Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well this morning I found a few mites on my new Albino Corn... well after spending all morning cleaning everything in the tank with a 10% bleach mixture I feel safe that it's all clean. I put the glass tank back to it's old spot, put the uth under it, layed down some paper towel... made a hide out of cardboard and put a very clean/disinfected water dish in. Then I began to treat my snake for the mites. I gave him a soapy bath, but he didn't like that so I took him out and let him swim in some fresh water. I used some Extra Virgin Olive Oil and covered his entire body with that, twice. Later on I took him to the vet and he gave me some mite treatment that is for cats and dogs. It's called: Revolution, it's a Selamectin Topical Soultion. Would this be safe to use on him?

Also, is there anything else I can do to help get rid of the mites and prevent them from coming back?

Thanks guys!

when my jungle carpet python had mites...I tore apart her entire cage. threw out the substrate and cork bark, I think I got the mites from the cork bark, cleaned the entire tank with bleach/water. Then sprayed down the whole tank with a product called Pre-vent-o mite. While doing all this I was 'soaking' my snake in cooking oil to drown the mites that were on her. Just water will not kill the mites. The oil will get between the scales and drown them. It worked like a charm. I just rinsed her down and picked off the mites I could fine. Also want to isolate your snake if you have others. I put her in a totally seperate room. Then when I got ready to set up her tank again I just used newspaper until her next shed and that I was sure possitive she had no more mites. I don't know if just using bleach/water will kill mite eggs. So far so good with mine!

I have never heard of putting Revolution on snakes so I would be careful with that...

I had great success treating mites last summer (came in on some live feeder mice from a local pet store) with Black Knight spray. I soaked all the snakes in separate tubs to relieve the irritation and drown some of the mites. While the snakes wer soaking I totally cleaned (with boiling water and soap) all cages and water dishes, used plain white paper towel for substrate and sprayed the cages, surrounding area and snakes lightly with BK. Added the water bowels back in after the spray dried and voila- no mites. I repeated the treatment twice more (over a couple of weeks) to make sure I killed any hidden hatching eggs just to be sure.
Check out the vpi.com site under "the war on mites" for some good alternative treatments. I wouldn't recommend mixing various chemical treatments as they may cause neurological damage in a combined dose.
Lora

well.. I think I got them ... now the waiting begins... i'm really suprised at how well this little guy is holding up (the stress of the new home.. the treatment.. not to mention the little blood suckers)... And after all that he actually ate something (2nd day home!). I soaked him for about half an hour in soapy water (after a few times in a bath of Extra Virgin Olive Oil) and then afterwards I looked him over very carefully for mites, I think there may be one inside eye socket.. kinda.. well it might not be a mite, I'll have to see if it gets any bigger, if it does i will try to remove it. with some gental rubbing I got some of the leftover mites off of him (they where already dead...) So now he is in a freshly cleaned tank (10% bleach solution) with a top of a cereal box with a hole cut out for a door and a water dish with no crevases for mites to hide (he's on paper towel) I hope this is the last of those darn mites!

I agree with the post about Black Knight. I used it when I had an infestation. It worked great. I was going to try the olive oil, and even went as far as buying a bottle. After more research I decided to go the other way. Mites are nothing to play around with. You can't over react. Keep them on paper towells for a while and react at the first sign of eggs hatching.
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1,0 snow
1,0 amel

1,0 aney stripe motley
0,1 normal
0,1 anery
0,1 motley
1,1 oketee
1,1 tx rat
4,4 ball python
1,1 dumerils boa
1,0 columbian red tail boa
1,1 green iguana
1,0 leopard gecko
1,3 dogs
freezer full of mice & rats

Soaking and cleaning the tank and accessories probably will not stop the mite infestation. The nits are hard to remove by cleaning, and it only takes one female mite leftover to start trouble all over again. They can get out of the tank and then back in, so you really need something with a residual effect. Olive oil will only kill the mites on the snake at the time of treatment (similar to when a snake with mites soaks in it's water dish) and I've heard of it hurting snakes. You wouldn't want to get it in the nose especially, but those areas are where the mites like to hide and will go to, instead of drowning.

Black knight roach killer and nix both work and are safe, if you do a search on google you will find all the info you need to use these. Using these, you will not have to worry about mites in the ocular scales, soaking, re-bleaching the tank, etc. Someone mentioned it's hard to overreact with mites - this is true; you really do have to be aggressive in your treatment to kill them all.. around and inside the enclosure. Especially if you have other snakes.. they must all be treated.

Good luck.