more sensitive snakes, lizerds, and any other reptile, I've only treated snakes.
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~Fufu~
1.0 Oketee Cornsnake
0.1 Albino California Kingsnake

I used NIX over 10 years ago. Problem solved in less than an hour. Never saw the little buggers again.

Mike