MITES!! Freaking out! What do I do??

[Stewart_Reptiles]

It's not the cost. I ordered it but it'll probably take 2 weeks to get here. It's not just available to purchase in Canada. Neither is reptile relief spray, which is going to take until at least April 10th to get here.

Do you have Walmart or the equivalent? If so buy some Nix bedding lice spray and use it just like you would PAM

You can also make your own home brew but it has it's risk if you do not know what you are doing.

[nightrainfalls]

It's not the cost. I ordered it but it'll probably take 2 weeks to get here. It's not just available to purchase in Canada. Neither is reptile relief spray, which is going to take until at least April 10th to get here.

You can take other steps while you wait till the tenth. Take all of the bedding out of the cage everyday. This will remove any eggs in the bedding. Use a 5% bleach solution to clean the cage. Remove all of the bleach and dry. This will kill any newly hatched mites. Put the new bedding in. Bathe the snake every day. Watch for mites. Use a q-tip with olive oil on it to smother mites you find trying to escape during the bath. Do not coat the snake in oil. This is spot application only. This is a time consuming and stressful way to deal with mites but if you keep up on in it, it will work. It just takes about a month of cleaning to get rid of them. Don't be surprised if this causes a hunger strike. I hate this method but it is effective.

Of course once you get the Pam you are out of the woods. Pam kills mites and stops them from coming back.


David

[pbyeerts]

I recommend using paper towels or newspaper as a temporary substrate - it has to be changed daily. A warm bath for your BP will bring instant relief......let her soak for 20 minutes in a tub of warm water with 1 or 2 DROPS of Dawn or other dishwashing detergent. Be sure to check the temperature of the water - no warmer than 82F. You don't want to scald your snake! You'll drown the mites (probably not all of them).


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[pbyeerts]

This is very helpful http://youtu.be/4CX0Dki0yAA


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[Mr. Misha]

This is very helpful http://youtu.be/4CX0Dki0yAA


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I wouldn't be spraying PAM inside the terrarium with the snake in the same room...

[AFranzius]

I used Nix and was successful. I was very careful with it and made sure to dillute it correctly. I also made a batch that was extra extra dilluted to rub on the snake. Cleaning out the entire enclosure VERY well is so important as it only takes a few to start the whole process again.
Nix can be used safely if used correctly for those who cannot purchase provent a mite

[bcr229]

Only use Nix if you can't get PAM. Nix is the same stuff, basically, but not dosed for snakes. You can get a can of pam, and some nix, and figure out how to dilute the nix to the same strength then follow the pam directions for applying the nix. You save money, but you should only do this if you have experience mixing things, and already know how to use Pam. The cost of pam is higher than nix and it is harder to get, but I recommend it over nix, since it is easier to use and has instructions for treating snakes.

David

PAM is 0.5% permethrin according to the label, which is a high concentration. Since it's applied lightly as an aerosol only a little bit of the product is used.

Two ounces of NIX (1% permethrin) mixed in one gallon (128 oz) of water yields a 0.015625% permethrin solution. It's applied using a spray bottle until the paper substrate is wet. So, even though it's a weaker product, enough permethrin gets applied to the paper to do the job.

Permethrin-10 is another option, available at farm & feed stores like Tractor Supply, and usually some sort of concentrated permethrin product is sold for agricultural use outside of the US. It's 10% permethrin so a little bit goes a long way. Diluting 3 milliliters in 2 liters of water is equivalent to the NIX solution, but the problem as Deb pointed out is that it's way too easy to make it too strong.

I've used the No-Pest strips in the past but had read that the insecticide has a high affinity for water and BRB's are particularly susceptible to problems from it, so I just pulled the water bowls for a day while using the strip, then put the bowls back after airing out the room, so my critters wouldn't risk ingesting it. Repeat treatment weekly.

[hazzaram]

So, last night I bought a bottle of Nix and used it. I ended up watering it down a bit more than necessary because I was afraid. I think it might have been too much

I put each snake into a bath with 1 drop of dawn. I then cleaned their tubs out and dried them, then sprayed a piece of paper towel with the Nix mixture and let it dry. I rinsed the snakes off, then sprayed them a tiny bit with the Nix. Once they sat for a bit, I put them back in their tubs. There's no hides or anything in there but the piece of treated paper towel. They aren't very happy with me, lol.

Good news! My PAM came today. I guess the seller expedited it for me after all Needless to say, he'll be getting my business again!

Anyway, how long should I wait before using the PAM? I'm still waiting on the reptile relief spray and it won't be here until April 10th. Should I treat with the PAM and then give daily baths for relief until the reptile spray gets here?

[bcr229]

Since your enclosure has already been treated there's no need to re-treat, permethrin has a half life of 30 days if kept out of direct sunlight, and 7 days in sunlight. Just treat some paper (outside), put it in a shady place to dry, and keep it on hand to replace any soiled paper with treated paper when a snake makes a mess.

[hazzaram]

So, that's it? I'm good for a month? What if I still have loads of mites when I check the papertowels?

That reminds me... I treated the feeding tub and both tubs I bathed them in and left them outside overnight to dry and woke up to a crapload of snow haha. Awesome.