Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently purchased an adult pair of Desert Horned Vipers and they both arrived with mites. I've been using Reptile Relief on them, but the mites always show up again in just a couple of days(little black spots on the mouth area).I keep them on white calcium sand and their temps are right. After spraying, I can see the dead mites on the sand. How can I eliminate these mites for good? I didn't think mites would be much of a problem with the hot desert sand species. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Spray em' and change the substrate. If you have any other snakes with mites, do the same and seperate them for a week or so.
Good luck.

Thanks for the info TJ. And no, I don't have any other snakes with mites. These are the only ones that have them. The guy I bought them from told me that he used some old bedding from one of his other snakes for shipping, and that's where they probably got them. He said that the mites wouldn't live because of the hot sand. What a dumb@ss! I NEVER reuse substrate for anything. I have a huge collection of snakes & mite control has never been a problem before. And to think that a dry desert species is the ones that have them. Got them put in a separate room away from everything else. This is a beautiful pair of snakes, and I'm afraid they'll get an upper respiratory problem because of humidity from the spray. What do you think? Thanks again.
Cricket

Spray Black Knight on your guys and their substrate. Try not to get much on their head and take out the water bowl before you spray. This stuff will cure your mite problem almost instantly.

Thank you crotalus75. I've got some ordered, but it hasn't came in yet. Noone close to me carries it, so I had to have it shipped. I usually don't have any problem eradicating the little F'ers, but this is the first time I've ever experienced mites on a venomous desert species(or anything venomous). Not really a lesson I was wanting to learn, but they got 'em, & I gotta get rid of 'em. Any & all suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you again.
Cricket

Sorry crotalus75. I forgot to mention that I don't keep a water bowl in with them. I only offer a water bowl twice a week, and I only leave it in with them for about 3-4 hours at a time. Just thought I'd let you know.
Cricket

Were they reclassified? I thought there weren't any subspecies currently. Which part of the range do these come from?
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

These are from the Baldwin Wallace University. Collection location where the parents were wildcaught.(Dunzzat, Egypt)
I had never heard of Durissus either until I seen it written on the history sheet of my snakes. Your guess is as good as mine about this. I know for a fact that they are definitely Desert Horned Vipers, but the rest of the information I have on them may be questionable. I don't know who wrote the history sheet I received with my snakes. I bought them from Carolina Reptile Exchange. And no, he didn't charge me extra for the mites. He throwed them in for free.
Cricket

There is no such thing as Cerastes cerastes durissus, this is some sort of screw-up.

Here is the relevant part of the EMBL databse entry for Cerastes cerastes:

Subspecies:
Cerastes cerastes cerastes (LINNAEUS 1758)
Cerastes cerastes karlhartli SOCHUREK 1974
Cerastes cerastes mutila DOMERGUE 1901
Cerastes cerastes hoofieni WERNER & SIVAN in WERNER et al. 1999

Family:
Viperidae, Serpentes (snakes)

Distribution:
Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Israel, Sudan, Oman (fide Joger 1983).

hoofieni: SW corner of Arabian Peninsula (endemic). Terra typica: King Khalid Airbase, Saudi Arabia, (18°18'N, 42°44'E)

Comment:
Venomous! Reports from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen may represent C. gasperetti. The two subspecies Cerastes cerastes karlhartli and C. c. mutila are not even mentioned in WERNER et al. 1999. Both are synonymized with C. cerastes by MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999.
Cerastes cerastes hoofieni was named after Mr. Jacob Haim Hoofien (1913-1997) who studied Middle Eastern herpetology.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Wolfgang
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WW Home

Thank you for clearing that up. I don't know why they had it listed as such on their history sheet. Now I feel like an @ss for using it on the forum. I was going to leave the Durissus off on my first message, but decided to use it since it was written as Cerastes Cerastes Durissus. I tried to find Durissus info and came up with nothing.
Cricket

I understand, I've got a Cerastes c. and I didn't even know there WERE any subspecies. Except that I've seen gasperetti listed as a subspecies of cerastes a few times. Now I won't be happy until I know which one mine is!
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

Yeah, that's the way it is for me. The history sheet I got with mine has so much wrong info that it's basically useless. It even says that the female gives live birth, but from what I understand, she'll lay eggs. Anyway, I've seen lots of pictures on my pc with female cerastes cerastes and her clutch of eggs.
I tried to do a lot of research on this species before I made my purchase, but it appears that very little info on them is available. The best source that I've found so far is Chris Harpers page on Cerastes Captive Care. I can't find anything on breeding, gestation, or incubation. Thanks for your input.
Cricket

Yep, eggs! Of course, that only goes if yours has horns. If it doesn't, there's an offchance you have Cerastes vipera, which is a livebearer.
HomeGrownHerps has bred this species with a bunch of success, so they might be the ones to talk to. Other than that I've heard light cycling can be effective, although my male goes off feed during the winter indicating that he knows what time of year it is anyway. Temperature cycling might also be a good idea but of course you can't do anything like brumation. You're lucky to have a pair, I've been trying to find a healthy female and it's like pulling teeth. (So if you do manage to breed them, drop me a line!)
Husbandry is really easy... keep 'em warm (95f hot spot), dry, and on sand, and feed them mice. Mine likes to sleep next to rocks. He always sheds in one piece so humidity would not appear to be a concern.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

Thank you for the info. Mine is supposed to have the horns, but were lost during the stress of shipping. The guy at Carolina Reptile Exchange told me they'd grow back. I'm hoping that this is true. I called him & b!tched because they had no horns and were mite infested. I've finally got the mites taken care of.
If I look real close, I can see where the horns were. I'll let you know if they do start growing back. They are still very beautiful snakes, but I've always thought that the horns made them really cool to look at. They both eat good, which is a plus .
Cricket

The best way to combat mites is to use a combination of methods. The reptile relief is a great first step, but it tends to kill only the mites that are visible.

In addition, to the reptile relief, try Provent-a-Mite. It's very easy to use and is effective for one month.

I hope this helps...

VJ

Thank you for the info. I'm willing to try anything to eradicate the little bloodsuckers.
Cricket