Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can snakes contract mites from mice and rats? What are the most common ways a snake can get mites?

Although mites are species specific I don't take chances. So your probably good but if the person I'm getting them from has mites, I wouldn't.
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Pastel 0.1
Spider 0.1
Normals 2.1
Het Pied 0.1
Leopard Geckos 1.1
American Bulldog 0.1

Reptiles can get mites from rodents. I ran out of mouse food once and gave the mice chicken feed. A week or two later, there were tiny pale mites in all the cages of the snakes that would only eat live mice(I'm working on switching them over). I looked at some of them under magnification and I think that they are grain mites, so I think that they came from the chicken feed.
I looked up different external parasites that rodents can carry and I found a list of like a dozen mites that were found on a pet store mouse.
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www.freewebs.com/snakesandstuff
"Such as I am, so shall I be"

My menagerie
3.4 Ball Pythons 1.1 Amazon Tree Boas 1.0 Dumerils Boa 1.1 Kenyan Sand Boas 2.0 Corn Snake 1.2 Black Rat Snakes 2.1.7 Bearded Dragons 1.1.5 Crested Geckos 1.1.4 Eastern Box Turtles 0.3 Chickens 2.1 Cats 1.1 Ferrets plus lots of mice and feeder insects and my Sweety-bird Sydney

I thought snake mites were species specific to snakes? As in they don't infect other animals or reptiles?
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Pastel 0.1
Spider 0.1
Normals 2.1
Het Pied 0.1
Leopard Geckos 1.1
American Bulldog 0.1

Snake mites will infest other hosts besides snakes but only for a short period of time. If you get snake mites from rodents its because where you got the rodents had snakes with mites and they infested the rodents also. Mites can come from many many places. I use mite spray EVERY time I clean cages as a preventative measure and I rarely get mites, but it still happens once in a while. VPI has some good info on mites and there life cycle.

I typically always trust jyohe's advice, but I do have to say from personal experience you can in fact get mites from feeder rodents. Yes, snake mites are species specific, but any object or thing can be carriers for them. YOU can be a carrier, so of course, it only makes sense that mice and rats can be too just as easily. Why do you think most responsible breeders make you sanitize your hands at a show before toughing one of their animals they have up for sale?? -- they don't know what other reptiles you have already touched that day. Mites (so I'm told, correct me if I'm wrong) don't live on your snake, they only feed on your snake, and live in the snake's environment. What I do to avoid rodent/human contamination is to Provent-A-Mite all new bedding before using it on my snakes. I have a big trash can I fill up my new bedding with. I'll dump about a third in, Provent-A-Mite it, dump another third in, Provent-A-Mite it, and so on.

And the easiest/quickest/best way to bring mites into your collection is to NOT QUARANTINE PROPERLY. Introducing new snakes into your collection without a quarantine period is fool-proof.
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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

There are lots of other species of mites. I had a snake with snake mites and it spread to the lizards too. Whatever came from my mice was not a snake mite.
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www.freewebs.com/snakesandstuff
"Such as I am, so shall I be"

My menagerie
3.4 Ball Pythons 1.1 Amazon Tree Boas 1.0 Dumerils Boa 1.1 Kenyan Sand Boas 2.0 Corn Snake 1.2 Black Rat Snakes 2.1.7 Bearded Dragons 1.1.5 Crested Geckos 1.1.4 Eastern Box Turtles 0.3 Chickens 2.1 Cats 1.1 Ferrets plus lots of mice and feeder insects and my Sweety-bird Sydney

NO

.
....snake (reptile) mites ARE host specific....

mice will scratch them off IF they ever decided to go on a mouse,,,mice would actually eat them....mmmm...snacks...

.....millions of mite species....(ok, thousand?)...

...mites come from other snakes,(reptiles ) and used cages....

clean cages once in awhile and use spray like was sugested...

.....mice / rats will not really give your snakes mites...nor will cypress or aspen....or moss....

....just clean, and clean, and clean......

suxx don't it......

.
.now go buy another hundred snakes.......

,,
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LOL......

NO

.
....snake (reptile) mites ARE host specific....

mice will scratch them off IF they ever decided to go on a mouse,,,mice would actually eat them....mmmm...snacks...

.....millions of mite species....(ok, thousand?)...

...mites come from other snakes,(reptiles ) and used cages....

clean cages once in awhile and use spray like was sugested...

.....mice / rats will not really give your snakes mites...nor will cypress or aspen....or moss....

....just clean, and clean, and clean......

suxx don't it......

.
.now go buy another hundred snakes.......

,,
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LOL......

HAHA!!! Don't even try to debate him....he knows all and sees all, lol.
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Pastel 0.1
Spider 0.1
Normals 2.1
Het Pied 0.1
Leopard Geckos 1.1
American Bulldog 0.1

Here is an excerpt from VPIs mite page about the life cycle and history of the snake mite.

"Snake mites usually do not infest mammal species, yet they have been known occasionally to parasitize rodents and humans, taking a blood meal and then moving on (Mader, 1996). Snakes are not known to be parasitized by any of the mite species that commonly parasitize rodents."

Like I said you CAN get them from rodents or bedding but the only way it would happen is if the rodents or bedding came from somewhere that had snake mites and they were hitching a ride there.

you should have mentioned how they walk like up to 45 feet and hour......
(Dave's book too )
?

....how long is your snake room......???

.my room is 11 x 11 and the rodent room is like 6 foot away from snake room door?.....(it's about the same 11 x 11.)

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LOL......

I don't know nuttin......

......noone has to believe anything I ever say.....

......I read one 40 page book, got 2 normal balls, I am 14 years old, and have been doing this for almost 3 1/2 weeks now......

....yea......OK........

:0)
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LOL......

LOL Same here! I can't wait til I'm old enough to buy my own hots because everyone knows hots are so cool! I did a show for the science teacher at the local county school and the only thing the kids wanted to know how many copperheads, rattlers, and etc I had lol.
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Pastel 0.1
Spider 0.1
Normals 2.1
Het Pied 0.1
Leopard Geckos 1.1
American Bulldog 0.1

.....Hots are very cool, not that profitable, illegal in alot of places, and very intensive to have,hold, and breed....you better know what you are doing..period...

.you do know I am kidding about my age don't you?...

God I hope so......

???
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Oh yeah, very much lol
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Pastel 0.1
Spider 0.1
Normals 2.1
Het Pied 0.1
Leopard Geckos 1.1
American Bulldog 0.1

Now that's funny right there!!!!!

Anthony McCain....

LOL I have no reason to own a hot unless it comes into my yard and I'm feeling frisky! Nah I did have a copperhead for a few months until I was told there were legal questions about it and my home owners insurance wouldn't cover it...so I played it safe this time.
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Pastel 0.1
Spider 0.1
Normals 2.1
Het Pied 0.1
Leopard Geckos 1.1
American Bulldog 0.1

A dirty, infested pet store or breeder can send reptile mites home with you on any object, including your own body, and certainly on some rodents. I wouldn't give such a business a nickel of money, it is just not worth it, and it's principals, man, principals : )
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

See what I mean? Can't tell some people anything.
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Pastel 0.1
Spider 0.1
Normals 2.1
Het Pied 0.1
Leopard Geckos 1.1
American Bulldog 0.1