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I know this is the burm post but I figure all mites are the same. I've had my rtb for four years and have never had mite problems before, but when I woke up my boa was soaking in his water and I noticed little red mites on his head and one black one. I know that I need mite spray, but my question is why did they appear all of the sudden? Is there something that attracts them or is it just inevitable that they get them.Another question is do the mites damage the snake, and can they spread to my snakes on the other end of the house (I wash my hands before I handle each snake)? Should I spray my other snakes even though they don't have mites? Oh and should I take him to the vet and get him checked out? Sorry for all the questions in one post,but like I said I've had to deal with mites and I don't want to lose my snakes. Thanx

I have delt with mites and believe you me they are no fun.What I use is proventimite and what I do is take the snake out and treat the cage. then I spray the snake down with de flea reptile relief you can spray it right on the snake and it kills the mites on contact.and if you got one you got more when I got mites I treated my whole collection just to be safe.

Are they going to kill my snake,and if so how long do I have to get rid of them before damage is done? Please help I really don't want to lose my snake.

The biggest problem with mites is the fact that by moving from animal to animal they carry disease- just like fleas carried the bubonic plague. They will travel on you on your clothes, even though you wash your hands and can cover a fair distance on their own as well. So you have to treat all your snakes and cages. Mites can debilitate a snake over time, depending on the degree of infestation and will irritate the snakes skin which may keep it from feeding. The snake will also soak and shed repeatedly trying to remove the mites on it. I've seen some pretty rough looking snakes with mites so you want to treat it now, before the next batch of mites hatches.

My favorite mite treatment, Black Knight, is no longer on the market, but I've heard of good results with provent-a-mite. Soaking the snakes to drown some of the mites and cleaning out the cages and anything in the cages with a mild bleach solution will help while you get some mite treatment. You'll need to repeat the procedure a couple of times over the course of a few weeks to make sure you kill any new hatched mites and eggs.
Check out VPIs War on Mites for all the details.

http://www.vpi.com/9VPITipsAndTechs/TheWarAgainstSnakeMites/TheWarAgainstSnakeMites.htm

BTW- the last episode of mites in my collection were carried in from live feeders purchased from a pet store that had mites in their reptile room.
Good luck getting rid of them- Mites suck!
Lora

I took a different approach. First, I didn't treat my other snakes, and they are in the same room, since I caught the infestation early on. First, clean out his entire cage with a bleach solution. Most say 5%, I don't know how to use that I just used a cup of bleach and lots of water. Lots.

After I have his cage clean I put new substarte in. Oh, all that in the cage also went in the solution unless its something that can be bleached like cloth, that I used really hot water on. So anyway, new cage setup. I put Sevin dust 5% (called Sevin-Five) lining the top of the cage. If anything wants to get out or go in it dies. Also, I threw a small amount into the substrate and shook it all up like a tossing a salad. For fun.

While this is happening I have the snake sitting in tupperware of oil (Canola oil for us, but any natural type works). Have him sit in that for 15 minutes with his body submerged (oil just a little more than the width of his body). After 15 dry him off with a towel.

Also, anywhere he touched I sprayed with bird mite spray I got at petco. When he was waiting he was in a big tupperware box with papertowel at the bottom. Those got burned, for fun.

To recap:
Oil
Sevin 5%
Voodoo

What can I say about mites??? There no fun at all!!! They are blood suckers and can get your snake very sick.

I have a big collection of snakes and it seems that no matter what I do my snakes get mites every year. What I have found that works really good is NIX lice treatment. Mix one bottle of NIX to a gallon of water and spray everything with it including your snake. Make sure to take away the water bowl for a couple of days. And mites hatch in cycles so spray today then 3 days from now then 7 days and 21 days. Don't forget mites like the eyes and under the chin. This will get rid of them but still spray the cage when cleaning.