How serious of a problem are mites to a snakes health?

Do a search on Nix. Many many many respected breeders and hobbyists alike have been using it for years on their collections with nothing but positive results.
Not that it needs to be talked up by me, but you can also buy it (without a credit card) at ANY drugstore for around $10.

Mites breed extraordinarily fast, they wander absolutely everywhere so they will get into everything, and they will continue to breed and feed on your snake until it expires.

They transmit diseases such as IBD between snakes, they can cause skin and eye infections, they irritate snakes which causes stress and depress immune function (leading to RIs and mouth infections, failure to feed, etc).

Mites are far more than just a nuisance.

Because they wander everywhere, you cannot just treat the snake, clean the cage, and be done with them. That's why PAM is recommended, because it keeps working for long enough to break the mites' life cycle. It kills any that enter the cage, so they can never feed on your snake again, and cannot reproduce before they die.

See if there's a local herpetological society, someone in it may have some PAM.

Mite on reptiles in captivity are serious. They can and will multiply quickly since their host is stuck in one area and can't get away from them. Mites are like roaches, you see 1 that means there are 20 more hiding.

A few mites won't kill them unless they have some type of disease. But think about it this way. Mites suck blood out of their host. As they multiply they will suck more blood then your animal can become weak and anemic. Not only this they can spread to the rest of your collection.

Whatever method you choose make sure to treat the snake, its enclosure and the surrounding area. 2-3 times at least.

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Originally Posted by EvesFriend

Because I cannot order it online.

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Where do you live? I'm confused about why you can't order it online.

Mites are like fleas. Mostly annoying, but can become really serious if the infestation gets severe. Even lethal in extreme cases.

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Originally Posted by unspecified42

Where do you live? I'm confused about why you can't order it online.

Mites are like fleas. Mostly annoying, but can become really serious if the infestation gets severe. Even lethal in extreme cases.

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No card to order online.

Well.. heres somes ideas:

Take your tank, get the snake out. Put a solution of 5% bleach in with some water (dont know the exact amount of water, but you can find out easily on google)

Use that to wipe down the entire enclosure

take the hide(s) and boil them in scalding water for 20 minutes

Bake any logs in the enclosure at 200 degress AND WATCH IT NON STOP. dont leave it unattended. Do this for 10 - 30 minutes.

Replace ALL your substrait

remove your water bowl and clean it

now, go back to your tank and wash it our thoroughly. clean it out again with the 5% bleach/water

Rinse it out again

wait for it to dry, and open as many windows that you can in the room to air it out, if you cant do that, then get a fan and point it into the enclosure. this will force the fumes out (which will then be taken out of windows throughout the house via air currents)

now, get a vacuum (preferably a steam mop but ont everybody has one) and go over the entire cartper/floor in the room

If you have a vacuum, you will have to do this several times AND clean the floor with bleach and water (to kill eggs) BUT if you have the steam mop you will only have to wash the floor/carpet once or twice, because it will boil and kill ANY eggs/mites in the carpet or in the floor

you may have to repeat this a few times, but its the only way if you cannot get a good mite spray off the internet or in your area

I had the same problem. we had these mites (didn't have a snake though) that were ALL in my room

We tried everything, but couldn't get ahold of any sprays or whatever to kill them

So we just nuked everything in the room with the steam mop and tons of bleach

Now.. obviously when dealing with a snake you have to be careful with bleach, so before introducing your snake to the room again make SURE the tank is dry and has been left to air out for awhile

if you have hardwood floor (or just flooring without a carpet) and have to bleach it, then again dont bring the snake back in the room for awhile

Hope this helps

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Originally Posted by EvesFriend

No card to order online.

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Surely you have a friend or relative that you can hand $20 to and ask them to order it for you? :confused:

Go to petsmart, petco, any petshop...
They all carry Mite Off or something similar. Might cost you $5 or so.

Clean everything!

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Originally Posted by EvesFriend

No card to order online.

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If you have a bank account you can hook that up with paypal and use your money directly. Its free.

Also you can buy prepaid credit cards. I know Rite Aid here in Oregon has them. Put whatever amount on the card and wala you can oreder online. What ever you do you will want to treat the mites ASAP.