Mites on Rodents?!?

Ok so I'm sure we've all heard of(but hopefully not dealt with) Mites on Snakes. But what about mites on rodents/warm blooded animals. I recently found out about them the hard way! I purchased some ASF's from a local pet store. I ended up having one extra. It was a female so I decided to just toss it in one of my colony. A few weeks go by and I notice the ASf's are real lethargic. It turns out they were infected by a diffrent type of mite other than the traditional reptile mite. Well the good news is they were no harm to my snakes. The bad news is they were getting on me and EATING ME ALIVE!! I tried treating them with very little sucess and just decided to feed them all off. I bought 20 ASF's from the same store (dumb move)and started brand new colonys a little over a month ago. These rodents appeared fine and mite free but now I'm starting to see the little buggers again.

So now I have a bunch of pregnant ASF's I don't want to feed off. Has anyone else had this experience? What is the best way to treat this problem?

When I bring in new blood for my colony (though I haven't in a long time) what I do is just like what I do with new snakes, I quarantine them treat the enclosure with PAM (Never had any mite problems.

Get Iver-on. You can get it from Tractor Supply, and other feed stores. 1-2 weeks of treatment will knock the socks off of your mites. It's like $30 a bottle, but it'll last you a life time's worth of rodents.

Dilute the medication 1 part meds to 4 parts water, and take an eye dropper to put a squirt on each animal you have.
Do this for 2 weeks, every other day. I'd also suggest using it once a month after that, as a preventitive medication. It will also de-worm your animals, and prevent fleas as well.

The medicine is safe for newborns as well, so don't hesitate to get them a little wet too.

I'm treating for mites right now (that came in in a bag of bedding) and after 2 days of treatment, the mites are already abandoning ship. :D

Just wanted to bump this up. Anyone else had this experience? If not I'll head to tractor supply and pick up some of the Iver-on.

I mean, you can use Advantage and other flea and tick meds meant for dogs and cats, but it's FAR more exspensive, for far less medication. :P

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Originally Posted by Deborah

When I bring in new blood for my colony (though I haven't in a long time) what I do is just like what I do with new snakes, I quarantine them treat the enclosure with PAM (Never had any mite problems.

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When you say PAM are you refering to the cooking spray or Prevent-a-mite?

Provent-a-mite.

Ok well PROVENT-a-mite is for use in reptile enclosures for common snake mites. Would it be appropriate to use for my ASF tanks?

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Originally Posted by RhacHead

Ok well PROVENT-a-mite is for use in reptile enclosures for common snake mites. Would it be appropriate to use for my ASF tanks?

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Yes, I have done it preventively with new incoming rats that I put and QT and never had any problem.

Use it the exact same way.

provent a mite will KILL ANY insect or arachnid lol so yes it would work, a lot better than the other stuff too, with only 1 application and for cheaper. so id say go with it

I still use diluted Nix solution...cheaper and just as effective.

P.A.M works great. I use it once a month on all my reptile enclosures.

For rodents, I use either Enforcer flea spray or Hot Shot BedBug/Flea Spray, both come in a gallon spray jug for under $15. I dump it in a pump sprayer but I have hundreds of cages... I spray each cage, inside perimeter every week when I clean. No mites, and safe for the animals, be it pet or food...
Both of those brands use permitherin, same as PAM, just a lower dosage.
Note however, this will not "solve" your problem right away. Mites are tricky little buggers that really move. They do not feed on us, but that doesn't stop them from trying us out. Thus, they are always moving, and impossible to irradicate by spraying unless you have your entire house sprayed. That is not an option for me, as I own a pet store, and it will kill fish and birds... But, if you keep the rodent cages sprayed, after a few weeks, they have nothing to feed on, and either die or move along(not sure which).

Can you tell I've dealt with this problem before over and over?;) It took me a couple of years to figure out that the PAM I'd been using for years in my reptile enclosures would work for rodents too... Then it was just moving to a cheaper, dilluted version of PAM...
I've tried everything from Ivermectin to dry ice. The only product I use now is Permitherin. Cheap, and easy to get at almost any hardware store.
Of course, the government is reading this as we speak, and will now ban Permitherin.:tears: