Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just got home from being gone for a week and half at my grandmas funeral. I then notice little black dots crawling on my new red tail boa. So I took her out and soaked her warm dish soapy water while she was bathing everything was removed from her cage and cleaned in hot antibacteral water. I noticed some fecal material stuck inside of her hide. this was removed and the area thourghly scrubbed. Her cage was also cleaned with disinfectant followed by windex. Is there anything else i should do. Please help.

chris

Ease up on the cleaning fluids... even slight remnants of some of these chemicals can be hazardous to your animals health.

Most herpers use a diluted bleach solution to clean/disinfect..
something like 2-3% Bleach, the rest water.

There are several cleaning products available too, such as Viroscan..

There are several Mite Eradication Products out there, with my all time favorite being Black Knight, which I believe is no longer available.
Next best would probably be Provent-A-Mite. (Try Pro-Exotics website)

Many herpers preventively treat all animals coming in and going out of their facilities these days, as do I.. this seems to be a very safe a secure way to reduce chances of Mites in your home.

Keep in mind, Mites lay eggs which hatch in about 4 days or so.. so even though they may be gone now, the next wave is just about due..
Remember they can be hiding in edges, seams, cracks, crevices, wood, toys, substrate, carpet and more... favorite spot being deep under your snakes scales and eventually around his eyes.

A Treatment should always be repeated 2-3 times several days after initial breakout.

Take care - Joe
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Thanks and take care - Joe Rollo
'Tis not the stongest of the species that will eventually survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change' Charles Darwin

Joe is dead on with the mite treatment, preventative treatment is the best option but Black Knight or Provent-A-Mite are the best for obliterating the little devils.

He's also right on the chemical count. Early on I used Windex with my first boa's tank and he started acting odd - like he couldn't control his movements. Even though I didn't think the odor would bother him, it certainly did. I had also tried something like 409 which someone had told me was safe to use, same results. These days I use either a mild bleach & water solution or antibacterial dish soap - both rinsed well after cleaning - and have had no further problems.

Best of luck with the mite war. We've all been there.

Raven

Get provet a mite. Andy
Link

If you want to use provent a mite go for it.I wont touch the stuff.You can buy a can of sevin dust 5% for around 7-9 bucks.Give your snake a bath,then dry, then apply the sevin dust with your hands all over your snake.The mites will be dead within minutes.After you clean and disenfect the cage sprinkle a little sevin dust around the outside top edges , under and around your cage.Any mites comming back for a snack are dead in there tracks.You will only need to leave your boa dusted for a few minutes then wash it off.Ive used sevin dust for over 20 years without a single problem.It works short and long term.
I would use a single layer of newpaper as substrate with just a small amount of sevin underneath it.I do this for 3 days in the tank then i keep the outside dusted around it for a couple of weeks.This has worked 100% for me.You can find sevin dust in any garden center.I have never heard of it harming any reptile,period....Paul