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with MITES!!! ugh. So I saw a FEW bugs on my largest boa the other day, I pulled him out of his boaphile and felt them all falling on my arm. (disgusting) I placed him in a 109 qt tub and filled it with about 2-3 inches of water to give him a bath. There were hundreds of mites that either drowned or just fell dead off his body. I cleaned the boaphile, sprayed provent a mite ALL over. (used damn near half a can) waited an hour and washed his cage again. I replaced his screened sawdust substrate with paper towels and today, there are hundreds more dead around his cage, with more live ones crawling on him. I even bought some "over the counter" stuff at petco that I can spray directly on him which doesn't seem to be worth 1/3 of the money I paid for it. What is the BEST way to get rid of these things for good??? I had a small outbreak with another boa of mine about 3 months ago and I got that under control using the same method, but now they seem to keep appearing no matter what I do. I have my boaphiles stacked and there is a pregnant female right above the infected boa. The mites are even leaving his cage and dying on my carpet. This is ridiculous, and the worst part is, I have no idea where they are coming from. Best I can think of is either the substrate, or the live rats I've been buying. Any help is GREATLY appreciated. Thank you in advance, and sorry for the long rant.

Take him out and put him somewhere while you spray the Prevent-a-Mite in his cage. Let it dry....do not wash it out. When it is totally dry, put him back in his cage. Then you might use some of the spray to spray the floor around the cage base. The mite spray should do the job. However, sounds as if they have quite a foot hold. Do not be surprised if you find them in another cage. They are crafty little bastards. I do not know how many snakes you have, but I would spray every cage and let the spray dry in them as above. You have the correct tool...good luck.

here is somthing i copied from another form i hope it helps it worked for me

I've found this to be the absolute BEST treatment, and it's safe, even to spray right on your snake, unlike other products that use very harsh chemicals, that cannot be diluted.

Works in one treatment (though you may want to repeat this 7 days later, just to be sure!), and it even kills mite EGGS!!!!

Go to your local pharmacy, and pick up a product called "Nix". It's sold in the shampoo section, and is actually a treatment for head lice. You want the 59ml bottle. It costs about $10.

Pick up a gallon of DISTILLED water while you are there. The Nix solution MUST be diluted in order for it to be safe.

Pick up a small spray bottle there too. Everything you need in just one trip. How nice!

Empty the entire bottle of Nix into the gallon of distilled water. Shake, shake shake! Nix is very thick, so keep shaking until it's completely mixed.

Pour some of the solution into the spray bottle. Shake again!

Take your snake out of its cage and put it in a rubbermaid (or similar) container. Spay its entire body (yes, even it's head and mouth! Wont hurt its eyes!!).

Remove the water dish from your snake's cage, and wash it with soap and water. Leave it out of the cage. Now remove all the substrate (throw it away somewhere outside of your house!) and replace it with paper towels. Spray the paper towls until they are damp with the Nix solution. Spray the snake's hide, branch, and any other "furniture" inside the cage. Spray the walls of the cage, the corners especially, and the lid. Spray the outside of the cage as well.

No need to air it out.. go get your snake and put him/her back into the cage. Spray the snake lightly AGAIN. Leave out the water dish for the next 12 hours.

NO MORE MITES!!!!

And now you have a gallon of solution, that will be good for up to 1 year, if kept at room temperature and out of sunlight.

Thanks for the info for the Nix, I'm actually going to walmart now to pick some up and try it out. I do have a question though, I sprayed my cage with provent a mite two days ago in conjunction with the "over the counter" stuff. Should I wait 5-7 days before trying the Nix solution or go ahead and do it tomorrow? I'm guessing I should wait since provent a mite, Equate bedding spray, and nix all have the same active ingredient of permethrin. (equate and PAM have 0.50% while Nix has 1%)

The Provent A Mite is good and will kill all stages of the mites life cycle including their eggs-very important. Give it time to work. I would treat all of your cages and repeat in two weeks. As has been said-spray the substrate, let dry, and leave it there.

Equate Bedding Spray at Walmart costs $4 a can and has the same formula as Provent A Mite but no instructions for reptiles on the can. Use the same as Provent A Mite and don't directly spray the snake. Bill
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...three years ago it was just another snake cult...
The Retic is King.
Anacondas-the other Dark Side.
Afrocks-the dark side of the Dark Side.

I agree with the others above about the Provent A Mite. I use it and I think it has worked great. Now I use it as a preventative.

DON'T wash it out, though. That might be why they are reoccuring. It is ment to dry on the substrate and is effective in that manner. Give your boa another bath while you do it, as the animal itself should not be sprayed. Give the substrate an even spray and let it DRY on the substrate. When it is dry wave some newspaper or something over it to remove fumes and but your boa bake in. I swear the stuff works if you don't wash it out. It works up to a month after application.

I'd do this with all of your boas. Maybe someone with far more experience than I can consult you on the preg. female.

Best wishes!
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Cheers,
Jessica Gibbs
Ball Pythons; Corn Snakes; Green Tree Python; Jungle Carpet Python; Bci; Bcl; Bco
3.0 Crazy Dogs and 2.0 cats
Some Tropical Fish
...........and growing!

If you give your boa a bath, dry it completely prior to returning it to the cage with the PAM in it.

You don't want to waste the time spent letting the cage dry out, just to put a wet snake back in it.

jb
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What's written above is purely my opinion. In fact, MOST of what you read on the internet is someone's opinion. Don't take it too seriously

Jonathan Brady
DeviantConstrictors.com
Deviant Constrictors picturetrail

You can also put some Proventamite in the corners of your snake room floors.

Something I do on occasion is just take a bucket of the aspen, spray the P.a.m. on it, let it dry, then put a handful of the stuff in each cage.

Doug T

>>with MITES!!! ugh. So I saw a FEW bugs on my largest boa the other day, I pulled him out of his boaphile and felt them all falling on my arm. (disgusting) I placed him in a 109 qt tub and filled it with about 2-3 inches of water to give him a bath. There were hundreds of mites that either drowned or just fell dead off his body. I cleaned the boaphile, sprayed provent a mite ALL over. (used damn near half a can) waited an hour and washed his cage again. I replaced his screened sawdust substrate with paper towels and today, there are hundreds more dead around his cage, with more live ones crawling on him. I even bought some "over the counter" stuff at petco that I can spray directly on him which doesn't seem to be worth 1/3 of the money I paid for it. What is the BEST way to get rid of these things for good??? I had a small outbreak with another boa of mine about 3 months ago and I got that under control using the same method, but now they seem to keep appearing no matter what I do. I have my boaphiles stacked and there is a pregnant female right above the infected boa. The mites are even leaving his cage and dying on my carpet. This is ridiculous, and the worst part is, I have no idea where they are coming from. Best I can think of is either the substrate, or the live rats I've been buying. Any help is GREATLY appreciated. Thank you in advance, and sorry for the long rant.