Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently obtained a 3 year old tangerine honduran and he is covered in mites. I tried Zoo Med's Mite off but it did not work, any Ideas of what can get rid of them fast.

check out www.vpi.com. also need to treat her enviroment as well as the snake. i used provent-0-mite when my python had mites. i tore apart her entire cage. threw out some of her cork bark, substrate. washed it well and sprayed it with prevent o mite. all the while i soaked my python in cooking oil, water won't get under the scales, to drown the mites that were on her. worked well for me. haven't seen any since last nov when i purchased her.
i've never used anything else so i'm sure there must be easier ways. this is just what i did. if you haven't already and you have other reptiles....get the new one as far away as possible to prevent the mites from spredding.

NIX. Sold in pharmacy stores. One ounce per qt. of water or less for small treatment. Remove water dish for 15 min. and give entire cage a light spritz, incl. the snake. Replace water dish and you'll never see mites again.

MIke

I am by no means a expret in this area but when I was little I kept boas that always got mites. One of my dads best friends is a oldschool herpetologist who told me his tryed and true method for eliminating mites goes as followes....... 50% mineral oil 50% everclear. Mix the two together in a bowl soak a small hand towel in it and rub the snake down genersouly avoiding the mouth and eyes as much as possible. Let the snake sit for a hour, then wipe down. Also remove and clean anything in the cage as well as the cage itself. I have used this method for years now and it works like a charm. Using ANY pesticides in my opinion is extremely dangerous. The everclear kills the mites, and the mineral oil keeps the skin from drying out. Just curious if anyone else out there has heard of this before?

Wayne Sanders

This is what I have used and it worked like a charm.
Dog shampoo that has .01% permethrin.

First you will need to shampoo the snake and let it set on the snake for just a couple of minutes. Rinse it off and place it into a clean container. Then you should get rid of all the bedding, out of the house!!! Best to move the snakes enclosure outside if you can to clean it. Dont want any stray mites roaming around to infest the rest of your collection if you do have any more. Once the bedding is removed from the enclosure, you can use the shampoo to clean it as well. Make sure you totally dry it and line the bottom with newspaper. This will let you see if you have any more mites. Place the snake back into the enclosure with a water bowl and hide. Make sure you clean these as well.

The next day you should see dead mites that have fallen off the snake. Wash out the enclosure again, replacing the newspaper with fresh. You may have to do this a few times, and any dead mites still stuck to the snake will come off with the next shed.

A tell tale sign that your snake is no longer infested with live mites, is that he will not be soaking so much in his water bowl! And you probably will see a bunch of dead mites in his enclosure for a few days after the treatment. Just make sure that none of the mites in the cage are moving.

The type of shampoo I use is Sergeants with oatmeal. Kills fleas and ticks. Mites are related to ticks, and it kills them very quickly!!!

Hope this helps.
Brian
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RATS
1.0 Corn snake "Warpath" (KY locale)
1.0 Black rat snake "Havok" (KY locale)
1.1 Black rat snakes "Reaper and Mystique" (MO locale)
1.0 Albino Black rat snake "Malakai" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Everglades rat snake "Deadpool" (Dwight Good stock)
0.1 Greenish rat snake "Rogue" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Yellow rat snake "Wolverine" (Dwight Good stock)
1.0 Grey rat snake "Punisher" (White oak phase)(Dwight Good stock)

MILKS
0.0.1 Eastern Milk snake "Cable" (KY locale)
0.0.1 Eastern/Red milk intergrade "Omega Red" (KY locale)
Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian