Mites

Sooooo, I’ve had my beautiful girl for all of 3 weeks. After a week I noticed she had a scab which turned out was an old burn and then over the weekend I noticed some ‘poppy seeds’ running around over her.

Promptly spoke to a reputable breeder who confirmed they are mites and she needs treatment immediately. I’ve had her checked over and she is healthy other than the mites. She received a treatment over the weekend and will get another on Thursday of this week.

We have removed everything from her vivarium and boil washed it and kept it out. Substrate has been removed and replaced with blue rolll. I disinfect clean it every day with beaphar reptile friendly disinfectant and replace the blue rolls plus blood wash and disinfect her water bowl and hides.

The vet told me to use fragrance free natural alcohol wash on her each day in between treatments and this will kill any running around mites and it also won’t harm her as it’s all natural. I have been doing this for the last two days and the number of mites has already drastically reduced.

The vet also said given that we only noticed them at the weekend and have not had her for a few weeks it’s likely she either came with eggs, the reptile house has mites and the workers passed them onto her or they cane in her substrate, either from the manufacturers or again from the reptile house.

Is there anything else we can do? I know it will take time and I am patient and consistent and just want her to be well and happy. If I can ease any discomfort she may be in then I will [emoji2]

I learning very fast all about my little girl that’s for sure!


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this is what you need. http://pro-products.com/provent-a-mite/ . This will take care of any mite problem. I am not going to waste my time commenting on the vet. I would not rub down my animals with any kind of alcohol wash.

just saw you are from across the atlantic. hopefully someone over there can tell you what they are using.

Not sure the limitation of pesticide in the UK but I would assume prevent a mite is restricted as an import.

Alcohol should not be an issue but it really isn't doing much of anything as mites can live in alcohol for quite a while. In other words alcohol is pointless to use so I recommend stopping that silly treatment. It's as ineffective as using oil.

Something like callington mite spray should be available for purchase and should work to control mites on the snake as efficient as prevent a mite is here in the States..

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Originally Posted by SDA

Not sure the limitation of pesticide in the UK but I would assume prevent a mite is restricted as an import.

Alcohol should not be an issue but it really isn't doing much of anything as mites can live in alcohol for quite a while. In other words alcohol is pointless to use so I recommend stopping that silly treatment. It's as ineffective as using oil.

Something like callington mite spray should be available for purchase and should work to control mites on the snake as efficient as prevent a mite is here in the States..

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Thank you so much! It seems she has been through the wars before she came here! Hopefully we can get her as right as rain in no time at all.


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Thank you, I will get some prevent a mite. I’ll do anything for her. It can’t be comfortable


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I had mites in my whole ARS rack when I first started out and it became a crash course in mite management. You have to realize that mites can crawl across the floor and across the room and infest your whole snake room. I'd vacuum every day and all around the tank / enslosure, that's what really helped me in the end. I would also try white paper towels for a substrate, it's easy to change out every day (which you need to do) and it's easy to see the black mites on the white paper. Also realize that if you are using some kind of paper that most of the mites are most likely under the paper.

Provent-a-mite scares me, it can kill your snake! Be very careful with it. Never spray it directly on your snake. Probably the best way to use it is to remove the water bowl and use a substrate like aspen or coconut husk. Remove the snake then spray the substrate only very lightly. Let it thoroughly dry, it works to kill mites when it's dry and won't harm your snake in the dry form.

I also used a Natural Reptile Spray from Amazon, you can wipe it directly on your snake. I wiped some white snakes with black spots and within just a few minutes all the mites came out of the scales and crawled all over, it was kind of creepy. I almost killed a snake with this stuff, he was heavily infested and I used it every day for three days in a row. You are only supposed to use it once every three days. After that my snake was very lethargic and it was a very expensive snake at the time (a fire pied hatchling).

Also, you probably want to wash your clothes every time you leave the snake room, and avoid going to pet shops and reptile shows until you know for sure you don't have any mites. Just one mite hitchhiker can infect someone's whole store or collection.

It took me a solid two months to finally get rid of those buggers. At least now I know what to look for when buying a new snake, if I see just one mite and I'll walk out of the store!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sambo76

Thank you, I will get some prevent a mite. I’ll do anything for her. It can’t be comfortable.

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I don't think it's available outside the US. You'll want to look for Callington's, I think that should be available.

This is another option if Frontline is available overseas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwCA...&feature=share

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

I had mites in my whole ARS rack when I first started out and it became a crash course in mite management. You have to realize that mites can crawl across the floor and across the room and infest your whole snake room. I'd vacuum every day and all around the tank / enslosure, that's what really helped me in the end. I would also try white paper towels for a substrate, it's easy to change out every day (which you need to do) and it's easy to see the black mites on the white paper. Also realize that if you are using some kind of paper that most of the mites are most likely under the paper.

Provent-a-mite scares me, it can kill your snake! Be very careful with it. Never spray it directly on your snake. Probably the best way to use it is to remove the water bowl and use a substrate like aspen or coconut husk. Remove the snake then spray the substrate only very lightly. Let it thoroughly dry, it works to kill mites when it's dry and won't harm your snake in the dry form.

I also used a Natural Reptile Spray from Amazon, you can wipe it directly on your snake. I wiped some white snakes with black spots and within just a few minutes all the mites came out of the scales and crawled all over, it was kind of creepy. I almost killed a snake with this stuff, he was heavily infested and I used it every day for three days in a row. You are only supposed to use it once every three days. After that my snake was very lethargic and it was a very expensive snake at the time (a fire pied hatchling).

Also, you probably want to wash your clothes every time you leave the snake room, and avoid going to pet shops and reptile shows until you know for sure you don't have any mites. Just one mite hitchhiker can infect someone's whole store or collection.

It took me a solid two months to finally get rid of those buggers. At least now I know what to look for when buying a new snake, if I see just one mite and I'll walk out of the store!

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Thank you so much for your advice! I thought I was on my own until I saw this forum. I thought I’d done something wrong.


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You are all so helpful! Thank you


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sambo76

Thank you so much for your advice! I thought I was on my own until I saw this forum. I thought I’d done something wrong.

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Nope! Fighting the mite wars here, too. Came in with a new colubrid, thought I’d gotten rid of them and I’d be able to dis-continue treating soon, and then found them on my water python on Sunday. I wasn’t aggressive enough in treating the other enclosures in the room, this time I’m assuming they’re all infested (fortunately, not the majority of our collection).

Cranky Prognathodon is very cranky about it...


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