Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, i recently noticed my albinio burm has mites, and i needed some suggestions on how to rid my snake of these bugs? any suggestions will be greatly appreciated
Thank you
Mike

Seriously, what the hell is up with mites and burmese pythons?????? Just a theoratical question. In reality, 2 months ago I noticed a few mites and a few ticks on my baby albino. It was mite free until I moved it into an old wooden cage where these parasites were hidding. The key to this problem is: Don't panic. This is not the worse that can happen. What i did was:

1. Remove everything from the cage, either throw it away or soak it in boiling water full of bleach.
2. If the cage is wooden, its a loss b/c mites will be hard to rid of completly. They tend to find deep niches to hide in. Nevertheless, fill it up with ot water and bleach and let it stay like that for at least a day or 2.
3. Go and buy flea/tick killer powder for dogs in a petshop. Dust the entire cage with this powder. Cover every niche and every damn crack in your cage, If the cage is an aquarium, its your luck. Let it stay covered in this flea killing powder for another day or 2.
4. (actually do this step even before you start cleaning your cage)Fill up a small bucket with warm/hot water of around 90 degrees F, dissolve it with soap and add a few teaspoons of bleach to this solution. Take your infested snake and soak it in this solution. Leave the snake in it for at least 1.5 to 2 hours. Remove the snake than, check its body for mites and ticks. If they are still present (some will be, yet most of the ones present will be dead), start removing every tick or mite that you can detect with tweezers. Once you removed most of them, place the snake into a different cage. Quarantee the snake for at least a week or two in that cage. Do not put anything in the cage except water and a hide box. (use a useless shoebox). Throughout this time keep checking the snake for mites. remove any ticks or mites that you see. Also buy a reprile product called "De flea" reptile relief. Spray your snake once a day with it. It kills mites and ticks on contact.

Its all a pain in the ass, but it worked for me. Hope it helps.

Proventamite when used in accordance with the directions is about the best item out there to stop mites. Also, I strongly recommend visiting Dave and Tracey Barkers website, vpi.com, and read the article, "the war on mites." It is full of great information on various methods to eradicate these pests.
One thing I forgot to say at the beginning is where did your snake get the mites. If it is a new snake to you then ok, he got it from whereever you got him from, but if you have had him for any duration of time you need to figure out how he got them and fix the source not the symptom. Hope this helps, Todd

Hi All,
Todd is right proventamite is the best i used they where dead in 2 days and i spray once every 60 days to keep them away . i dont seem to get mite once i went with F/T rats.