Mites and shedding question

[Ozifur]

I found out a little more than a week ago that my girl has mites. I had been contacted a day after I brought her home from the store (I brought her home June 9th) and was told they discovered they had came across mites on another snake and wanted to make sure my girl was okay.

I checked for days on end and found nothing and thought she was in the clear. Then I saw her soaking a couple of weeks ago, thought nothing of it at first (I didn't see any mites in the bowl or crawling around on her). But after she soaked the following day I checked the bowl and found about 6 mites.

Contacted the store again and told them she did in fact have them, I was given the option to bring her back to them and they could take care of it and once she was done I could take her home again. Or they would give me the medication (their vet supplied them some spray to treat them with) and I could do it myself. Obviously I opted for the less stressful of the two and am treating her at home.

I completely cleared out her tank, she's on paper towels now, one hide and I left her branch in there as she will hide under that at times too. I soaked her each day for about 15 to 20 minutes, after the initial mites I didn't see anything for about a week. Then I came across 2 more in her water dish. I retreated her tank on feeding day while she worked on her meal (I feed her in a separate tank). So I left her alone, no soaking or anything. After two days she still had not come out of hiding so as I changed out her water I checked on her and sure enough she has blue eyes.

I normally keep her tank humidity between 60% and 70%, but with treating the mites the humidity has dropped to 50% after checking on her yesterday I noticed the humidity dropped down to 45% so I put a slightly damp towel on top of the screen under the towel I'm using to try and keep any humidity I can in her tank.

My question boils down to this: how can I increase the humidity for her without hindering her mite treatment? I want to get rid of the little buggers but I also don't want her to have a bad shed in the process. Or am I making a bigger deal out of this than I should?

[Inarikins]

Humid hide. Buy some spaghnum moss, get it damp (but not dripping) and line a separate hide with it. That way if she wants the humidity for her shed she can get it, without having to resort to soaking.

[Rickys_Reptiles]

What spray is it that you are using?

I have only ever used PAM, and it works very quickly. My point being that if the tank is dry for 2 or 3 weeks, it's not going to do a lot of damage to the snake. I would worry more about the mites and far less about the humidity.

[rigan1990]

Agree with the Provent A Mite, just follow the directions.

[Ozifur]

I honestly can't tell you what it is. The vet per mixed it for me to take home and completely forgot what it was. I just spray her tank with it once a week, minus her and her water, and about 3 - 4 weeks later she should be good.

I had looked up PAM as that's all anyone says to use and ordered it but wanted something to treat her now before it got worse in the mean time. Hence the vets medication.

[norwegn113]

im with everyone else. PAM is the way to go! Took care of my mite problem in my colony and now I use it as a proactive approach to prevent mites. 45% humidity is not too bad and im sure your snake will have a good shed but if you are worried I would add a humidity hide like others have said.

[Inarikins]

45% is not good enough for a shed. I prefer 80%+ for my snakes. But the mites are the more pressing issue and that should be resolved first.