Mites!!

[Gillian]

Hi all,
Upon taking my red tail out..I noticed tiny, barely discernable black and white specks, moving on him. Mites, correct?? Now, I have my millies sitting above him. My AGB's do have mites, but I was told these are symbiotic in nature, and harmless to other pets.

Did I just make my red tail ill?! Any suggestions? I've never had mites on any of my herps, so do not know how to treat them. Duncan is about 2 feet long.

Peace,
Gillian

 

[BigSam]

Mites!!

Hi Gillian,
Remember my ball python had mites about two weeks ago? We washed my snake in mineral oil and they went away. Keep washing him in mineral oil for about a week. In the mean while clear out all his subtrate. The reason you do this is because the mites are living in his subtrate and have probably laid eggs in there! Put down a towel or paper towels in his cage. Wash the cage with clorox and hot water. If you have any thing else inside there wash that with mineral oil and then wash it with clorox and hot water. Let every thing air out for about an hour to be safe. Remember to change the paper towels so the mites can't make homes in there too. You can also try some stuff called mite-away this stuff works really well. You spray mite-away in his cage and let that air so the fumes don't kill your red tail boa. Whatever you do DON'T spray the actuall snake with it, it could kill him. Good luck!!

 

[Code Monkey]

I can't remember what it was called, it's been too long, but what I used to use was a mite/tick powder that I would sprinkle under newspaper or papertowels as the only substrate and it would always clear things up after not too many days.

 

[Wade]

Be very, very careful using any chemicals like the anti-mite sprays if you have arthropods (or even insect-eating lizards) in the same room. I certainly wouldn't chance it! If you can move the snake to a different area during treatment, products such as "provent-a-mite" have been shown to be effective and easy. Again, though, the snake should be as far removed from all your inverts as possible and not returned until well after treatment ends. The mineral oil idea is a good one and I've also used that method with success. It's a little labor intensive, however, since you have to keep retreating and re-disinfecting over and over to "break the cycle". The advantage is that it's not going to harm other animals in the same room.

Some have also used talcum powder which dessicates the mites, but I can't personally vouch for that method.

Wade

 

[Devildoll]

Provent a mite or reptile relief have both worked for me. just follow the directions very carefully and keep it away from your inverts.

Hope those mites didn't come from my place... i haven't seen any on my other animals, so i kind of doubt it.... but sorry if they did.

before you treat the snake itself, soak it in a warm tub of water for a couple hours....
submerging mites in water kills them too....

i usually soak all my new snakes and then use the reptile relief on the animal. i use a q-tip soaked in it to rub down the head area.

good luck....

oh, pest strips work too.... if you need info on them, email or call me.... you just have to be careful w/ that method.

 

[atavuss]

Gillian, the last time I had one of my snakes get mites I used a spray that zoo-med or some such herp company makes. it was in a plastic squirt bottle and it was blue in color, supposed to be harmless to any herps. I isolated the snake in a small opaque sterilite container with a lot of ventilation holes. I had only a small water dish and paper towel for substrate. I had an extra of the container and I would switch the snake between the two, the used container was washed with a mild bleach solution after each use. I threw away all the old substrate from its old enclosure and washed the enclosure in a mild bleach solution. after about one or two weeks of the above I was able to rid of all mites and have not had any for several years now. I am very careful with any new herps and isolate them for at least 30 and preferably 60 days to check for parasites before putting them in my main herp/invert room.
Ed