Mites!

Hi everyone, i just had two female ball pythons delivered to me, a normal and a lesser, it was 200 dollars for both so i should have thought about the mites situation. they're now in a different room away from the two i currently have

as of right now i'm at school so i don't have a car, what can i do TODAY to help them get rid of the mites? the people brought them in two separate containers one is in a cage type of thing and the other is just a container.

i guess should i start by cleaning their cages completely with watered down bleach? is there anything i can do for the snakes? bath them?

Soak the snakes for a good long while to drown as many of the mites as possible. Assume that your current collection of snakes is likely to get mites as well if you are unable to treat these new ones today.

Short term, soaking the snakes and keeping them on paper towels is your best bet. I'm hoping you have actual cages for them prepared, and you weren't relying on the containers the people brought them in to use as permanent caging options?

You'll want to get actual mite treatment, both a spray for the snakes (reptile relief) and Provent a Mite, as soon as possible. Here's our article on treating mites - honestly, the best and easiest way to get rid of them is to get the right products and start ASAP!

-Jen

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Originally Posted by LLLReptile

Soak the snakes for a good long while to drown as many of the mites as possible. Assume that your current collection of snakes is likely to get mites as well if you are unable to treat these new ones today.

Short term, soaking the snakes and keeping them on paper towels is your best bet. I'm hoping you have actual cages for them prepared, and you weren't relying on the containers the people brought them in to use as permanent caging options?

You'll want to get actual mite treatment, both a spray for the snakes (reptile relief) and Provent a Mite, as soon as possible. Here's our article on treating mites - honestly, the best and easiest way to get rid of them is to get the right products and start ASAP!

-Jen

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i have racks for them so no they definitely weren't going to stay in that. should i treat my current bp's with the reptile relief as well?

Rule of thumb, always treat new additions for mites regardless if they have them or not. It's a good preventative measure.
Soak your mite infested snakes with a drop or two of dish soap.

Take out all enclosure accessories and keep the set up minimal. Paper towel substrate, hide, and water dish.
Everything else should get sanitized in boiling water. Same as the enclosure itself with bleach if you want.

Provent-a-Mite is the best mite treatment. You cannot spray it on the animals themselves, only the enclosure. But it works very well.
Spray down the empty enclosure and wait for it to air dry. I personally dry it out for an hour before putting any animals in.

I do this for all new additions as well as one that I bought with mites. Never saw another mite after the first treatment ever again.

someone told me i can use a brand called nyc lice treatment, the petstores here don't carry reptile relief, and better yet they don't have this nyc lice treatment at our drug store either. can i use a regular lice treatment? the man told me to dilute it with a gallon of water

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Rule of thumb, always treat new additions for mites regardless if they have them or not. It's a good preventative measure.
Soak your mite infested snakes with a drop or two of dish soap.

Take out all enclosure accessories and keep the set up minimal. Paper towel substrate, hide, and water dish.
Everything else should get sanitized in boiling water. Same as the enclosure itself with bleach if you want.

Provent-a-Mite is the best mite treatment. You cannot spray it on the animals themselves, only the enclosure. But it works very well.
Spray down the empty enclosure and wait for it to air dry. I personally dry it out for an hour before putting any animals in.

I do this for all new additions as well as one that I bought with mites. Never saw another mite after the first treatment ever again.

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should i treat my current snakes too?

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Originally Posted by purlaze

someone told me i can use a brand called nyc lice treatment, the petstores here don't carry reptile relief, and better yet they don't have this nyc lice treatment at our drug store either. can i use a regular lice treatment? the man told me to dilute it with a gallon of water

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It's NIX lice treatment, you'll want the 2 oz (59 ml) bottle, mix with one gallon of water to create a 0.5% permethrin solution. You can treat the enclosure with it, just use a clean spray bottle to lightly mist the enclosure, paper towel, and hide (not the water dish!!!), allow everything to dry, and put the snake back into it.

Some people treat the snake with it, but I don't recommend it as people often overdo treatment and then the snake suffers from permethrin poisoning. My vet also didn't recommend it, he said to use a spray like Reptile Relief or just one drop of dish soap in water while they soak is enough to kill off the mites.

ETA: If you get the NIX you'll have enough solution to treat your current snake enclosures and rack as a preventive.

If they're mite free, you don't have to.
But it's a good preventative measure and practice to spray Provent a Mite(pam) in quarantine for new additions.

I've never used Nix before. But some people here have used it with success.

lice treatment sounds to me as if it could be a shampoo to wash furry animals like cats or dogs with, or something to put into the fur. snakes dont have lice, lice live in fur. doesnt seem fitting.


for bathing your snakes, you really just need to add one little drop of dishwasher fluid to the water, that breaks down the surface tension and ensures the mites will drown. i see no need to apply anything else to the snakes.

provent a mite is the quick and easy way to kill all mites in or around the enclosure, but good old hands-on cleaning with hot water and diluted bleach will also do the job.

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Originally Posted by Pythonfriend

lice treatment sounds to me as if it could be a shampoo to wash furry animals like cats or dogs with, or something to put into the fur. snakes dont have lice, lice live in fur. doesnt seem fitting.


for bathing your snakes, you really just need to add one little drop of dishwasher fluid to the water, that breaks down the surface tension and ensures the mites will drown. i see no need to apply anything else to the snakes.

provent a mite is the quick and easy way to kill all mites in or around the enclosure, but good old hands-on cleaning with hot water and diluted bleach will also do the job.

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While I wouldn't use nix personally, it has the same thing that Provent a mite has, Permethrin.

Nothing wrong with using nix, it's been used for many years as a mite treatment and is just as safe as Provent a Mite.

One bottle per gallon...Wipe the snakes down with it...spray the enclosure and bedding with it.

Don't put the new snakes with your other snakes and you should not get mites on them...If you have already put them with your current collection you need to treat everything!

Are you sure they have snake mites? Regardless, I generally treat everything new for mites whether I see them or not. If you can get it, Provent-a-mite is a very good product as long as you follow the directions.

I personally use this, you can get it at walmart.
http://www.repel.com/Products-and-So...hing-Gear.aspx

Spray down the inside of the cage and let it dry thouroughly, keep everything in the quarantine cage simple. No cage furniture, easily cleaned plastic hides, newpaper or paper towel substrate etc... Keep them away from your other snakes for at least a month, many people do it for longer. If they've already been in contact with your other snakes then you should treat everything.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO REPLIED!
me and my friend bathed them twice with fresh water, we added some dish soap and seemed to kill a lot, my friend was able to get a couple out that were half under their scales but it looks like there are still some under it. the poor baby snake is in shed and was scared to death but the older girl seemed to love the soak, she stayed still as we picked some out of her scales.


i think i will wait a couple of days and repeat the process of the cage cleaning and bathing the snakes again

as for them being around my other snakes, they haven't. the first thing i did was take them out of their container and do a mite check then right away i moved them to a different room

How do you know a snake has mites? What are the signs.? I'm curious

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Originally Posted by NYHC4LIFE8899

How do you know a snake has mites? What are the signs.? I'm curious

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A sign is that the snake will soak itself for long periods of time trying to relieve itself.
Mites look like black poppy seeds that crawl on your snake and enclosure. Think miniature ticks. Juvenile mites are reddish brown in color too. They can also be seen between scales, in the vent, and in the heat pits too.

http://home.comcast.net/~mickeysnigh...tes/Mites1.jpg

http://bamboozoo.weebly.com/uploads/...092112.jpg?585

Juvenile mites:
http://bugguide.net/images/cache/50Y...W03R7QORXQ.jpg

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Originally Posted by satomi325

A sign is that the snake will soak itself for long periods of time trying to relieve itself.
Mites look like black poppy seeds that crawl on your snake and enclosure. Think miniature ticks. Juvenile mites are reddish brown in color too. They can also be seen between scales, in the vent, and in the heat pits too.

http://home.comcast.net/~mickeysnigh...tes/Mites1.jpg

http://bamboozoo.weebly.com/uploads/...092112.jpg?585

Juvenile mites:
http://bugguide.net/images/cache/50Y...W03R7QORXQ.jpg

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Thnx for being so helpful,appreciate it. Yeah man, my snake is all good.

the mites on my snakes are not nearly as bad as that, that looks horrible!
anyways, so i was handling one of them today and i saw a mite crawling on it's back so there still are some there that were hiding under their scales..can i use a half olive oil and half water solution to soak them in? i heard this suffocates the mites..i'd leave them in the containers for half hour then rinse them with water and dish soap then rinse again with water as well as clean out the containers they live in

i'm just checking cause i heard olive oil will give them scale rot?

any oil or oil based products will cause the individual scales to soften and slough off. so I would say no

I had my Normal girl get bit by a mouse and Used neosporin on it and I was dealing with a mess in the tank for the next 3 weeks of the individual scales everywhere

The only way to get rid of mites is to use poison. The other ways like soaking and covering with oils (which I don't think is good for the snake anyway) is only a temporary measure, it will kill a lot of mites but it won't get them all and then you'll be re-infested over and over and over again. The ONLY way that I know of to eradicate a mite infestation is to use poisons like Provent-a-mite or nix or repel.

yeah but you are not supposed to use provent a mite on the BP.

so you use the poison to kill all mites in or around the enclosure, and about the ones on the snake, most will drown, some will crawl off the snake and into the enclosure where remaining traces of provent-a-mite kill them, and some parts of the snake will come into direct enough contact to the provent-a-mite residue that mites get killed.

basically you drive down the numbers of the mites on the bp to such a low level that the population just fizzles out. maybe because you get lucky and all female mites or all male mites die out, or you keep killing them before they reach sexual maturity. thats good enough, extinct is extinct. keep killing off the subadult and adult mites and population will sooner or later completely collapse.

i would not use something toxic directly on the snake skin, if you use anything other than extremely diluted soap water, have it be a mild disinfectant that is safe to use on a snake like a diluted betadine solution, not a poison. worst case scenario, when things go wrong with a mild disinfectant, is skin irritation / skin damage. if you use poison on the snake, if things go wrong, worst case is a dead snake. if you follow the instructions of provent-a-mite, the instructions say you are not supposed to use it directly on the snake.

and if the instructions say one thing, which is to not use it directly on the reptile, and someone on a forum says something else, i think the safe thing is to follow the instructions to the letter.

i did not find the original instructions on paper, google didnt help, but i did find this:

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

it does not explicitly say to not use it on the reptile. (i think the actual instructions do say it explicitly and also say to wait until it has dried and the smell is gone before returning the reptile). But it says that it works by using it on the substrate, and then the product stays active and continues to kill mites in the substrate for 30 days. it says you spray for one second per square foot of substrate.

it says that while no product, not even provent-a-mite, can kill the eggs, the mechanism is that the baby mites get killed as they hatch by the still active provent-a-mite in the substrate and before they have a chance to get to your reptile.

and my google search also uncovered threads like: "help! provent a mite killed 2 of my snakes!" . i guess thats what can happen if you dont follow the instructions, go guerilla, and use it directly on the snake.

so thats what i patched together, unfortunately without the official instructions:

take out the reptile, then spray for 1 second per square foot only on the areas covered with substrate. dont spray naked areas. then wait for the smell to go away and for the product to dry. maybe an hour? then, return the reptile. it will continue to kill mites for 30 days, after 30 days you can repeat the process if necessary.

of course if it turns out the instructions of provent-a-mite say something else, then i am wrong and the instructions are right.

You are right. However, he never said to use PAM *on* the snakes. Just to use it to kill mites in general.

Smh......

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I don't think anyone has suggested using Provent a Mite directly on the snake - in fact, most people will tell you precisely NOT to do that.

We recommend Provent a Mite for the cage, and reptile relief to treat the snake itself. The Reptile Relief is a specific type of poison dilute enough to be safe to use on your snake in small amounts. Obviously, overdoing it can cause problems, like with any parasite treatment.

However, spraying provent a mite directly on the snake is not something we recommend at all. I've heard of keepers who do so, but it's risky and can cause neurological damage with your animals. I always let cages air out for at least half an hour, if not longer, with provent a mite, and soak the snake(s) in water for 5 to 10 minutes before and after treatment with Reptile Relief to ensure they are fully hydrated.

-Jen

oh, ok, sorry, then i misinterpreted the post :)

i must have misread it then, i really believed he was implying to use it on the snake.

Yes, I never said or implied that you should put PAM or other poisons ON a snake, I didn't include that in my post because I though it would be obvious. I've been keeping reptiles for a very long time and sometimes I forget that what may be obvious to me may not be obvious to those that are newer to the hobby. My apologies if anyone misinterpreted what I said.

I have used NIX with great results. Received a BP and it had Mites. Three treatments, each five days apart, of the snake, empty enclosure (threw out any substrate/paper towels each time), as well as all necessary items going back into the enclosure (plastic plants, water bowl, hide, etc)) and we were mite free. Only saw a few the first time, so might have been lucky, but treated aggressively nonetheless. Haven't seen another since.

You get two 2oz bottles for around $15.00 at WalMart. Each bottle is mixed with one gallon of distilled water. After all of the above treatment sessions I still have almost 3/4's of the first gallon remaining so it will last quite a while. Be sure to clearly and properly label the containers before placing them in storage!

Do not let the snake soak in the NIX mixture as some report. Just spray thoroughly, let it dry, and then put the snake it lukewarm water for a rinse. Have not had any problems nor seen any adverse reaction from the snake.

Good luck!

alright so i've done two mite treatments with nix so far, completely emptying, spraying snake, paper towels that are in the enclosure along with the whole bin as well. My baby lesser shed and i can't spot a mite on her even under her belly, but the paper towel roll she likes to curl on has blood spots all over it? there's a couple black flakes on the paper towel so i'm not sure what the random blood spots mean??

as for the other normal girl i have, they've really been attached to her, i haven't spotted a live mite on the baby but a couple days ago i found a couple live ones on the normal. will it help a lot once she sheds? the lesser shed and since then i haven't found a live mite. i'm wondering if the third treatment will finally get rid of them? also - yesterday i'm sure there was a white speck on the lessers eye does that have anything to do with mites?

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Originally Posted by Saber402

I have used NIX with great results. Received a BP and it had Mites. Three treatments, each five days apart, of the snake, empty enclosure (threw out any substrate/paper towels each time), as well as all necessary items going back into the enclosure (plastic plants, water bowl, hide, etc)) and we were mite free. Only saw a few the first time, so might have been lucky, but treated aggressively nonetheless. Haven't seen another since.

You get two 2oz bottles for around $15.00 at WalMart. Each bottle is mixed with one gallon of distilled water. After all of the above treatment sessions I still have almost 3/4's of the first gallon remaining so it will last quite a while. Be sure to clearly and properly label the containers before placing them in storage!

Do not let the snake soak in the NIX mixture as some report. Just spray thoroughly, let it dry, and then put the snake it lukewarm water for a rinse. Have not had any problems nor seen any adverse reaction from the snake.

Good luck!

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yikes! i never rinsed them, is that bad? i was following this PDF instruction i found on when i typed in "nix for snake mites"

I would rinse the snake. Personally I never apply permethrin products directly onto my snakes - just the enclosure and hides - and won't advise others to do it either. I use the reptile sprays designed for that purpose as it's too easy to poison your snake with permethrin.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Rule of thumb, always treat new additions for mites regardless if they have them or not. It's a good preventative measure.
Soak your mite infested snakes with a drop or two of dish soap.

Take out all enclosure accessories and keep the set up minimal. Paper towel substrate, hide, and water dish.
Everything else should get sanitized in boiling water. Same as the enclosure itself with bleach if you want.

Provent-a-Mite is the best mite treatment. You cannot spray it on the animals themselves, only the enclosure. But it works very well.
Spray down the empty enclosure and wait for it to air dry. I personally dry it out for an hour before putting any animals in.

I do this for all new additions as well as one that I bought with mites. Never saw another mite after the first treatment ever again.

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i found none today at the expo..so I just bought a bottle off eBay.. Cost $30.00. Don't know if it's a rip off or not ,but eBay and PayPal is the only way I buy off the web...either way it's 30 well spent and safe to have.

Sorry to go on a different question, but how do mites get on snakes? Are they brought in from other snakes? Or can my ball right now who has none just one day have mites if I keep him in his cage and clean? I don't understand how they get there...

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Originally Posted by Tunechi

Sorry to go on a different question, but how do mites get on snakes? Are they brought in from other snakes? Or can my ball right now who has none just one day have mites if I keep him in his cage and clean? I don't understand how they get there...

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ways i know of are substrate that you buy from the store, or going to a petstore where theres mites and them clinging onto your clothes