One of my snakes came down with a case of mites, dont know exactly how, but probably from some bedding that was not purchased at my usual store. Anyways, I knew from some research that some people recommended using a diluted solution of frontline. Well that stuff is pretty strong and I didnt want to chance killing a snake. So I figured if that would kill mites (related to ticks), then so should flea and tick shampoo. It is not as strong as front line, so I figured it should be ok for my snake. I used the stuff on him twice, the second time 48 hours later. Sure enough, all mites are dead. There were still some that were stuck to him on the 2nd shampoo job, so I used a very soft bristle toothbrush to gently remove them. Didnt get all of them off, but they are dead. I have removed some of them with my fingernail, and dead they are. They should fall off with time and the rest will come off with his next shed.
Of course I still had to disenfect my whole rack system so the rest of the snakes wouldnt get them, but hey, a new solution to those pesky little critters that strike fear in the hearts of all herpers!!!
The shampoo I used was was "Sergeant's skip-flea and tick shampoo, with oatmeal" It only has .1% of Permethrin in it, and then that is further diluted once lathered up with water.
Hopefully that will help someone with mite problems. Alot of the stuff out on the market will not kill them, and the eggs are very hard to kill. So a thorough disenfecting of the cage is very important. And the cool thing about the shampoo, is it is supposed to keep working for up to 10 days.
So far everything looks good and the snake is showing no signs of being affected at all. I will keep everyone posted on it.
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1.0 Corn snake (KY locale)
1.0 Black rat snake (KY locale)
1.1 Black rat snakes (MO locale)
1.0 Eastern Yellow Belly racer (MO locale)
1.0 Albino Black rat snake (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Everglades rat snake (Dwight Good stock)
0.1 Yellow rat snake (Dwight Good stock)
1.1 California king snake (Coastal phase)
1.0 Prairie king snake (KY locale)
0.1 Black king snake (KY locale)
0.0.1 Eastern Milk snake (KY locale)
0.0.1 Eastern/Red milk intergrade (KY locale)
Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian
