Mites????

[toreh]

Ok im pretty sure my bp has mites. When im holding her I see these little round black bugs about the size of a penhead. I havent seen any red and white spots and they move really fast. Tomorrow im going to be treating her for them and bleaching out her cage. Is there anything else I should do?

[BuckeyeBalls]

Provent-a-Mite

i hear thats all one needs.

[syearout]

Don't know what you are using for substrate right now, but any time I've ever gotten mites I switch to newspaper, and spray the cage with a little Black Knight. I also cut up "no pest strips" from lowes and put a small peice in each box. Keeps the mites away.

[OzarkMountainBalls]

Provent-a-Mite

i hear thats all one needs.

x2. Also if cash is slim, you can buy a home lice spray at wal mart. its made for spraying furniture and such. it has the SAME active ingredients as provent a mite. It works well as i have used it. 3 bucks verse about 14. Use the same instructions as the provent a mite. Spray enclosre and substrate. let dry. replace snake and water dish. My boa was mite free in very short order.

[BuckeyeBalls]

x2. Also if cash is slim, you can buy a home lice spray at wal mart. its made for spraying furniture and such. it has the SAME active ingredients as provent a mite. It works well as i have used it. 3 bucks verse about 14. Use the same instructions as the provent a mite. Spray enclosre and substrate. let dry. replace snake and water dish. My boa was mite free in very short order.

Yea i never had mites on our guy so never needed it buy u guys here swear by PAM so

[joepythons]

Ok im pretty sure my bp has mites. When im holding her I see these little round black bugs about the size of a penhead. I havent seen any red and white spots and they move really fast. Tomorrow im going to be treating her for them and bleaching out her cage. Is there anything else I should do?

Reptile relief kills them little snotts on contact

[bsash]

I have always used "Mite off" for my ball pythons because you can put it directly on the snake, but I have heard nothing but great things about "Provent a mite: as well.

What I have always done was treat the snake with mite off, then place it in a "hold box" and I would take out all of the substrate and bleach the cage.

Then I would take out all objects in the cage such as hides, climbing sticks, etc. and treat them. If the objects are real wood I would bake them in the oven at 450 degrees for one hour, and if it were fake wood I would soak them in a bucket of half bleach and half water for an hour, once done soaking I would take them and rinse them very well. Then I would repeat the process only without the bleach in the bucket.

One done sterilizing everything, I would use paper towels as substrate, and place everything back in the cage.

[mpkeelee]

PAM, i never used reptile relief. but zoo meds mite off worked good for the mites that were on my snake. PAM cant be used on ur snake, mite off can be. so i sprayed my snake with mite off and sprayed her enclosure with PAM and never had another problem. good luck

[BPelizabeth]

I have never had mites yet....however....Provent a mite aka PAM. Everyone I know that keeps snakes uses this and swears by it.

I am not sure what you are doing with the pest strips but do NOT put them in the cage and the snake will find a way to get stuck to it.

Also switch to paper towels as you can see them easily then. Get rid of all substrate. If you have anything wood in there....bake it at 250 for an hour.

When cleaning make sure you get it good around the top of the cage as that is where they lay their eggs. Also and this is an interesting point. They spread so fast as they do not need 2 to lay eggs. 1 mite can lay eggs all on there own. Egads.

Oh 1 more thing....hides and water dish should be put in the dishwasher on a hot extended wash.

Good luck!!

[toreh]

Ok I can see how PAM and the other sprays work. Ive heard that a betadine bath works too for getting the mites off your snake, is that true or is it something I should stay away from? I am using shredded aspen for my substrate.