Need some advice fast!

[Whitney Scheib]

Okay, so I am not sure if this is in the right spot, but here it goes.

I ordered a Kenyan Sand Boa last week for my boyfriend. Petco was out, and he has been wanting one forever, so I placed a hold with a friend who works there that as soon as they got them in, I wanted to reserve one. All was good, and I just had to wait...

Well two days ago, I found out I got a package of infected Aspen, and now have a whole issue of mites. So far, only 3 of my snakes have them, and I have already started treatment.

Here's the problem though. The sandboa came in today, and either I pick it up today, or they put it out to be sold. Manager is whining about holding it, and I have to get it today or no luck....

Should I get the snake, and immediately treat it for mites? I know I have to quarantine it if i get it, but I'm having doubts.... Its like, I promised him the snake for Xmas, but this mite crap put a HUGE damper on everything. I have spent the past two days trying to de-mite all my snakes.

What should I do

[Skittles1101]

Get it, quarantine it, and buy some Provent-a-mite...

While awaiting the PAM, change all the substrates to paper towels and give daily soakings in luke warm water and a drop of Dawn dish soap. With the PAM, follow the instructions and you should be mite free in no time. Good luck...

Edit: I just wanted to add that you may want to stray away from Petco and the sorts in the future, they are known for poor husbandry and selling sick animals...quarantine big time. Support your local breeders!

[Whitney Scheib]

Get it, quarantine it, and buy some Provent-a-mite...

While awaiting the PAM, change all the substrates to paper towels and give daily soakings in luke warm water and a drop of Dawn dish soap. With the PAM, follow the instructions and you should be mite free in no time. Good luck...

Edit: I just wanted to add that you may want to stray away from Petco and the sorts in the future, they are known for poor husbandry and selling sick animals...quarantine big time. Support your local breeders!

I actually decided against another snake right now. My boyfriend is actually desperately wanting a Super Dwarf Retic one day, so we decided to save up for him instead.

Also, I know alot of people hate Petco. I have had good experiences, and bad ones. I actually got my first 2 snakes from a guy who worked there. Had some issues, but worked them out. Then get all my feeders, supplies, etc from there. But when I got my stepsons corn, it was REALLY sick and refused to eat and was killing itself from not eating. Plus, not there fault, but the Aspen I got that was infested was from them. The only issue I have seen with there reptiles though, is they have a very finnicky batch of BP's who have stuck sheds alot. There pretty good about there reptiles though, because the people who work with them have there own collections and breeding going on... But, Petco surprised me tonight! They for the first time in 3 months that I have seen, had 2 Pastel Balls, an Argentine Boa, a CA Boa, and 2 GTP's!! I was sooo shocked to see those there!! I wish I would have gotten the money to get a GTP, but still...

But all in all, I think I will play it safe, and treat the mites I have, and wait on a snake. I would rather have a few REALLY nice ones, then a bunch of commons ones if that makes sense. So, saving now for an SD retic.

But thank you for the advice, and I was in such a hurry tonight, I forgot to pic up some mite treatment, so gotta do that tomorrow....

Oh, I have to brag for a minute. I got a ferret today as a Xmas present!!!

Okay, done with my rant.

Tahnk you for the advice though!!!

[mpkeelee]

Good job waiting. I think ur making the right choices. The snakes are going to be here tomoro so don't get rushed into anything. Make sure ur current ones r healthy and everything is correct. Then u can build ur collection and learn how to care for more. If u get overwhelmed they r the ones who will pay the price

[Whitney Scheib]

Good job waiting. I think ur making the right choices. The snakes are going to be here tomoro so don't get rushed into anything. Make sure ur current ones r healthy and everything is correct. Then u can build ur collection and learn how to care for more. If u get overwhelmed they r the ones who will pay the price

Very true. Yes, it was tempting to get the Sand boa, but I would much rather wait until everyone here is healthy, and save for something better from a breeder. I just think that would benefit us more. I don't plan on breeding my snakes, so right now I'm just having htem all as pets. I do want to breed my Het Albino colombian BCI one day, and my brooks king is getting bred next year by a friend if she's big enough, but right now I'm content with my collection.
I'm also very happy tonight, as my problem feeder BP, who would only take live, ate his first f/t mouse tonight! Soo stoked! Normally, we have about half the snakes that eat IF i'm lucky, and so far, everyone has eaten except my latest rescue. Its been a month now, and I have tried every trick in the book

[kitedemon]

Are they snake mites? There are a lot of types of mites and wood mites are very common and similar but generally are larger.

It is possible for snake mites to lay in aspen if stored near snakes but wood mites would do well in aspen and reproduce themselves snakes mites would die in 30-60 days completely they cannot complete the life cycle without a snake in the loop.

[Whitney Scheib]

Are they snake mites? There are a lot of types of mites and wood mites are very common and similar but generally are larger.

It is possible for snake mites to lay in aspen if stored near snakes but wood mites would do well in aspen and reproduce themselves snakes mites would die in 30-60 days completely they cannot complete the life cycle without a snake in the loop.

Hmm thats a good question... See, we are assuming it was the aspen....

I got a bag of Aspen from Petco roughly a month or so ago. I first used it in my kings enclosure, then my BP's, then my corn's. Everything was fine for about a week or 2. I check all my snakes everytime I pick them up, as precaution. I'm paranoid like that. Then I got my rescue boa, Muttley. I checked him over very well, everytime I handled him. He never had a thing! About 3 weeks after him, we got my new corn snake, who is a snow corn. Nothing on her either, as they would be spotted fairly easily on her white scales. Allw as well.

Then about 4 days ago, I picked up my king snake, and was holding her and she had them HORRIBLY. She had the aspen in her cage the longest, and she was just full of them. Of course, Ir ealized this AFTER I put aspen in my rescue Boa's cage as well. I checked on my BP's, and they both had mites as well. But when checking my corn, who is on aspen, he has none, and neither does Muttley, my boa. So the two newest snakes to my collection are mite free, and are both on the aspen, but the other 3 have them. My largest boa is mite free as well, and he's on ecoearth. So at this point, I was assuming it was fromt he aspen, and they had hatched after I got the bedding? I'm not sure in all honesty. All I know is that the mites were clearly visible drowned in the water bowls, and I could watch them try to go under the scales on my snakes. SO I was assuming snake mites.

[Skittles1101]

I don't believe wood mites occupy snakes the way you are describing...

[kitedemon]

wood mite will crawl over snakes but not do any harm other than pester them completely but ridding your self of the aspen and one cleaning will rid them completely. Snake mites cannot live for long with no snakes so assuming they came in on aspen it is a question what kind of mites they are.

vid of wood mites they look a lot like snake mites (not the red ones...) but are bigger. Snake mites are super tiny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCS51rJ2CYE

[Whitney Scheib]

They definitely don't look like those wood mites. they were super tiny, reddish brown color, and I watched them crawl under my kings scales. Some of them were bigger then others, and they were visibly sticking up off my snakes bodies, but the others were so tiny it was hard to see them. They also had the pepper looking color when I found them dead in the water bowl. I did a thorough cleaning of my kings cage, and one of my BP's cages so far. Took all the aspen out, scrubbed the cages and water bowls, steamed them both, and soaked teh snakes. So far, they have been mite free, but I have to wait 3 days to check again, since they ate last night.