Weird question about mites.

[Sauzo]

So I noticed Luna soaking more than usual. When I went to change her water, I saw a few black specks in there. I grabbed my jewelers loop and upon inspection it looks like a few mites. So I took her cage outside, cleaned it all the out and the hides, threw the thermometer in a zip lock bag with a shot of PAM. I then took the cage upstairs to a separate room and put down paper towels and her hides and sprayed it all with PAM. Then I went and got Luna. Well when I picked her up, I noticed 1 little bug. I squished it with my fingernail and it squished with blood. So I'm guessing mites.

Anyways it's been a week now and I haven't seen a mite in sight. She isn't soaking and everything looks fine. I couldn't even find a mite the day after in her water bowl or anywhere. Anyone have any idea how this could have happened and how long I should keep this quarantine and treatment up. She is getting a new T8 in a month so I figured i'd keep her quarantined and treated for a month. I just have no idea how she could have gotten mites. The only new thing was ReptiChips but I used that on all my snakes and everyone else is fine.

I checked my other snakes and they all look ok. I do wipe down their cage stack every 2 months with PAM and also spray completely around the AP base/stand for the cage stack as well as spray around the carpet directly around the cage. So I create a triple barrier. Plus I also gave them a treatment on paper towel for a week as well.

I'm just more floored how she had mites with the ReptiChips and was soaking but the day after I threw everything out and cleaned and treated the cage, I couldn't find a single dead mite in the water or on the paper towels and she isn't soaking anymore. Anyone have this happen to them? And like I said, everyone else is ok as I'm kind of OCD about mites and like I said, wipe down the outside of the cages, the table legs, stands and spray the carpet around the cages all every 2 months as preventative.

But I'm guessing it would still be a good idea to keep treating Luna for the next month or month and a half even though I cant find any dead mites anywhere.

[bcr229]

A mite egg can take up to 30 days to hatch. Keep treating.

[Sauzo]

Yeah that's what I figured. I was going to go about 2 months. Its just weird how she got mites out of nowhere. I think I must have gotten a hitchhiker and I believe last time I cleaned Luna's quarantine tank, I forgot to wipe the outsides down with PAM. That's the only thing I can think of. As like I said, it's pretty much a ritual with me to wipe down the outside of cages, stands, table legs, table tops and anything else around the cage with PAM to create layers of protection. The one time I forget and zap, poor Luna gets hit

[cchardwick]

About a month or two after I got my first snake I found out about mite and had literally thousands of them in my ARS rack, didn't even know what they were. I found out that some of my snakes with black spots were actually pure white LOL. Those little buggers are hard to kill, I'd be devastated if I got them again. I used to clean and spray everything and I guess the Reptile spray didn't work by killing the eggs and they would all hatch out underneath the paper towels on the bottoms of the tubs and just show up out of nowhere days later. It took me about two months to finally get rid of them once and for all. Now I always watch like a hawk to make sure I don't see one. Just be careful not to directly treat the snake outside of the directions on the product, most can be lethal.

[Albert Clark]

Hey Sau, it's best to treat all of your collection as if they all have the mites even if you don't see them. It's a exposure nonetheless and at the end of the day, you and them will be more protected. Just be careful not to over spray. Do you also have the "Natural Chemistry Reptile Relief" ?

[Sauzo]

Nah, I don't have that stuff. I just use PAM. I also do wipe down the outside of the cages and tables, stands etc as well as put a light spray to the floor around the cages every 2 months. I talked to Bob at Pro Products and he told me a lot of guys do that also as a preventative for any hitchhikers as they will die before they can even reach your snakes.

And yeah, I'm definitely careful with the stuff. Allison somehow ingested some and oh man, I had to run her to my vet on an emergency. Luckily the vet flushed her system out and she recovered.

And also, I did give everyone a treatment in their cages as well. Luckily I got all white snakes except Rosey and Rango so they should be fairly easy to spot on the other guys.

[Ax01]

my first BP Elphaba came to me with mites and so did my paradox girl Rain. anyway i use Natural Chemistry Reptile Relief on the snake itself and use PAM to bomb everything else that i don't throw out. QT and keep up the treatment for 6-8weeks.