Nim the Bredli

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Originally Posted by Gio

Is there an update on this situation?

I'm happy you caught things early on, and I'm hoping you have made a lot of progress eradicating the mites.

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I treated the enclosure with PAM for the first time two days ago. I had been cleaning it out every other day, but hadn't managed to give Nim a bath. For that I'd have needed a larger tub, and I don't want to infect the larger tub yet. I have seen him soaking a fair bit though, and he seems to have successfully drowned a number of mites. In any case, I think that's secondary to the PAM, and I don't plan to make him take any baths at this point.

Nim ate again yesterday. He spilled some water in the process, so I replaced his paper towels except for the one under the hide he's occupying. I don't want to disturb him so soon after eating, but when I get the chance I'll replace the paper towel under his hide with a dry, freshly treated one.

I informed the seller about the mites last week. He acted surprised, but I'm skeptical. It seems more likely this is an ongoing issue for him that he thought had been taken care of.

Once the mites seem to be gone (hopefully in 2-3 weeks of treatment) I'll PAM the larger tub and transfer Nim over. It's not too large to continue treating with PAM, and it would allow me to avoid issues like the whole floor becoming wet from one spill of the water dish. I cleaned the lid of the enclosure this morning. There were several mites, some of which were still alive.

Where'd you get the name Nim from?

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Originally Posted by Homebody

Where'd you get the name Nim from?

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It's a programming language with syntax like python and speed like C. It seemed fitting because it was the speed of this snake relative to my ball python which stood out to me.

It also happens to be a game theory game, which is probably where the Nim language got its name.

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Originally Posted by Gobuchul

It's a programming language with syntax like python and speed like C. It seemed fitting because it was the speed of this snake relative to my ball python which stood out to me.

It also happens to be a game theory game, which is probably where the Nim language got its name.

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Funny. I would have guessed a fantasy character.

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Originally Posted by Homebody

Funny. I would have guessed a fantasy character.

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Not this time. I do need to eventually come up with a name for my bp though.

I do not think the mite population has yet been greatly impacted by the PAM. The tub is easy to clean, so I think the problem must be from mites on Nim's body. Nim is soaking a lot and seems to drown a number of mites each time he does, so I am considering moving him to the larger tub this week. This will allow me to give him a water dish large enough to fully soak in at the cost of more difficult enclosure cleaning. I'll manually bathe him immediately before the transfer, and hopefully that plus bathing dish plus ongoing PAM is enough to prevent the mite population from bouncing back.

Maybe this isn't necessary and the PAM treatments just need more time to work, but I don't think there's much of a downside to using the large tub. Maybe it costs a little more PAM. Up-sizing will also make feeding without getting rat blood on the carpet easier.

PAM does not kill the mites on the snake. PAM kills the mites between feedings when they leave the snake to molt or lay eggs. The population won't decline much until the life cycle of the mite is broken.

"I cleaned the lid of the enclosure this morning. There were several mites, some of which were still alive. " If there were live mites on a surface that you had treated, then the surface quite possibly wasn't treated effectively enough.

Nim knocked over his water bowl today. I couldn't fit a heavy enough bowl in the small tub, so I spent the night giving Nim a bath and moving him to the larger bin. Thanks to bcr229 for the Lowe's bin recommendation, it's the one I'm using. I also moved the setup to a room with a hardwood floor because I didn't want mites to have cover in the carpet. Hopefully PAM on the outer edge of the enclosure keeps mites from egging the floor or their offspring from getting back in if they do, but I figure the move can't hurt.

I agree with Malum that the first application of PAM may not have been heavy enough. I followed the 1 second per square foot rule printed on the can, but erred on the light side. This time I used more.

I'm planning to put PVC climbs back into the enclosure. I'll have two sets, and swap them every other day. I will disassemble and soak the set swapped out, so I think the climbing opportunities will improve Nim's experience without compromising the mite extermination. I have also ordered a second pair of hides which I will treat in a similar manner. I'm using notebook paper as clutter, and plan to replace it every other day.

Nim really hated his bath. I got worried he'd hurt himself when he started climbing a thermometer wire, but I was able to take that away. He calmed down when I gave him a glove to hold, but had different parts of his body in and out of the water enough that I'm not convinced many mites were drowned. I took the glove away at the end to see if he'd soak more, but that just prompted him to really freak out and start climbing the walls.

Bath with emotional support glove:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...m/IMG_3242.JPGAfter bath:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...m/IMG_3244.JPG

Keep working on it.

Mites do need a live host to survive but the eggs can continue to hatch without effective treatment. Keep the soaks going and try the reptile spray and run him through a towel with the spray on. Soak again afterwards and repeat the process.

The areas around the eyes, nose and mouth are the tough spots to work on.

Fortunately, I've never had to deal with them so my advice isn't anything more than prevention type advice with some my own thoughts on how to attack the problem.

I feel for you as a Bredli is one of the easiest keeps when things are going well.

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Originally Posted by Gio

Keep working on it.

Mites do need a live host to survive but the eggs can continue to hatch without effective treatment. Keep the soaks going and try the reptile spray and run him through a towel with the spray on. Soak again afterwards and repeat the process.

The areas around the eyes, nose and mouth are the tough spots to work on.

Fortunately, I've never had to deal with them so my advice isn't anything more than prevention type advice with some my own thoughts on how to attack the problem.

I feel for you as a Bredli is one of the easiest keeps when things are going well.

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At least with the Bredli I can drop the humidity. It wasn't possible in the small tub, but in this bin humidity is just above 30%. Hopefully that slows the mites down.

I sure am afraid of spreading to my bp though. They'll be harder to eradicate there.