Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live in a dorm and I have a Colombian red tail in a rubbermaid. She has had mite about 5 times since school has started. I always throw away all the bedding and I spray her and the entire enclosure with a Nix(lice medicine) solution that someone told me about. I don't have anywhere around here to get mite spray so I am using this. Now I am moving out of the dorm in less than a month. These are my questions. I have a large rubbermaid full of extra bedding in the same room, do you think the mites are in there? I am also wondering is there a better type of spray I can make that I can do without having actual mite spray? The last one is do you think that when I move out this problem will go away?
Thanks

Yup.Im positive I can fix your mite issue for less then $10,but many on here get their feathers ruffled because I dont use ProVent.
Drop me a line if your interested ?

sslone_star@yahoo.com
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Money Only Wished It Had The Control Over The World That FEAR Does !

hey there!
i just mentioned that i would post my mite advice, so here is the perfect opportunity to do it:

it's a good thing you are moving out of the dorm so then you can start fresh. i would throw the bedding out for sure. i know it is a $ concern but it is less of a hassle and worth it in the long run.

scrub the cage good and spray the inside with Provent a Mite. let it sit a while before rinsing and drying. use only paper towels when treating for mites that way you can see if they are really gone or not. sprinkle a small amount of Sevin-5 dust on the bottom of the cage before laying down a layer of paper towels. keep the set-up VERY basic with just a water dish and some extra paper towels for your snake to hide under. in the meantime, you can soak/sterilize the regular cage furnishings and then spray them with Provent a Mite as a pre-caution. store them in a mite-free box until your snake is pest free.

your snake should be soaked in plain, warm water for 20 minutes and then placed under a running faucet to flush out any lodged mites, or mites that are hanging out by his eyes. take a q-tip and dab a bit of petro. jelly around the eyes, vent and any folds of skin to kill mites living in these hard to reach places. then, spray your hands with a mite-killing solution and rub all over the snakes body, taking care around the nose and mouth. i have used Frontline spray in small amounts without any ill effects and it is very effective in breaking the mite life cycle. i may get some heat for that, so use your best judgement. my herp vet is a well-known, trusted vet, and he recommends it as a one-time method of killing those lil' buggers. and btw, pyrethin is NOT an ingredient found in Frontline. wait at least a day before putting the snake's water dish back in the cage. once your snake is in his sterile cage, change those paper towels frequently and spray around the cage with some more Provent a Mite. make sure there is good ventilation.

i was able to eradicate a bout of mites in this manner. again, use common sense and good judgement - wash your hands and make sure your snake is far away from any other herps. i know this can be difficult in college, so that means across the room with a ring of Provent-a-Mite around the cage.

hope this helps!
good luck!
nikki

your question about sprays. you should order these on the net because they are good to have around. you can have them delivered and they really will be the most effective, in my opinion. you can buy Sevin-5 and petro jelly at any Target or Sav-On, and those can pretty much be all you use if you can't order the other stuff online. Sevin-5 has not been known to harm snakes and can be applied directly to the snake.

Huge response,so I`ll post it here instead of typeing 17 replies.

REPEL Permanone* sold at WalMarts $7.00
Generic Cooking oil $1.75

Remove snake and spray exsisting area to kill whats in the cage before removing sub etc.Let stand for a few minutes then totally clean out the cage(wash down)While waiting on the cage to air out coat the entire snake with cooking oil,careful not to over do it around the vents but get the eye area well coated.
Go ahead and slick`em up good !It chokes out the mites that are stuck to the snake.
Litely spray cage floor,up the corners and around the top edges,key word "litely"
Replace substrate and then spray the top layer completely(litely) give it a stir and litely spray it again.Let it air out at least 30 minutes.Spray the carpet/floor around the cage as an extra measure.
Replace water,hides etc and snake.

YOU MUST SPRAY THE INSIDE OF THE CAGE AGAIN WITHIN 11 DAYS !!
No need to reclean or anything like that.Just remove the snake and water dish and give it a good spray,dont miss the corners,edges etc. Close it up and let it stand for 30 minutes,then air it out for another 30 minutes.
Replace snake and water. Your mite free.
Repel has a residual killing effect that last for 2 weeks unlike
ProVent.

**** DO NOT SPRAY Repel* DIRECTLY ON THE SNAKE !!!****
User assumes all Responsabilty when useing this product,if done with a measure of common sense it is very effective in completely wipeing out a mite infestation with-in 3 weeks or less for less then $10.
"A Little Goes A LONG WAY" so use it sparingly"
One 6oz can will easily do FOUR 4 foot cages completely.
ProVent CANT !
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Money Only Wished It Had The Control Over The World That FEAR Does !

This is poor advice in my opinion,and,completely uneccessary!A snake's skin & scales need to "breathe",and,any type of "oil" applied to the surface prevents this from happening! it may kill mites,but,it can cause skin problems that may take months to rectify,and,could lead to other complications,(recurring,premature ecdysis,"shredding" & sticking of the sloughed skin,including the eye caps.)...I would steadfastly AVOID application of any "oil",or,chemical directly to the snake itself...the objective is to erradicate the mites,not,cause more problems in the process...just my experienced opinion!(YMMV)

Tell the folks at UTA and Texas A&M your opinions,seems they know a thing or two about keeping snakes and large reptiles and they highly recommend vegetable cooking oil to safely and completely remove mites from zoo stock reptiles. I myself have had great results as have others that have tried this method/substance.Granted continued applications on a daily basis for a long term period might well induce such negitives as you described. BUT a one time application of oil preceeding the application of Repel to a cage WILL NOT HARM A SNAKE !! otherwise there would be litterally "thousands" afflicted in years past.

>>This is poor advice in my opinion,and,completely uneccessary!A snake's skin & scales need to "breathe",and,any type of "oil" applied to the surface prevents this from happening! it may kill mites,but,it can cause skin problems that may take months to rectify,and,could lead to other complications,(recurring,premature ecdysis,"shredding" & sticking of the sloughed skin,including the eye caps.)...I would steadfastly AVOID application of any "oil",or,chemical directly to the snake itself...the objective is to erradicate the mites,not,cause more problems in the process...just my experienced opinion!(YMMV)
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Money Only Wished It Had The Control Over The World That FEAR Does !

sslonestar on this one . i have only had one problem with mites and that snake was kept in quarantine from the rest of my stock for over 2 months just to make sure that that didnt transfer to any of my healthy snakes.. and when i called a few oldtimers in this hobby they suggested the cooking oil as well as a "ONE TIME APPLICATION" like sslonestar described. i agree that longterm applications and so forth will do harm in the long run but thats not what he is reccomending from what ive read. the serpant i tried this on i left the oil on for only about 2 days .. and then cleaned her off and her cage , leaving her in quarantine for another couple of months and shes probably the healthiest snake in my collection of 12 snakes now . just speaking from my own experience and from the advice i got from some old time experienced and succesfull herpers.. hope this helps
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NO BEAUTY LIKE THE BEAUTY OF A TRUE REDTAIL !!

Of the population that you can't "tell anything",I wouldn't be surprised if there were a considerable concentration of them at Texas A&M (*lol*)...I would consider the negative effects of "vegetable based oils" to be somewhat "short term",(after a period of time the shed cycles will usually return to "normal".)whereas,by contrast the use of "petroleum based" substances could have negative unforeseen,long term effects. Anyone can,of course,use anything they convince themselves is "OK" to use on their snakes,however,as I clearly stated above,I believe it to be poor advice,would NOT recommend it,because it is not NECCESSARY,and,I have SEEN it cause the problems I described above.if you "want to" use it anyway,you "can".

You can order it from Scales n Tails......It is in a pump bottle and is non-toxic and can be sprayed on the snake and the habitat (water removed. Remember you MUST repeat treatments weekly for 3 weeks to catch hatchlings as they emerge. I also recommend you NOT use reptibark as bedding as i have found mites in it. I personnally use newspaper only for my large boas and aspen bedding for the rosy boas. Hope this helps. susan