I have mites on my snakes HELP!!

[cchardwick]

I noticed a few black spots on my snakes a couple weeks ago, noticed that some were soaking, and today I saw a couple black bugs crawling across my snake! Looks like mites to me, just like this photo below (I didn't take this photo but this is what they look like).

So I have a few questions, I have 17 snakes in an ARS rack with 20 tubs. I see it on several snakes but not all, I have ball pythons and king snakes and a Woma python in the rack, looks like it's on at least a few ball pythons, didn't notice it on one of my black and white CA king snake...

• What kind of medication should I use? Are some better than others?

• Is there any risk to my snakes with the medication?

• I currently have aspen bedding, should I change it to something else during treatment?

• How long does it take to treat? Do you need to do several treatments?

• Do I have to soak my snakes in medication or spray it on or spray it on the bedding?

• Should I treat every snake even though I don't see mites in that tub?

• I also have mice and rats in that room as well, can they catch the same kind of mites?

I feel like I'm a bit over my head...

[chrid16371]

Use provent a mite, you will have to treat all snakes. I would switch to paper towels in the mean time but isn't necessary. You will need to take each tub out of the rack and room while treating and take snake and water bowl out and spray with prevent a mite and wait at least a half hour for it to air out before putting snake and water back in and then put tubs back and grab some more and do the same thing. Make sure you follow the instructions exactly and let air out properly before putting snake and water back in, the vapors can be very harmful and is why you need to make sure you treat each tub out of the rack so the vapors don't travel to the other snakes. Just use it correctly, it's the best product for mites. I also you natural chemistry reptile spray which is used to put on your snake, I just spray on a paper towel and run snake through a few times and then let snake sit for 10 minutes than soak in water for another 10. Reason you want to soak the snake in water after is bc the reptile spray dehydrates the mites so you want to make sure the snake is hydrated after the treatment. The provent a mite is for in the tub and the natural chemistry reptile spray is for on the snake.

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[PitOnTheProwl]

Or you could use Natural Chemistrys Reptile Spray that is safe to use on your snakes.
There is no need to ad extra stress soaking your snake either.
You will want to put everyone on paper towels and clean EVERYTHING.

[cchardwick]

Or you could use Natural Chemistrys Reptile Spray that is safe to use on your snakes.
There is no need to ad extra stress soaking your snake either.
You will want to put everyone on paper towels and clean EVERYTHING.

OK, I'm going to try this Natural Chemistry Reptile Relief Spray, just bought a gallon of it. It has a five star review on Amazon with no one or two star reviews. We will see how things go! If that doesn't work I may do a combo of the one above too.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Remember to clean your rack too, not just the tubs.

[chrid16371]

I also sweep the floor and such. I repeat treatment every week for a month for the natural chemistry and I also use provent a mite for 2 months. Probably don't need a 2 month treatment but I like to make sure that they are gone. I haven't had any in a few months since ending treatment so I hope it stays that way. Idk if the gallon jug comes with a spray bottle, if not I would pick one up.

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[For Goodness Snakes]

Provent-O-Mite is the only product I use and I use it every month.

Mites go through a stage called the nymph stage and at that point the nymphs are so small that they can become air born. This means that no matter how good your husbandry is unless you're treating proactively rather than reactively you will most likely have a repeat problem. You not only want to kill the mites, but you also want to kill the eggs, as far as I know Provent-O-Mite is the only product that will kill the eggs. If you use Provent-O-Mite once a month you will stop the life cycle. I have about 200 ball pythons in my collection and in the last 12 years I have found 3 mites and I'm always hunting for them.

If you're not stopping the life cycle you will most likely continue having a mite problem.

If you need more information on how I use Provent-O-Mite give me a call at 408-981-6694 and I'll help any way I can.

Brian Gundy

[bcr229]

Since you have a full-on infestation:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...it-with-AaronP

Until you get the mites under control absolutely nothing should leave or be brought into your collection.

You should also re-evaluate your quarantine practices to ensure that when you do bring in new snakes, if they have mites then they are treated and contained so you don't end up with a full-on outbreak.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Brian..... Why treat monthly or are you talking about your QT racks?

[For Goodness Snakes]

Brian..... Why treat monthly or are you talking about your QT racks?

I'm sorry, I don't know what QT racks are.

The best way to deal with mites is proactively not reactively. If you proactively treat against mites on a month to month basis you will kill the life cycle of the mite.

I went to a seminar 25 years ago specifically about reptile mites given by Dave Barker who along with his wife Tracy have masters degrees in herpetology and are the owners of the world renowned VPI Reptiles, is an author of many reptile related journals and who has also written several books on snakes mainly boids (pythons and boas). The one thing that he kept repeating during the seminar was that there was nothing we could do as far as husbandry to prevent getting mites and there was nothing on the market at the time that would kill the mite eggs other than Provent-O-Mite and Black Night (another product that used to be on the market). After he told us about the nymph stage he mentioned that unless we were proactively treating our collection with Provent-O-Mite it would only be a matter of time before we would find mites on our snakes. He also told us that correct husbandry was no defense against them. The one thing that he kept repeating was that if nymphs are floating around in the air then mites are a constant threat. During that seminar he mentioned that mites are in the arachnid family and conveyed to us that if we ever saw spiders or any other insect any where near our collection that we probably had mites.

What most people don't realize is that mites are what's called an intermediate host for other internal parasites like whip worms and hook worms which can eventually kill our snakes.

I'm a snake hunter, I go out into the field at least once a week and catch and release wild snakes, you may have seen some of my videos on YouTube where I'm holding the snakes I've caught. I do about 300 educational reptile presentations per year in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the last 8 years I've had over 50,000 people touch and handle my snakes. I can't think of anyone that puts their reptiles at more risk of getting mites than I do and at the end of the day my collection is mite free, why is that? I don't know what else to say other than in my opinion and Dave Barker's opinion if your not using Provent-O-Mite as a preventative proactive solution then you're eventually going to have mites. You're assuming that because the reptiles at work have mites that is the reason you have mites, I'm not so sure. My guess is that you've had mites for a awhile and you just didn't know it. In my opinion using Pam, sweeping floors, cleaning cages or using any other technique or product is only putting a band aid on the issue.

So if you or anyone else that is reading this wants help with this issue just call me at 408-981-6694.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Brian Gundy