introducing... drake!

unfortunately they are all in the same room!!! so i figure i'll treat them all just in case...

ooooh maaaaaan

Well.. I sincerely hope that Drake is otherwise healthy since mites like to spread diseases from snake to snake.

Provent-a-mite makes mite removal quite simple.

oh don't say that... oooh noooo.

okay i can get reptile relief from the petstore near me... they have a bottle set aside for me. as for provent-a-mite... i'll have to order it online.

i'm going to use the reptile relief cause there's no way i'm going to be able to get the provent-a-mite here in less than a week... shipping etc (and customs coming from the states... oh mannnn)

so, if i use the reptile relief and not the provent-a-mite right away... will my snake be okay?

http://lllreptile.com/info/library/g...h-snake-mites/

is this how i should do it???

I don't have personal experience with reptile relief, but I've heard it works well.. unlike provent-a-mite, I believe you can spray it directly on the animal. It just doesn't have the long lasting mite killing effect that provent-a-mite has.

That seems like a good way to me.

anyone got a pic of a mite... these were quite large and walking on him... is that a mite?

Mites are very small... I don't have a picture though. I hope someone else does.

are they tiny teany little dots or are they larger than that? this one was more the size of a flea.

when my hubby went to touch it (on drake) it was gone... seemed to jump off.

do mites jump?

I have never seen one jump (but I haven't seen that many)

question: if i use provent-a-mite - do i also need to treat drake? do i just treat his enclosure and allow the P.A.M. to kill the mites or do i need to use reptile relief as well?

i have access to reptile relief tomorrow... i can get matt to ship me some P.A.M. asap.

In your case I would use the reptile relief now and PAM as soon as you can get it.

I only use PAM if I get mites.. it works perfectly.

okay, so can you please explain to me how you use the PAM? cause the way to use the reptile relief seems like a lot of work... and honestly, with my back the way it is right now... if i can make this easier... that would be better for me.

but...

i want the best for my snakes... so they come before my back pain!

so i just read that mites are the size of a period at the end of a sentence. this 'pest' was more the size of the inside of an 'o'

Was this little pest brown/black? Sounds like a tick to me. Could you see the legs? If it had eight, then it's a tick or an especially engorged mite that could play for the sumo wrestling team. Did you attempt to squish one? If so, did you find blood inside?(Sorry for graphic questions).

Mites or ticks, regardless, treat the same way. Ticks are just easier to see and can be picked off and squished with your fingernail.

it seemed to jump away...

regardless of what it was... i need to get some provent a mite asap.

i'm going to find out if the pet store can get it in for me and if not... i'll order from matt.

Flea? Are your cats on flea protection(Frontline, etc.)? Maybe one of those boogers jumped in there... Ticks and mites don't jump, lice don't jump... Hrmmm...Did Drake have a good number on him or was it just the one you saw?

we saw two and they both jumped.

so perhaps it's fleas from the cat who has decided that her new sleeping spot is on top of drake's enclosure?

will fleas harm a snake?

No, the fleas won't harm the snakes, but some Frontline or Revolution will help that situation immensely :)

i have stuff for my cats... i'll put some on them tonight.

*whew* - i'm still going to get some provent a mite and start using it as a preventative measure for now on.

absolutely definitely without question... mites.

we just brought him out and inspected him really really closely. i found two adult mites (squished them and full of blood) on his body.

i'm ordering provent a mite and picking up some reptile relief if i can't get some PAM tomorrow. (going to call everywhere i can and see if someone somewhere has some)

thanks for assisting me tonight everyone... i don't know what i'd do without this place!

matt's come to save the day... my order will be on it's way before 5pm tonight.

thank goodness.
*breathing now*

off to get some mineral oil to give drake a little rub down till the P.A.M. arrives.

Not sure where you heard about rubbing with oil, but when Carmen had mites, the other more common temporary treatment I found while researching all over the web was a soak in water with one or two drops of dish washing liquid. Mites drown in water and the soap breaks the water surface tension, so air bubbles can't form around the mites on the snake, forcing them to drown.

It will kill the mites on the snake. giving him relief until you get the PAM and can kill the ones in the cage.

well supposedly the mineral oil kills the mites... and when we rubbed him down with it... we found dead mites on the cloth and then as my hubby held him and i bleached all his stuff... a couple more dead ones came off him.

i've put him back into his encl... with a nice soft shirt of mine in there as substrate... he reallllly loves me. for some reason he's always trying to get away from who ever is holding him and get back to me :D makes me love him even more (like that's even possible!)

so he's comfy in his home now. i fed him two mice... as thursdays is feeding day here and since he's so darned thin i thought i'd feed him and get him fattened up a bit. he took them both down immediately and ate in front of me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yes you heard me right... this fussy eater who needs total silence and quiet and dark to eat ate two mice in front of me and looked at me as if to say, "that's all????" and i said, "yup that's it buddy!"

so he's happy in his enclosure... all lubed up with mineral oil and i'm feeling very good about him today. for the first time in a while...

ahhhhhhhhhhhh even with all this... i love keeping snakes!!!

ps cassandra... in a couple of days, once he's fully digested... i'll soak him in water with some soap... matt says the P.A.M. should be here within 5 days at the max.

well this is beyond painful. i haven't been able to hold my new baby yet. still waiting for the P.A.M.

i don't know how much longer i can hold out... :( this is really beyyyyyyyyyyond what any new snake mama should have to endure!!!!!!!!!

Why is the shipment taking so long? Has it been shipped yet? Did you ever go out and get some reptile relief in the meantime?

matt sent it but customs sent it back to him... so he had to resend it on monday :(

no i didn't get the reptile relief. i expected the p.a.m. to be here on monday and so i thought it would be fine till then.

i did rub him down with mineral oil and we got a few mites off of him and then one more fell off while my hubby held him and i bleached down his encl and hides etc.

i've put him on a nice soft t shirt of mine... to allow him to be close to me even though he can't be right now and i checked... no mites on the t-shirt at all and nothing in his water. so i take that as a good sign. i really hope the p.a.m. gets here soon.