introducing... drake!

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.