Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well i have had mites on my hogs for a bit now....i have used sevin dust sprinkled on the bedding and seemed to work but they keep coming back. I keep them in the dusted bedding for 2 weeks. I bleach out the tanks and clean them really well every time. Maybe i don't leave them in the dusted bedding long enough?? Maybe i need to treat them twice as long or at two different intervals? Whats a better way to get rid of the mites?> i have used provent a mite and ended up killing 3 of my hogs with it. Afterwards i read a post on here where someone had similar results with provent a mite and thier hogs. let me know im tired of these stupid insects!! ha thanks

mike

Sooner or later mites make their way into everyone's collection. Always makes me laugh when someone says "not mine".
Because someone gave me the gift that keeps on giving 2X I came up with the following procedure.
1. soak the snakes in a sterilite/rubbermaid tub with warm water, just water for the first 30 minutes and only deep enough so their backs are out of the water. They will probably drink some of this.
2. Empty out their tank, box, cage, etc. at this time
3. Spray down the cage, water bowl, hides, etc. with a mix of water and NIX or the store brand of NIX. NIX is lice shampoo and I would mix it at about 1/2 ounce to a 32 ounce bottle of water. Spray up into the edges and corners. Let it sit.
4. go back to the snakes, add some more warm water with just a little dish soap. Enough to have some bubbles most of the top surface of the water. Let them soak for about 30 minutes.
5. rinse the cage, box, etc. real good and make sure to get into the corners, top edges, etc.
6. dry the cage and put in paper towels, no substrate, and no water bowl.
7. remove the snakes from the soapy water, spray a paper towel with the NIX solution you mixed for spraying down the cage. Let them slide through this paper towel while holding with a firm grip.
8. Sprinkle a small amount of sevin dust in the tank to lightly cover the paper towels.
9. place the snakes back in their cage, box, etc.
Once a day check the paper towels. Also, once a day or every other day,spray a paper towel with the NIX solution and let them slide through it while holding with a firm grip. Even if they are all gone, repeat the above procedure in 1 week.
I believe the problem is that you were not getting the mites or their eggs that were under the scales of your snakes. The soapy water solution will get those and drown them, destroy the eggs, etc. Repeating the process in a week is important as is spraying the paper towel with the solution, letting them slide through the towel. This is a way to confirm if anything new is hatching out. Rinse them off with plain water and let them drink for a few minutes every 3 days or so during this process. You do not want them taking the sevin into their water bowl. Once the NIX solution dries it becomes inactive within a few minutes.
If you still have a problem, let me know.
John Q

I used this with some WC easterns that came in covered with mites a few years ago.

Put the animals in a diluted listerine soak (just enough listerine to tint the water) The water drowns the mites, the listrine sterilizes any that happen to survive. While the animals are soaking, completely sterilize and clean the enclosure. Ad back paper towel substrate and water bowl. Next, remove the animals from the soak and dry them off. Here is the fun part, get some mineral oil and grease down your hands. Let the animals crawl through your hands until completely covered. Use a qtip to get around the face, taking special care around the nostrils and eyes. The mineral oil smothers any bugs on the animals. Place animals back in their enclosures. Repeat in two weeks. I got this "remedy" out of a vet manuel. After the first treatment, I did not see anymore mites, just did the second treatment as precautionary.

And before anybody jump on the "meeses up their shed" bandwagon, both animals had perfect sheds after the treatments. One was in blue during the treatment and one was not. Both had completely normal sheds.

Another thing you might do is place an activated flea collar in your vaccum bag/cannister and then vacum around the enclosures. This will kill any mites you might vaccum up. Just make sure the animals are not in the room when you do this and that the room airs out a bit before you bring them back in. (I am a bit parinoid about the fumes that might be put out.)

Goodluck.
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Jenea
Guardian Reptiles

"When your memories are bigger than your dreams, you're headed for the grave" Author unknown

Listerine huh?? thats pretty interesting........ i'm trying the sevin dust already but if it dosen't do the job maybe this will be next. thanks

mike