Mite Outbreak (Just Not My Day)

[PeanutButler]

As I said, just not my day. I bagged the poop from my one snake, and picked him up to look him quickly over. That's when I was shocked to see he had mites. And they were crawling in his tub. I then checked every other animal I had, some which had no sign of mites, several who had one or two, and then another who had quite a few.

I am mortified that this happened, and it seemed to happen so suddenly. I have never seen anything so mich as hinting at this while cleaning the tubs prior. And suddenly they seem to be everywhere. Tomorrow is going to be a long day and hunting down POM.

I have no idea how this happened. I did recently add an animal about 2 weeks ago without quarantining her (I know what a stupid thing to do that was, I certainly know better than that, and am embarrassed to say it happened), but I just checked her all over, as well as her tub, and she is one of the few animals who is squeaky clean, not a single sign of a mite anywhere in any crevice on her, her hides, or her tub.

Both animals most heavily infested have been here for months, one at 224 grams and one at over 1200. I don't understand if the new animal were the source, how she would not have a single mite crawling on her. I don't understand it.

My point in posting this is to ask how could this have happened? Everyone has been fine, no signs of mites anywhere. I would accept that this is a consequence of my stupid decision, except for the fact that this new girl is as clean as a whistle. That doesn't make that decision any less stupid, and I won't waste time making excuses for myself, but if it isn't that, then I would really like to know where this could have possibly come from so that I have something to look out for in the future aside from obsessively quarantining.

I'm absolutely mortified and so sad for the animals.
I will do all I can to set this right as quickly as I can, and as I said, I could accept that this was the result of my own stupidity. But in case it wasn't that, I would like to know what else I did in order to prevent this from ever happening again.

Also, do I need to worry about these infesting our house and humans? I'm finding mixed information.

[chrid16371]

Mites thrive in bp conditions. They could hitchhiked from a pet store and it took until now to spot them. I don't think you have to worry about them infecting everything in your house but you will need to do proper cleaning in order for them to not come back.

I used Provent A Mite (PAM) and Natural chemistry Reptile Spray when I had mites. PAM is used for in enclosure, you remove animal and water sources then spray enclosure and wait at least a half hour to air out before placing animal and water dish back in, substrate and everything can stay in cage but water bowl and snake need to be removed. Make sure to read directions and follow exactly as this stuff can be deadly if used improperly! Reptile spary is used on your snake (can be used for enclosure also but IMO PAM works better), while the PAM airs out of the enclosure spray some reptile spray on paper towel and let the snake run through it a few times and it will give relief to your snakes and kill the mites on them. Read directions and use properly. Then your going to want to clean the outside of cages, stands, carpet, everything in that room. I repeat PAM and Reptile Spray once every 7 days for a month and then every 14 days for another month and clean room completely every 2 weeks for 2 months, I have not had mites since.

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[PeanutButler]

Mites thrive in bp conditions. They could hitchhiked from a pet store and it took until now to spot them. I don't think you have to worry about them infecting everything in your house but you will need to do proper cleaning in order for them to not come back.

I used Provent A Mite (PAM) and Natural chemistry Reptile Spray when I had mites. PAM is used for in enclosure, you remove animal and water sources then apart and wait at least a half hour to air out before placing animal and water dish back in. Make sure to read directions and follow exactly as this stuff can be deadly if used improperly! Reptile spary is used on your snake (can be used for enclosure also but IMO PAM works better), while the PAM airs out of the enclosure spray some reptile spray on paper towel and let the snake run through it a few times and it will give relief to your snakes and kill the mites on them. Read directions and use properly. Then your going to want to clean the outside of cages, stands, carpet, everything in that room. I repeat PAM and Reptile Spray once every 7 days for a month and then every 14 days for ankthe month and clean room completely every 2 weeks for 2 months, I have not had mites since.

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Thank you for the reply. That's the puzzling thing. I haven't bought anything from a pet shop recently except feeders from a privately owned shop about a week ago, and they went right into the freezer.

I typed it POM by mistake, but I meant PAM. I am just hoping that I can find it somewhere in store.

[chrid16371]

Thank you for the reply. That's the puzzling thing. I haven't bought anything from a pet shop recently except feeders from a privately owned shop about a week ago, and they went right into the freezer.

I typed it POM by mistake, but I meant PAM. I am just hoping that I can find it somewhere in store.

Sometimes finding PAM in store is hard, reptile spray is usually in store. You can order PAM and use reptile spray for relief until it comes. If you can't find either I would order both and in the mean time do complete substrate changes and soak snakes for relief, if you do this don't leave the old substrate in the house.

You could of picked them up from the person you bought rats from, they wouldn't hitchhike on the rats but your clothes so you don't actually have to buy anything to bring mites home. Mites can be hard to spot so they could of had them for a little bit now and your only noticing now bc it's so bad, just look close after this gets cleared up. Also like I said mites thrive in bp conditions , it's a horrible sign that temps and humidity are probably good.

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[Sauzo]

As I said, just not my day. I bagged the poop from my one snake, and picked him up to look him quickly over. That's when I was shocked to see he had mites. And they were crawling in his tub. I then checked every other animal I had, some which had no sign of mites, several who had one or two, and then another who had quite a few.

I am mortified that this happened, and it seemed to happen so suddenly. I have never seen anything so mich as hinting at this while cleaning the tubs prior. And suddenly they seem to be everywhere. Tomorrow is going to be a long day and hunting down POM.

I have no idea how this happened. I did recently add an animal about 2 weeks ago without quarantining her (I know what a stupid thing to do that was, I certainly know better than that, and am embarrassed to say it happened), but I just checked her all over, as well as her tub, and she is one of the few animals who is squeaky clean, not a single sign of a mite anywhere in any crevice on her, her hides, or her tub.

Both animals most heavily infested have been here for months, one at 224 grams and one at over 1200. I don't understand if the new animal were the source, how she would not have a single mite crawling on her. I don't understand it.

My point in posting this is to ask how could this have happened? Everyone has been fine, no signs of mites anywhere. I would accept that this is a consequence of my stupid decision, except for the fact that this new girl is as clean as a whistle. That doesn't make that decision any less stupid, and I won't waste time making excuses for myself, but if it isn't that, then I would really like to know where this could have possibly come from so that I have something to look out for in the future aside from obsessively quarantining.

I'm absolutely mortified and so sad for the animals.
I will do all I can to set this right as quickly as I can, and as I said, I could accept that this was the result of my own stupidity. But in case it wasn't that, I would like to know what else I did in order to prevent this from ever happening again.

Also, do I need to worry about these infesting our house and humans? I'm finding mixed information.

Did you go to any reptile expos? I have heard of people picking up hitch hikers from there. Best advice is come home, strip down to undies in the garage, throw the clothes in the washer and hop in the shower. Mites need a snake host to live so chances of finding them on feeder rodents or bedding I would imagine would be rare unless the shop you go to has mites all over the place and again, I would imagine eggs would be laid in the snakes' cage substrate, not on a random bag of substrate on the shelf.

Just pick up a can of PaM and use it as directed and you should be fine. Its sucks but you could have ended up with something worse. Like I said, you probably picked it up from either a pet shop, reptile expo or if you have any friends with snakes and their collection is infected. It is probably just a coincidence it happened with the new animal as you said that one is squeaky clean. I've added a couple new snakes and what I do is just spray the cages down with PaM before the animal gets her so its all aired out and ready to go. Then put the animal in when it arrives and I also spray down all my other snakes' cages as well just incase. I do that once a week for 3 weeks. Anyways good luck.

As for finding PaM, yeah most chain pet shops wont have it. You can order it from Pro Products, Reptile Basics, Bean Farm or pretty much any online reptile shop. I live by Bean Farm so getting all that stuff is pretty easy for me

[bcr229]

No need to wait for the PAM to show up before you start treating. Since you have a major outbreak this method uses the same insecticide at a fraction of the cost.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...it-with-AaronP

Also remember you have to treat for 30 days after you find the last mite, as it can take that long for an egg to hatch.

[PeanutButler]

Thank you so much for the replies. I will check out that thread, and continue to research tomorrow to get treatment underway immediately. Any tidbits of advice anyone may want to contribute to suppliment my research are welcome. The clothes I was wearing when doing the initial look over after discovering this were in the washer before I posted my thread. All bedding when cleaning always goes straight to the garbage outside, and does not remain in the house.

I have not been to any reptile expos recently. Actually, now that I think about it, the two who have it the worst were both present at an expo months ago. One I brought home, the other I purchased later. That was a while ago though. Maybe somehow they both picked it up that day and the population has slowly been growing?

Or perhaps it was a hitchhiker. The expo thought is an interesting one because those two animals have it the worst, but are not next to each other.

[xtashanx]

Iv had mites once and mine came from the bloody sub so now I freeze my sub for 3 weeks before I use it and keep a continual loop going so I always have one ready. I was told this will kill any potential mites and eggs. Apparently mites can live in the dust or something in the sub. I used a bleach solution as couldn't get hold of anything else in an acceptable amount of time and used to bath my boy twice a day every day with warm water and a capful of olive oil and worked a treat u could see them falling off in the sink it was brilliant much better than using chemicals on him as I was suggested. Hope this helps I'm a first timer lol

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[PeanutButler]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to avoid anything oil based due to the fact that oil can cause their scales to come off. I currently have reptile spray, and will be ordering PAM. This reptile spray says safe to use on the snakes themselves, and I've been reading it's best to put it on a paper towel first and then wipe them with that.

Does anyone know if it's safe to use near their face? I'm trying to figure out how to get the mites of the heat pits etc. I'm figuring maybe a soak to drown the ones on their face and a rub down on the top and bottom of their head with the spray?

Any further advice would be amazing. Thank you all for the guidance so far.

[xtashanx]

Omg no1 told me it could make their scales come off!! Well won't be doing that again then. Was told to by the rep place I got him

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