???Mites???

[FatBoy]

OK...like most others I have battled mites, picked up from pet store, picked up at a show, ect. I also have my own full proof way of eliminating them. My question is...people call, they have one pet snake and have mites. When asked, they have not been to a pet store, have not been around any other snakes, no shows, nothing. I first think they are not telling the whole truth until it happened to someone I know very good and know he was telling the truth. In a situation like this...where is it possible for the mites to come from Can they come from husbandry issues, just magicly appear What's your thoughts?

[dr del]

Hi,

Could they have hitched a ride on food items?

Or from a visitor who got to interact with the collection?

I's just I thought they were native to asia so shouldn't be able to just magically appear.


dr del

[kc261]

Has it been at least 30 days since they were around any pet store, other snakes, etc? If not, they may have brought home a single mite that they never noticed, but then when it laid eggs and the eggs hatched....

If that is totally impossible, then it may still be possible the mites were picked up from some outside source. It is a long shot, but maybe your friend happened to be in the grocery store, and brush up against someone who has a mite-infested snake at home, and brought home a mite that way.

I have no idea if any sort of snake mite is native to any parts of the US, so maybe your friend picked them up outdoors somewhere. Even if snake mites are not native, it is possible a population has gotten established in the wild due to someone releasing a mite-infested snake. Even if the snake did not survive, the mites may have.

They can't just magically appear, so they had to have come from somewhere.

Another possibility is that your friend saw bugs, but they aren't actually snake mites. Depending on what sort of bugs they are, there are many possibilities as to where they came from.

[FatBoy]

All these thoughts were mine exactly...just double checking to make sure someone didn't know something I don't. He swears he could not have gotten them from anywhere, but had to. They are gone now and tank treated with PAM. Thanks for the replys.