Mites (snake owners please help )

[elliotulysses]

Arachnids are my first love, but I recently got into snakes. Luckily they are miteless, but I do want to give some preventative treatments. As all mite killers I know of kill arachnids what would be some good treatment options?

 

[Enn49]

Spray a sheet of newspaper with a product called Ardap (made by Quiko) or Provent-a-Mite. Do this in another well ventilated room away from Ts or outside if you can then leave it to dry until there is no smell left. Cut the paper into squares about 6" and place a piece in each of the snakes vivariums, somewhere where the snake goes regularly. This will protect your snakes for up to 6 weeks and be harmless to your Ts as long as they don't come into contact with it so be sure to wash your hands thoroughly between handling the snakes and Ts

 

[timisimaginary]

if your snakes are miteless, they are almost guaranteed to stay that way unless they are introduced to another infected animal. the best way to keep them that way is to follow strict quarantine procedures with any new acquisitions, to keep them apart from the uninfected animals. at least a month of quarantine to verify that the new animals are healthy and mite-free is needed.

after that, there is only a very slim chance of them getting mites elsewhere. sterilize any new bedding by freezing or baking it, sterilize any furnishings before they go in the cage, and there's virtually no chance of getting snake mites. these mites require a reptile for part of their lifecycle to survive and reproduce, so they can only come from another reptile or something that has recently been in the immediate vicinity of an infected reptile.

 

[Tongue Flicker]

It is rare to get harmful mites from captive-bred reptiles and usually happens with bad husbandry and contaminated stuff introduced inside the eclosure. I used to keep dozens of wild-caught snakes without having to worry about mites. Avoid leaving damp substrate for more than 12 hours as well unless it is an aquatic snake. Regular, routine cleanliness is suffice to keep things going without having to worry about those,

 

[telepatella]

Keep your T cages as dry as you can. Just a water dish. Get boluses out. There are predatory mites and other critters you can use to keep them at a minimum. I am successful with the first 3 of these.