Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Please help me,

Just had to move back to my parents and im in the basement (fiance called it off) and i got the ball python in the split anyway he's a little guy but she bought him from a place i was not to happy with and he has mites really bad i got the zoo med mite off stuff and sprayed him and the cage yesterday i know it takes time but really want to help him some one told me to clean the whole cage w/ a 10% bleah water mix will that work

plus the cage is only 10 gallon and i have to run a 100w day and a 60 watt red all the time to keep it at 81 ish the basement is kinda cold and the tank is on a cement slab (old fireplace mantel)

last question last i fed him he ate a live good size mouse and i just tried to today with a frozen he ate it but it was small and would not go for anymore

can anyone please help me never been faced with these problems in the past my corn always ate good and was always heathy any advice would be great as well as sugestion for a good cage size for him as an adult money is tight now so i only want to buy/build it once just don't know how big thank you

-John

I don't know if this is good for the snake or not but I used to work at a reptile shop and they would use Nix. It is the stuff people use for head lice. I have never used it on any of my animals (I have never had a problem with mites), but at the pet store they used it and it worked unbelievibly well and almost immediatly. They would just wipe it on the snake, let sit for a few minutes, and wash off. Then clean the cage with bleach. None of the snakes ever showed any ill effects. I would definitely wait for more responses because I really have no idea if this is totally safe. I will admit, I don't know if I would do it to one of my animals except as a last resort.

I have had excellent results with this product. Just be sure and use it exactly as the directions indicate and be sure that the cage is aired out and dry before

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/entirelypets/proventamite.html

Good luck, Christy

is Reptile Relief by Natural Chemistry. It's a little more expensive, but can be purchased at Petsmart or Petco. It kills the mites on contact and is designed to be safe for reptiles. You can use it on the animal and in the enclosure.
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Larry Walker

If you have access to any expanded polyethylene, you could put it under the cage to stop some of the heat from being lost through the concrete floor. Expanded polyethylene is a sheet insulation that they put in some parts of houses now. You can get it at Home Depot, but if money is tight, you might see whether you can beg a few sheets somewhere. If you can't get the polyethylene, you might look for corrugated plastic stuff that they use to make political and other yard signs. If you live in New Jersey or Virginia, you can probably find some signs lying around from the recent campaign. In other states, you might look for real estate signs that have been discarded. Any of them would provide pretty good insulation between the tank and the concrete. At a last resort, you could use cardboard.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

Or good old fashioned cheap ugly styrofoam.
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Find a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life -Confucious
3.20 ball pythons
1.1 dumeril boas
0.0.1 pixie frog
1.1 dogs
0.2 cats
more fish than I can list.

You can also get a medication called ivermectin from a vet and mix it with water at a ratio of 10 milligrams liquid ivermectin into 1 quart of water. You can spray this on the snake and clean the cage with this. You will also want to keep the snake in a easily cleaned enviroment such as paper towel or newspaper for the bedding, remove any decorations that you may have, except for the water bowl and hide. Any used bedding should be thown out, and all decorations throughly cleaned/soaked. I usually treat every 2-3 days and clean cage and water dish more often. Sometimes once is enough other times it takes 3 or 4 treatments, it depends on how severly infected the snake is. The most important factor is keeping everthing clean and to prevent reinfestation by not reusing the bedding or putting infested decorations back in. If you still have your corn snake you will want to watch it for signs of mites (check the water bowl to see if any are drowned at the bottom) and maybe if not move it into another room to prevent the mites from traveling to it. You can also spry the solution on your stone mantle if you think it is a bad infestation. As far as your snake not eating it may have a decreased appitite due to the mites. Think I about covered everything if not someone will point it out. Good luck.

Thanks, Jay
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Find a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life -Confucious
3.20 ball pythons
1.1 dumeril boas
0.0.1 pixie frog
1.1 dogs
0.2 cats
more fish than I can list.

You should be able to get the ivermectin at almost any vet it is not herp/reptile specific. If you need something to help convince your dog vet who dislikes snakes you could try to bring in a book that shows that as a treatmentI know that Kathy Loves "corn snakes a comprehensive guide" has it on page 123 and also the ball python book and red tail boa books by AVS advanced vivarium systems also have it listed as a treatment. Hope this helps. Any more questions just ask.

Jay
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Find a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life -Confucious
3.20 ball pythons
1.1 dumeril boas
0.0.1 pixie frog
1.1 dogs
0.2 cats
more fish than I can list.