Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We have an assortment of corn snakes as well as a boa and 2 ball pythons. We seem to have a serious mite problem! We have done everything and still we have mites! I am wondering if maybe they are living in our house and reinfesting our snakes.

If this is possible than does anyone know how we can get them out?

Mites can take time to get rid of totally and you have to kill both the mites and their eggs. They are good at traveling and can be brought in easily on a new animal or by you from a trip to a petshop or reptile show. Also loose substrate can harbor mites-especially bark and that is another reason I keep snakes on newspaper.

There are many mite remedies that range from good to junk science and alchemy. Follow these steps and given time you can eradicate snake mites which are species specific-they only feed off snakes and will seek out the snakes.

Go to Walmart and buy a can or two of Equate Bedding Spray at $4 a can. It has the same ingrediants as a famous reptile brand mite killer costing more than 5 times as much.
>>>NEVER DIRECTLY SPRAY A SNAKE OR REPTILE WITH THE EQUATE-YOU COULD KILL IT>>>
Remove the snake and water bowl from the cage. Lightly spray the substrate and cage furniture. Go lightly, it is powerful stuff. Wait at least 30 minutes for the Equate to dry-very important. Than place snake/water bowl back in and repeat every two weeks until no more mites are detected. You can also spray a small amount of Equate on a rag and wipe the outside of the cages.

Give it time to work. The spray is not an instant insecticide but kills by disolving the mite's exoskeleton and eggs. Proximity to the Equate will kill mites in crevacies in both the cage and snake including under scales. The mites outside of the cage will not enter the cage due to the Equate and not being able to reach a snake to feed, will die also. This method is very effective and does not suject the snake to stress or unneeded methods. Good luck with this. 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.

Thank you we will give it a try. We have been at battle with this for sometime and when we think we have it licked they come back in full force. Again thank you for the advice.

You are very welcome and this method has worked extremely well for me with large collections. The key to getting rid of mites once and for all is to kill them at all stages of their lives, from eggs to adult. 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.