Mites, need help!!!

[Aric]

Yesterday was feeding day and my girl didnt eat so I left the rat in her tub overnight to see if she would eat, when I put the rat in there I saw no mites at all, but today when I went to check to see if she ate it there were mites crawling on the tub lid and when I opened the tub they were everywhere. So naturally I checked everyone else and the only other one that had them was a male that was directly under her. Could they be from the rat? What can I do to get rid of them. Ive never had a mite problem this bad before and im really jumpy from seeing all the mites on her.

[Adam_Wysocki]

What can I do to get rid of them.

http://www.pro-products.com/miteandtemp.html

Kills the mites, kills the eggs, acts as a barrier to keep the mites from returning ... no other product works as well as Provent -a- mite ... it's the best.

-adam

[Aric]

Do regular pet shop carry it? If I order it will they be ok until it arrives?

[Adam_Wysocki]

Do regular pet shop carry it? If I order it will they be ok until it arrives?

They'll be fine ... you could soak them periodically over the weekend and just keep cleaning the heck out of their cages until it arrives.

If you call today, you should be able to get it overnighted for Monday.

-adam

[Aric]

I already have the female in a tank (too big for the soaking tub) for a soak. The 2 that have them came from the same reptile shop, so maybe they had them before I got them but I never noticed. Should I switch the substrate to newspaper until the spray gets here?

[elevatethis]

Probably not. Its a super special secret product that pet shops aren't cool enough to carry. It's like doomsday for mites though!

In the mean time, you can soak your snake (in a secure container, filled with about 1-2" of tepid water) for about 30 mins to an hour. This will drown some of the adult mites and keep your overall infestation down (less adults = less eggs = less new mites) until your provent-a-mite comes. If there are a lot of adults, put a couple drops of dish soap or hand soap in the soak, that seems to help kill more mites faster (the mites are able to create surface tension around them when they are submerged, allowing them to live longer underwater, the soap breaks that surface tension).

[Adam_Wysocki]

Mite eggs take about 3 weeks to hatch ... so a new arrival in the last 3 - 6 weeks could have been loaded with eggs and no visible mites ... 3 weeks later the eggs hatch ... another week or so for them to get big enough to see ... and presto.

I would move EVEYTHING onto newspaper until you kill them all.

-adam

[Aric]

we just called the reptile shop where we got the two snake at and asked if they had it and they actually do carry it. Its $21 there so we are leaving soon to go get some.

[elevatethis]

Damn, thats awesome they carry it! $21 is a good price too....if you were to get it shipped you'd pay that plus another 5 bones to ship it.

Make sure its Provent-a-Mite and not mite-off or anything like that....all mite control products ARE NOT created equally...

[Aric]

we asked if its was Provent-a-mite and not anything else and they said that it was Provent-a-mite.