What do you do to prevent mites?

[bamato]

So for some reason my two burmese pythons are extremely succeptible to mites. We'll treat them, and the mites go away for a month or two. Then they come back again out of nowhere. Yesterday we realized that our big male was so covered it mites that we couldn't pick him up without getting covered in mites. NEVER have we had an infestation this bad. So we've been soaking him off and on to drown the mites, treated his cage with provent-a-mite, and treated him with reptile relief spray.
So I have a few problems here. I'm worried the mite killer could potentially harm all my T's. They are in a seperate room from my snakes so I figured I'd be ok with proper ventilation. Am I ok?
How do you prevent mites effectively?
They cannot harm T's or ferrets correct? It's my understanding they only prey on reptiles.

This infest of mites was bad. We're pretty worried that our male might die. I have NEVER seen this many come this fast. Friday when we had him out he seemed fine. Then Sunday and BAM, out of nowhere there are thousands.

WHERE DO THESE THINGS COME FROM??!?!? I dont feed live prey.....

 

[hardlucktattoo]

What type of bedding do you use ?

 

[bamato]

What type of bedding do you use ?

Coconut shavings and reptibark. I think they came with the substrate. Not more than 6 days after I put the new bag of reptibark in the tanks did I end up with mites.....

 

[hardlucktattoo]

Coconut shavings and reptibark. I think they came with the substrate. Not more than 6 days after I put the new bag of reptibark in the tanks did I end up with mites.....

well then there is your answer change the bedding

 

[Shrike]

Changing the bedding will only be a temporary solution at best. The problem needs to be 100% eradicated or the mites will multiply again. While you are dealing with this problem I would recommend switching to a substrate that is easily changed, such as newspaper. Other substrates just make it to hard to spot mites and give them too many places to hide. Remove your snakes, gently wipe them down to remove as many mites as possible, and place them somewhere safe. Afterwards, thoroughly clean your enclosures and let them dry out. At any pharmacy you can buy sprays that are for killing head lice. You will notice that these sprays have the same active ingredients as the more expensive products marketed for reptiles. Provide a light coating of this product over the entire surface of your enclosure. Don't over do it, but be thorough. Allow the spray to dry completely and air out before refurnishing your enclosure (By the way, I would throw out the old furnishing and start fresh). Place your snakes back inside. I would offer water periodically under supervision while you are treating this problem, but would not leave the dish unattended. Burms like to soak, and some of the product could dissolve into the water and become ingested. After placing the snakes back in their enclosure, all the mites living on them will be killed very quickly. Wait 2-3 weeks to ensure that any eggs still in the enclosure will hatch and also die. Wash out your enclosure to remove the spray residue. You should be mite free at this point. Of course, this process can be repeated if need be. This solution can be very effective but must be undertaken with care because it involves the use of chemicals. Care must be taken that the snakes do not ingest the spray, and that the spray remains dry. Also, keep this stuff away from your T's. Good luck!

 

[bamato]

Changing the bedding will only be a temporary solution at best. The problem needs to be 100% eradicated or the mites will multiply again. While you are dealing with this problem I would recommend switching to a substrate that is easily changed, such as newspaper. Other substrates just make it to hard to spot mites and give them too many places to hide. Remove your snakes, gently wipe them down to remove as many mites as possible, and place them somewhere safe. Afterwards, thoroughly clean your enclosures and let them dry out. At any pharmacy you can buy sprays that are for killing head lice. You will notice that these sprays have the same active ingredients as the more expensive products marketed for reptiles. Provide a light coating of this product over the entire surface of your enclosure. Don't over do it, but be thorough. Allow the spray to dry completely and air out before refurnishing your enclosure (By the way, I would throw out the old furnishing and start fresh). Place your snakes back inside. I would offer water periodically under supervision while you are treating this problem, but would not leave the dish unattended. Burms like to soak, and some of the product could dissolve into the water and become ingested. After placing the snakes back in their enclosure, all the mites living on them will be killed very quickly. Wait 2-3 weeks to ensure that any eggs still in the enclosure will hatch and also die. Wash out your enclosure to remove the spray residue. You should be mite free at this point. Of course, this process can be repeated if need be. This solution can be very effective but must be undertaken with care because it involves the use of chemicals. Care must be taken that the snakes do not ingest the spray, and that the spray remains dry. Also, keep this stuff away from your T's. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice. It's nice to know there are other products out there aside from a 20 dollar bottle of proventamite that I can use.

My wife and I emptied the enclosure last night, substrate and all. We soaked him again for 2 hours to try to drown the majority of the mites. We treated the whole cage and sprayed a barrier in the doorway of the room the snakes are in so the mites dont spread to the room with the tortoise. We laid paper towels down for now as for some reason we have no newspaper.. lol. Hopefully we can kick the mite problem in a week by repeating this process once a day.

Once I run out of the expensive mite stuff I'll give the head lice spray a try.