Wife's snake has mites! Insecticide alternatives that are safe around my T's?

[Nolimit2far]

Wife just discovered that her baby ball python has mites! We just went to all the local pet stores and milked the employees for information today. None of them carried anything we were particularly fond of 'trying' on the blind.

After searching online we discovered that provent-a-mite has great effects on mites, but also has great effects on T's too. So we aren't even entertaining this idea as I love my T's. They are in the same room and relocation is not really an option unfortunately.

Right now, she has resorted to newspaper bedding with daily bleach cleanings of the tank, and daily lukewarm "palm olive" baths. It is hard to do anything around the ball's face though... so it is only so effective. . .

It looks like Nature Zone's Benson & Son Snake Oil is a strong contender against mites. Anybody had any experience with this stuff? Is it any safer around T's? We haven't ordered it yet, and anxious for any helpful input!! Can snake mites affect T's???

Thanks,

 

[Realevil1]

Move snake to another room asap. And consult Herp forum about using NIX.

 

[Realevil1]

Your sure they are snake mites? If you pop them is there blood?
If not then cleaning and sterilizing everything is the only solution.

If yes you pop a mite and there is blood that is snake mites and you will need to treat it with solutions of water and NIX or other mite focused products.

 

[magicmed]

Natural chemistry reptile relief mite spray. this stuff flat out WORKS. I took in my ball python a few years ago and he was covered in mites. looked up this stuff and you can use it on the enclosure and the reptile. I used it on the young ball python, giving him a "spray bath" with the spray and rubbing it in with my hands. killed all substrate, sprayed the tank very well and let it sit, soaked the decor with the spray. thousands of mites fell off the snake and it's enclosure. anyway, after washing everything out after that with water, I have not seen a single mite in years. I don't know if it would be safe for use on T's, but it's perfectly safe for the snake. I believe it's just clove, linseed oil, and one other ingredient I can't remember.

 

[Nolimit2far]

Your sure they are snake mites? If you pop them is there blood?
If not then cleaning and sterilizing everything is the only solution.

If yes you pop a mite and there is blood that is snake mites and you will need to treat it with solutions of water and NIX or other mite focused products.

She found a single mite crawling on the snake. It was black, spherical, and about the size of a period. My primary concern and reason for asking the Tarantula guys... is I'm worried her Nix or Provent-A-Mite will just flat out kill my T's too. It is easy to read horror stories about using this stuff around T's and crickets... So we really want to find an alternate solution that is absolutely safe for my T's!

Thanks for the fast replies.

 

[magicmed]

She found a single mite crawling on the snake. It was black, spherical, and about the size of a period. My primary concern and reason for asking the Tarantula guys... is I'm worried her Nix or Provent-A-Mite will just flat out kill my T's too. It is easy to read horror stories about using this stuff around T's and crickets... So we really want to find an alternate solution that is absolutely safe for my T's!

Thanks for the fast replies.

Try @EulersK 's cricket test. Spray some near a cricket, wait a day, if the crickets alive, it's safe

 

[EulersK]

Spray some near a cricket, wait a day, if the crickets alive, it's safe

A handful of crickets Be sure to include a piece of vegetable for moisture as well, otherwise they'll just eat each other. I always use this on new batches of soil.

Although, in this case, it may not be the best of tests. Insects have a completely different response to pesticides than spiders do. There's a reason not all insecticides advertise killing arachnids - some are nearly harmless to a spider. At the same time, some pesticides are targeted at arachnids and wouldn't do as much harm to an insect. When we're talking about controlled substances, there isn't much of a safe test unfortunately.

Combine that with the fact that mites are arachnids and you may have a bad scenario. All speculation, of course.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Ah ah, love your avatar picture

I can't not suggest to you also an Italian old school hat, called 'cappellaccio', man. I have one, pure felt of rabbit inside, a la "Father Gascoigne" :-s

http://www.tabarroshop.com/accessori/27-cappellaccio.html

 

[Realevil1]

Like I said move the snake tank as far away as possible -> into a different room or into the basement even. Wash hands every time thoroughly, and use proper diluting instructions. Good luck.

 

[Bugmom]

She found a single mite crawling on the snake. It was black, spherical, and about the size of a period. My primary concern and reason for asking the Tarantula guys... is I'm worried her Nix or Provent-A-Mite will just flat out kill my T's too. It is easy to read horror stories about using this stuff around T's and crickets... So we really want to find an alternate solution that is absolutely safe for my T's!

Thanks for the fast replies.

I think y'all may be overreacting if she only found one mite, but if you want to treat it, I would suggest buying a plastic tub, putting some holes in it, and moving the snake to a different room. No bedding, just a hide and water dish. And a heating element, obviously, don't want a cold snake! You can treat the snake for mites and it won't affect your tarantulas so long as you wash your hands after doing anything with the snake.

 

[basin79]

Buy yourself some predatory mites. They'll kill and eat all the snake mites and then die off.

Failing that you could use the olive oil bath method for the snake.

Have a Google.


Edit. Realised I put by instead of buy.

 

[viper69]

Try @EulersK 's cricket test. Spray some near a cricket, wait a day, if the crickets alive, it's safe

Except mites are not insects. Mites are arachnids.

 

[viper69]

Wife just discovered that her baby ball python has mites! We just went to all the local pet stores and milked the employees for information today. None of them carried anything we were particularly fond of 'trying' on the blind.

After searching online we discovered that provent-a-mite has great effects on mites, but also has great effects on T's too. So we aren't even entertaining this idea as I love my T's. They are in the same room and relocation is not really an option unfortunately.

Right now, she has resorted to newspaper bedding with daily bleach cleanings of the tank, and daily lukewarm "palm olive" baths. It is hard to do anything around the ball's face though... so it is only so effective. . .

It looks like Nature Zone's Benson & Son Snake Oil is a strong contender against mites. Anybody had any experience with this stuff? Is it any safer around T's? We haven't ordered it yet, and anxious for any helpful input!! Can snake mites affect T's??? View attachment 223575

Thanks,

1. I would very reluctant to use a product that kills mites as mites are arachnids. I would contact the companies to see if they have tested their product on other arachnids. Bob Pound is the owner of Pro-Products up in NY state I believe.

2. I see you use a red light. I'm assuming either for heat or viewing at night, potentially both. If only for viewing at night, do yourself a favor and use a blue light. You will see your BP much easier. Blue LEDS are pretty easy and cheap to come by.

 

[viper69]

I think y'all may be overreacting if she only found one mite

I forget my snake mite life cycle, but if it's anything like a grain mite, one could have an explosion of mites literally over night.

 

[magicmed]

Except mites are not insects. Mites are arachnids. I would contact the companies to see if they have tested their product on other arachnids. Bob Pound is the owner of Pro-Products up in NY state I believe.

I did not knot that, very interesting. I've only ever had to deal with reptile mites on the ball python, and some nasty little "spidermites" on one of my plants a while back, man those things destroyed my plant..

All the same, I know the reptile relief works wonders on reptile mites, and it's pretty cheap. 5 or 6 bucks for the small bottle I believe. I would just take the snake and enclosure outside on the porch if it's a decent day, spray and bath the snake, soak the tank and wash it out (make sure to spray the underside of the overhanging plastic on top. anywhere there could be a single mite) the spray kills mites and eggs by drying them out. so just avoid direct spray to the face of the snake and don't leave it in the snake for more than 20 minutes or so. I basically just sprayed the snake, sprayed my hands, and handled for about 10 minutes, rubbing it in his scales to get the little hidden buggers.

 

[viper69]

I did not knot that, very interesting. I've only ever had to deal with reptile mites on the ball python, and some nasty little "spidermites" on one of my plants a while back, man those things destroyed my plant..

All the same, I know the reptile relief works wonders on reptile mites, and it's pretty cheap. 5 or 6 bucks for the small bottle I believe. I would just take the snake and enclosure outside on the porch if it's a decent day, spray and bath the snake, soak the tank and wash it out (make sure to spray the underside of the overhanging plastic on top. anywhere there could be a single mite) the spray kills mites and eggs by drying them out. so just avoid direct spray to the face of the snake and don't leave it in the snake for more than 20 minutes or so. I basically just sprayed the snake, sprayed my hands, and handled for about 10 minutes, rubbing it in his scales to get the little hidden buggers.

You were able to rub it under the scales?? HOW did you do that? Snakes don't like that at all. I'm all ears.

 

[magicmed]

You were able to rub it under the scales?? HOW did you do that? Snakes don't like that at all. I'm all ears.

It's simple, just distract them with candy.


Haha misworded, my bad, between the scales would be correct, not under haha

Sidenote: have you seen the scaleless ball pythons? they're adorable

 

[Bugmom]

I forget my snake mite life cycle, but if it's anything like a grain mite, one could have an explosion of mites literally over night.

Good point.

 

[The Snark]

I have doubts of bleaching the tank being effective. It's not wet enough. That's also the reason bleach isn't recommended as a disinfectant.

 

[viper69]

It's simple, just distract them with candy.


Haha misworded, my bad, between the scales would be correct, not under haha

Sidenote: have you seen the scaleless ball pythons? they're adorable

Not in person, I heard there was discrepancy about, don't know the details though. Then again this could be old news I learned about Brian's morph.

What I don't know IS, if they don't have scales are we touching the tissue their scales would be connected to? If so, that doesn't sound good to me.