Soaking in bowl after mite treatment, normal?

[artgecko]

Hello all,
My seemingly healthy and disease free BP has been through 4 weeks of quarantine and eaten three times, but on Wednesday night I found her soaking in her bowl, checked her and sure enough, there were mites crawling on her and in her quarantine tub. Apparently despite pre-treating her and her tub, they managed to show up (I guess there was an egg on her or something when we got her)...

I pulled her, changed her water and bedding (paper towels), and wiped her down with natural chemistry reptile spray (sprayed on paper towels and wiped her). The next day, I removed her, treated her tub and new bedding with PAM and put her back in once it was dry.

Since Thursday, I have not seen any mites, but have noticed her soaking a majority of the time. I have been changing her water each day and provided her with another small water bowl so that she would have fresh water at all times.

I am planning on treating her with the reptile spray once more, tomorrow, just in case and will retreat her tub with PAM if I need to change bedding.

My question for you guys, is this: Is it normal for a snake to soak after being treated and without any mites visually present (to me at least)? If so, how long should I expect this to go on? I was wondering if this is due to continued mite activity or her not liking the mite treatment on her or in her tub.

I am glad that mites are supposed to be easy to get rid of and I'm also glad that she was in quarantine and the rest of my collection still seems mite-free. I'm just a little disappointed that I didn't pre-treat her and her enclosure correctly after bringing her home to prevent this.

Thanks for your help and time!

[bcr229]

She might still just be itchy, or the Reptile Spray missed a few. You could try giving her a soak in a tub with a mere drop of gentle dish soap like Dawn, which will prevent the mites from floating on the water's surface so they drown.

I also use Reptile Spray and it does help. My vet suggested spraying it onto a white paper towel and then using the paper towel to wipe down the snake. That way you get better coverage, it doesn't stress out the snake by being sprayed, you use less of the product, and you can make sure you treat the top of the snake's head and under it's chin, where mites really like to hide.

I also do the PAM/permethrin re-treatments weekly for a month just to make sure any new mites from eggs get killed off. Eggs can remain viable for quite a while.

[artgecko]

Thanks for your input! I did wipe her down when treating her the first time, but did not get her head / chin... She is very head shy. I will try to do a better job of getting those spots this time around. I will also try your suggestion of soaking her with a drop of dishsoap in the water.

Thanks again for your help!