Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The bait...

Been cruising this forum for a while and browsing around made me want to get a dums for myself. Finally got to bring Olive home about three weeks ago, and I'm really excited to have her.

The switch...

Unfortunately, Olive recently got mites from (I believe) being in proximity to the mice I fed Clementine, my ball. I discovered this fact after noticing that Clem hadn't left her hides in quite a while and was soaking-which she never does-in the morning-when she's never out. I took her out last night bc she was finally out of her hide at a normal time, and found that by soaking she had managed to kill dozens of mites of all sizes which were floating in her water dish. I immediately checked Olive and found a couple big ones on her too.

I gave both of them baths yesterday, took out the substrates and cleaned both enclosures, and put them back in with newspaper this time.

I'll be getting Provent-a-Mite tonight and misting both enclosures. I also removed the extra substrate bags from the ladies' bedroom and will continue using newspaper until I'm confident the varmints have been eradicated.

Is there anything else I should be doing to clear up the issue? I didn't find any mites in the extra bedding, so is that safe to use after spraying and/or quarantining?

Thanks!

Gabe

Crap,I hate,hate those things.Friends gave me a beautiful juvinile pink-pink ceylonese python-it had em-and I didn't know it,so I thought it would be fine to go to vegas for a few days.Even though the snake had a large ( big enuf to soak in)water bowl-he was dead as a hammer when I returned,and covered with those things.Snakes are like fish in that they have very little blood to begin with so mites can kill them in short order.That was years ago,more reciently I got a few on some mail-order candoia.Even-tho I had them seperated,mites still spread(crawled really far)to other tanks.I got rid of them in a few weeks just by washing the animals and tanks with dawn(tanks with toilet paper and flushing it)and over feeding-so they would shed sooner-the best cure.I dont know about poison-never used it,but if your animals have some size to them-get some.The mites mice have are not the same thing as snake mites.They most likely arrived on your new snake(Olive)Toss everything you can and wash surrounding areas-they can travle-Be glad you found them early.jenni/

I am pretty sure snakes can't get mites from rodents, so my guess is that your snake had them when you got it (just in low enough numbers they were hard to detect).

It sounds like you are doing what is needed. Provent-a-mite is a great product. It take a little time before all the mites will be gone, but I have been using it for years and haven't seen mites since (unless they came in on a new animal). Just follow the directions on the bottle and you will be fine. You may also want to treat your other snakes as well just to be sure.

Mites MUST have a reptile host to live. That being said they can live away from a host for quite awhile and they travel pretty easy. You can get mites from countless different ways. The most common being on a new animal or bedding from a dirty pet store ect. Provent a mite is a good product. It is very expensive especially if treating a large collection. Good news is wal mart has an off brand called 'equate bedding spray' which is the same stuff. I have used it for years and i know a lot (20 ) keepers who used the off brand with no ill effects. The key is to treat your whole collection and treat every 2 weeks until the mites are gone. Do not spray it near your animal. Take out the animal and water bowl and spray the bedding and then let it fully dry and air out before introducing your animal. I have found natural chemistrys reptile relief to be effective. I always wipe down a new animal and its tub with reptile relief before quarantine and i havent had a mite in years.

Thanks, all, for the advice.

I've been using the Reptile Relief, as John suggested, mostly because it was accessible to me and I wanted to start treatment immediately. It seems to have done a pretty good job and the mites seem to have just about disappeared. I have been spraying every couple days as directed and have been sure to swap the newspaper regularly. Olive will have one or two on her occasionally, but nowhere near the numbers that were initially on Clem, who seems to be free of them.

Thanks again,

Gabe