Getting over aversion to water

So I will be giving my baby a "bath" every day for the next 30-50 days. This is due to a mite eradication effort. I gave her the first of many last night and she really, really really didn't like it. She was flailing around and trying to get as much of her body out of the water as possible and I felt so bad about putting her in there.
Do they ever start to calm down when you put them in there? If not, these "baths" are going to take their toll on me.

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I suggest picking up a can of PAM, it would make your life a lot easier in terms of getting rid of mites.

Heres the link: http://www.pro-products.com/index.ph...d=53&Itemid=59

Just putting your snake in water won't get rid of mites...

I read you other thread about your BP's Vet visit and you issue with the mites. I'm sorry for your BP has mites, but I have to say the advise your Vet gave you is not the best.

What you really need to do is go online and purchase some Provent A Mite (PAM) and use as directed.

Soaking your snake in Dawn every day for the next 50 days is complete crap advise. It's going to stress your snake, cause the most screwed up sheds you can imagine, and might not get rid of the mites....it's certainly won't kill the eggs that are being dropped in the enclosure.

I don't want to trash on your Vet too much because I'm sure he or she means well, but they just have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to getting rid of mites.

If you do a simple search on the word 'mites', you will know more about the subject than your Vet in about 30 minutes.

THIS is a very informative article about how to deal with them.

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Originally Posted by Slim

I read you other thread about your BP's Vet visit and you issue with the mites. I'm sorry for your BP has mites, but I have to say the advise your Vet gave you is not the best.

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I apologize for my botch job of the English language. I failed to do a proper proof read before hitting submit. Really wish we could extend that 10 minute edit time a little bit…

They do not like being in water typically. I agree with everyone else, not the greatest advice from your vet. Order some Pam, it is supposed to be the best. Reptile basics also carries a Reptile relief that is supposed to work. The only reason you should soak your snake is every few days with a drop of dawn, to provide your snake relief until the Pam arrives. Soakng is not good for them. Make sure you follow the directions on the pam. Good luck on your battle.

That sounds like way, way too much bathing and I'm confused as to why a vet would "prescribe" that method. Like Slim said it's going to cause really bad sheds and who knows what other health problems, while not solving the mites.

Definitely recommend PAM instead.

Some snakes (and MOST ball pythons, it seems) absolutely despise being put in water. They don't need them except to remove stuck shed.

I don't think your vet gave you good advice on your mites. More like, "I don't know what I'm doing but I can't let this person know that." advice.

The tank doesn't need any "medicine" to wash it with. Your snake is going to be done a lot of harm and very little good with daily baths. Worst of all, if you subject her to all of this, you are STILL going to have mites!

Please reconsider the advice on treatment you were given. I have had mite outbreaks before, and believe me if one snake is bad, 25 is a nightmare!

What I do is this :

Bag all of the snakes in individual snake bags and put them somewhere safe while I work. Completely empty the tubs, scraping out any bedding if necessary. Wash each tub with soap and hot water and dry them thoroughly. Take the tubs outside on the lawn to finish air drying the cracks and crevices a towel cannot reach. Once the tubs are completely dry, spray a light mist of Provent-a-Mite into each tub. Let the tubs air dry for 30 minutes. I add a layer of bedding to each tub, then spray the bedding lightly with Provent-a-Mite and let dry for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, I spray the racks, walls and floor around the rack for a minimum of 24" around the racks with the PAM and let dry for 30 minutes. If possible, I open a window in the snake room because the stuff is strong and will give you a headache if you breathe it in too long.

Once the rack has dried for 30 minutes, I put the clean, treated tubs back in the rack, minus the hides and water bowls. Those get run through the dishwasher while I'm spraying tubs.

I take each snake out of it's bag and give them a bath. ONE bath. I use room temperature water and a few drops of baby shampoo. I soap each snake like it was me in the shower and rinse each one thoroughly. I dry them gently with a towel, then spray each snake with Reptile Relief spray, wetting each one completely. I put the snake back into the treated tub and leave them to dry. The water dishes and hides go back after 3 hours.

I've only had to take this extreme measure a few times. In between I just use PAM on a monthly basis as a preventative measure.

Gale

The link I gave you on your last thread was very informative and has helped me solve mite issues a couple times....
Being soaked everyday is going to be very stressful as I had mentioned before.

In the event that you do need to give baths, I find that placing a towel or something to give 'traction' seems to calm them down a lot.

I agree that you should drop the cash on a can of PAM and save yourself the headache and save your pet the misery.

I feel I need to clarify for those who have not read my other thread. He gave me a medical solution to clean my tank with every 10 days. I meant to put the name of it in the thread yesterday but was very late getting out of school last night and came home, gave Kiva her bath (which she really didnt like) and went to bed. The bathing is with dawn 3 times a week and with regular water the 2 days in between. I really dont want to do that to her every day for the next 30 days (at the least). I dont want to completely disregard the instructions that he gave me but i do think it is a little extreme. I did break down the tank tuesday night when i got home from the vet and it was washed with the medical solution. The solution is added 2ccs per liter of water, into a sprayer. The tank only has paper towels down for bedding, a cereal bowl with water in it, and 2 cardboard hides that i made from boxes laying around the house. The only thing in her tank that is familiar for her is the acurite meter and she has been found wrapped around it (it is near the top of the tank) for the last few days when my fiancee vets home from work around 1 pm. All her other furniture has to go through the dishwasher on a sanitizing rinse and is in trashbags in my laundry room right now. I know she is not happy and has to be really uncomfortable (she had mites crawling out of her vent for goddess sake). There has to be a way to do this without water torture. Thats what i feel like im doing to her as of last night with the reaction she had to the water.
I will be looking into the PAM and reptirelief when i get home today. My fiancee wont be happy with me ignoring the vets advice but i dont want Kiva to hate me.

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First do you know the temp of the water? Normally when it's too hot or too cold they don't enjoy it much. A good water temp is 85-88.f for a bath. Secondly I do think the vet is going a bit extreme. And I'll agree with what other have said with the pam. Grab yourself a can. Maybe do a couple baths and save yourself a Ton of trouble.


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Tell him to read the replies you are getting here. Most of the people who posted have first-hand experience with mites. There have been countless times where I have seen members post about their snake colonies or a few of their snakes getting infested with mites, some cases were really bad too, and all of them were solved quite painlessly with PAM.

Trust me, Kiva will hate you if you bathe her 5 days a week to no avail, but she will love you forever and ever if you get some Provent a Mite as soon as you can. ;) I even keep a can just for emergencies. A word of caution, PAM is really strong so make sure you follow the directions and dont hesitate to ask questions when you get it in the mail.

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Originally Posted by Brokenangelr

I feel I need to clarify for those who have not read my other thread. He gave me a medical solution to clean my tank with every 10 days. I meant to put the name of it in the thread yesterday but was very late getting out of school last night and came home, gave Kiva her bath (which she really didnt like) and went to bed. The bathing is with dawn 3 times a week and with regular water the 2 days in between. I really dont want to do that to her every day for the next 30 days (at the least). I dont want to completely disregard the instructions that he gave me but i do think it is a little extreme. I did break down the tank tuesday night when i got home from the vet and it was washed with the medical solution. The solution is added 2ccs per liter of water, into a sprayer. The tank only has paper towels down for bedding, a cereal bowl with water in it, and 2 cardboard hides that i made from boxes laying around the house. The only thing in her tank that is familiar for her is the acurite meter and she has been found wrapped around it (it is near the top of the tank) for the last few days when my fiancee vets home from work around 1 pm. All her other furniture has to go through the dishwasher on a sanitizing rinse and is in trashbags in my laundry room right now. I know she is not happy and has to be really uncomfortable (she had mites crawling out of her vent for goddess sake). There has to be a way to do this without water torture. Thats what i feel like im doing to her as of last night with the reaction she had to the water.
I will be looking into the PAM and reptirelief when i get home today. My fiancee wont be happy with me ignoring the vets advice but i dont want Kiva to hate me.

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The thing of it is about ignoring the vet, is it doesn't sound like this is reptile vet, or one who specializes in herps and snakes. You would get much different advice from one who does. Sometimes you have to be the judge of what is right for your animal.

The funny thing is, he was one of the reptile vets at a local exotic vet. I am going to pick up some pam. I may see if there is anywhere local to me that sells it. I do want to stick with the tank cleaning that was suggested. I will post the name of the medical solution when i get home. But she is not getting those baths. The one last night was torture for me to watch my baby flailing around like she was dying. I cant imagine how it is for her.

In conclusion, I am picking up some PAM, ending the daily bath, and will probably continue the tank cleaning as suggested unless there is a better way. Def posting the med when i get home.

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There is a very simple solution to this like everyone has pointed out. Clean out the cage with soap and water, put in bedding, spray with P-A-M, put snake in, mites gone, reapply to bedding a couple weeks later if it makes you feel better. One treatment and mites gone, pretty simple. Make sure you follow the directions on the PAM and I would only recommend one soak to kill the live mites that are currently on your snake. PAM will take care of the ones that hatch later. Goodluck. Also your vet gave you horrible advice even though it seems to be well intended.

Yea. She's my first little one (first of many once the living arrangement allows for more) and i want her to be happy. Last night, she was not. I will not be buying from an expo again if i can help it.
I am always cruising the forums here and recognize the experience and suggestions that everyone who posts here has. If i didnt, i would be dunking my baby everyday and not asking for advice.

Thanks so much to everyone for the advice and friendly atmosphere.
Going to buy some PAM when im not bus surfing (aka standing on a commuter bus)

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What is the medical solution that he prescribed?
I know of a couple vets that are trying to get people to stop using Pam, it contain Pyrethrins, a neuro toxin that if used wrong is very toxic.
My vet recommend using a fipronil spray and treating the enclosure in the same way one would use Pam.
But my vet never recommended soaking like, and like everyone above said, that much soaking is bad news.

Just got home. The medicine is called Eprexin. Going online and ordering some pam and shipping it next day if possible

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ok, just ordered a provent a mite/reptile relief combo from reptile geeks. Unfortunately I could not find anyone who ships next day so....4-6 days it is. Hopefully she'll eat tomorrow after her torture yesterday. I still feel really bad about having to do that to her and I'm glad there are alternatives to it. She's hanging out in her very bare tank right now. I'm going to be heading over to my mom's this weekend to clean all of the tank furniture in her dishwasher. She says it has a sanitizing wash cycle. I will keep everyone posted on the extermination. She should be going into shed soon too. This will be her first shed with me and I'm really looking forward to how she will look after the shed :D

Thanks again to everyone for their great advice. I'm sure Kiva appreciates it too

You are welcome! Your baby well be good as new soon.

You should have taken the stuff from the cage outside and cleaned it immediately, not set it all in your laundry room...Your spreading the mites and mite eggs all around your house at this point...

Clean everything with bleach and water...No dishwasher needed!

Its not just sitting in my laundry room. They are in bags and will get washed this weekend. I was going to take them to my moms but she is getting out of a bad living situation this weekend hopefully. I work all day and that has prevented me from washing them already. They were removed the day I was told about the mites and the bedding (which was cypress mulch) came out and went in the trash that day also. I scrubbed it out with the medicine solution and she went back in it the following morning. I ordered the PAM and reptile relief yesterday and it will come in 7-10 days since it is coming from the west coast and the vendor did not have any faster shipping options.

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I'm glad you realize we are trying to help, and not just a bunch of loud mouths spouting off about nothing.

We only have the best intentions for you and your baby. Keep an eye on her, if you see a lot of mites on the paper towels before your PAM comes in, it's ok to give her another quick bath for temporary relief.

She might deal with my method better than a soak. I have the water running gently, get my hand wet, use my hand to wet the snake, then use a few drops of baby shampoo in my hand and run my hands over the snake. Then I only need to rinse and it goes much faster, not to mention the few I have that really don't like baths deal with this method better.

Gale

You said youll never buy from an expo again. Why is that? Are you 100% sure you bought the snake with mites? Because theres a chance that they coulda came from the cypress mulch or maybe somewhere else...

Glad to hear the PAM is on the way. Thats the best way to get rid of mites by far.

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Originally Posted by Brokenangelr

i dont want Kiva to hate me.

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Your snake will never hate you or love you, no need to worry.

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Originally Posted by Maixx

I know of a couple vets that are trying to get people to stop using Pam, it contain Pyrethrins, a neuro toxin that if used wrong is very toxic.

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Maybe these vets should encourage people to follow directions instead...

Just an update. I have nit seen any mites in the paper towels. I will check her on sunday though. Today was feeding day and she ate! She eats like a champ too. I got really lucky in that regard.
I may have been a little emotional when I said that I will never buy from an expo again. I just know to really inspect the animal first next time.
Thanks again for all the advice! I really appreciate it

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So I went to pull the baby out today to see how she was and check for mites. Picked up the hide, and she's in blue! I put a quick humid hide together for her since the ambient humidity is about 44%. I know that's not great but its the best I can do for now. Hopefully we will have a good shed soon. This will be my first shed. How long do they take from going blue to the shed? I know every snake is different but what is the average?

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about a week, in a few days her eyes will return to normal, and a few days after that she will actually shed.

I will be on the lookout. Thanks

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Kiva shed last night. Found it in one nice piece this morning when I woke up. Unwrapped it to check for the eyecaps. Looks like a very successful shed to me. Im a little relieved since i was very sure that it would not go well. Now, onto the mite issue. Pam and RR are still en route. I wish they had offered a faster shipping method.

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The PAM and reptile relief were delivered today. I just finished reading the directions PAM. It says to use it with the substrate, but I plan on keeping the paper towels in. Should I spray it over the paper towels or take those out too when I take the tank outside and spray it?

With the paper towels I would just spray the tub.

Maybe someone who uses them can chime in here.

Gale

That was my thought too. Why keep something in there that is going to hold onto the toxic fumes?

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