Mites in eyes and heat pits.

Hey all so i posted the other day about a bp i got for a guy ...who come to find out is pretty sick... The vet found a couple mites on tuesday but i wasnt seeing any but i treated her and everything i read said i should be seeing dead ones...well i havent i just have her a reallllly good look over and they are all in her eyes and pits... How do i treat them in those areas...??
Thanks.

Sorry from a guy. And the snake is very sick

Im very sorry to hear that, i wish mites went extinct. Anyways, i used a mix of lice medicine and water, i sprayed the whole body but the head, eyes and pits i rubbed with my hand, making sure no to get the mix in the snake's mouth

Remember what i said, you have to treat the cage before putting the snake in, and you gotta treat the snake before she goes back into a clean tank

The mites migrated to the eyes and heat pits because of the "soaks" you do.

Like its been mentioned, if you have a spray such as "Provent a mite" , you treat the cage, and the mites will die eventually.

Now... You want to run it by the vet to make sure that whatever else he has given you or making you use will be safe in conjunction. The poor snake is weakened with all it is going through.

You always want to be careful to use more then one product when getting rid of mites or external parasites. You CAN overdose that way. Usually you should stick to one product at a time, esp. if it contains permethrins or pyrethrins.

When it comes to mites I prefer sprays such as provent a mite, where you treat the enclosure and it kills the mites on the snake.

So read the instructions and ingredients on the items the vet gave you, and if any have a "lingering" effect, then wait for a bit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gc99

Remember what i said, you have to treat the cage before putting the snake in, and you gotta treat the snake before she goes back into a clean tank

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Yea i did the cage and her looks like ill have to redo it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zina10

The mites migrated to the eyes and heat pits because of the "soaks" you do.

Like its been mentioned, if you have a spray such as "Provent a mite" , you treat the cage, and the mites will die eventually.

Now... You want to run it by the vet to make sure that whatever else he has given you or making you use will be safe in conjunction. The poor snake is weakened with all it is going through.

You always want to be careful to use more then one product when getting rid of mites or external parasites. You CAN overdose that way. Usually you should stick to one product at a time, esp. if it contains permethrins or pyrethrins.

When it comes to mites I prefer sprays such as provent a mite, where you treat the enclosure and it kills the mites on the snake.

So read the instructions and ingredients on the items the vet gave you, and if any have a "lingering" effect, then wait for a bit.

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Oh well look at that. Hmmm ok i just thought i would see some dead ones by now and i havent seen any except the ones i can find on her and can squish.
Yea i was told the lice product should be fine but she put her head in the water multiple times as well....was she just not staying inder long enough to affect them then? Ugh i just wanna make her better right now 😩:tears:

She put her head under water? I dont understand, did you soak her in the lice medicine with water?

If whatever mite treatment ( PAM, or lice treatment) is effective it should kill all the mites ON the snake, so the only way for them to get back on them is if there are still some left in the cage

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gc99

If whatever mite treatment ( PAM, or lice treatment) is effective it should kill all the mites ON the snake, so the only way for them to get back on them is if there are still some left in the cage

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She put her head under water during the soaks the vet had me do.. When i did the lice treatmemt today there was only one mite in the tub after the 20 min. The cage was totally washed out(power washed) and bleached. The bleach sat in there for about 20 min as well.. I didnt see anything on her. Then a bit ago i had to take her out to do her other medication for RI amd mouth rot and i noticed something on her eye....so when i looked closer at her whole head her eyes are full of mites and her pits.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gc99

She put her head under water? I dont understand, did you soak her in the lice medicine with water?

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If you find the post "sand in bp mouth" you can see her condition and everything. She's got a mess of issues...and with her mouth being so pale we really want the mites give asap

What you did was sanitize the cage. Not treat it for mites ;)

The way the "cage treatment" works is by taking the water bowl out of the cage (or tub) as well as the snake, but leaving everything else in. You then spray LIGHTLY.

Its been about 10 years or so that I had to treat a tub, so I'm not sure anymore how much you spray. But it was not much at all.

You then let it dry. (doesn't take long). After dry, you put the water bowl AND snake back into the cage. As the snake slithers through the cage, it comes into contact with the "stuff", there is a light coating all over and that seems to be enough to kill the mites in the enclosure and on the snake. It seems to be somewhat in the "air" as well.

I remember it was important not to go overboard with how much you use and it was important to leave the snake and water OUT until everything was dry.

That is the "cage" treatment. Those sprays contain permetherine's . Which is safe, as long as you use it exactly as you should, and also don't double up by using different products at the same time, esp. if they use the same ingredients.

With that method you use nothing directly on the snake, yet it seems to work wonderfully. And it keeps working for a while , so no need to re-apply often.

http://pro-products.com/provent-a-mite/

Here is a link to show the product as well as explain it.

Yes, i would say do it again, bleach the cage and scrub the cracks, boil anything that your bp uses, and then do the lice treatment. Can you tell me how you did it? I still reccomend spraying the body, rubbing the head carfeully, and then placing the snake in a deli cup (if she fits, if not get something bigger) but it has to be small so that she cant rub off the medicine and all the mites get exposed to it. When u mix the water and lice medicine it should be strong enough to kill the mites but you dont want it pure, when i did it the mix looked kind of soapy, with some small bubbles, and i only had to do it once and all the mites are gone. I dont reccomend soaking, because the mites will keep going to the head

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zina10

What you did was sanitize the cage. Not treat it for mites ;)

The way the "cage treatment" works is by taking the water bowl out of the cage (or tub) as well as the snake, but leaving everything else in. You then spray LIGHTLY.

Its been about 10 years or so that I had to treat a tub, so I'm not sure anymore how much you spray. But it was not much at all.

You then let it dry. (doesn't take long). After dry, you put the water bowl AND snake back into the cage. As the snake slithers through the cage, it comes into contact with the "stuff", there is a light coating all over and that seems to be enough to kill the mites in the enclosure and on the snake. It seems to be somewhat in the "air" as well.

I remember it was important not to go overboard with how much you use and it was important to leave the snake and water OUT until everything was dry.

That is the "cage" treatment. Those sprays contain permetherine's . Which is safe, as long as you use it exactly as you should, and also don't double up by using different products at the same time, esp. if they use the same ingredients.

With that method you use nothing directly on the snake, yet it seems to work wonderfully. And it keeps working for a while , so no need to re-apply often.

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Ha ok. Well boy i guess always having to learn something.

Ok so ill double check with the vet and make sure i can use the prevent a mite (correct?) And then do that..cause he has me doing basically the same thing but with this other stuff but i havent seen anything in the cage.

Im sorry im a dipstick with this..i havent had to deal with this before. 😔 and i get the heebie jeebies with bugs so yea its not helping ive been thinking about mites for days now.

When i was at the vet tho he did say i got very good advice on here as far as what to do with her until i got her in to see him so keep the good stuff coming !!☺

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gc99

Yes, i would say do it again, bleach the cage and scrub the cracks, boil anything that your bp uses, and then do the lice treatment. Can you tell me how you did it? I still reccomend spraying the body, rubbing the head carfeully, and then placing the snake in a deli cup (if she fits, if not get something bigger) but it has to be small so that she cant rub off the medicine and all the mites get exposed to it. When u mix the water and lice medicine it should be strong enough to kill the mites but you dont want it pure, when i did it the mix looked kind of soapy, with some small bubbles, and i only had to do it once and all the mites are gone. I dont reccomend soaking, because the mites will keep going to the head

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I did it exactly How you instructed. But maybe the tub was a bit to big? Shes a good size lady so hard to find stuff to put her in that will be tight but not to big...

As far as the soaking goes we have to do it .. She has about 3 eye caps left on her eyes...so the vet instructed me to soak her 15 min a day until her next shed because we have thw humiditiy so low in the cage for the RI.... He wants her to stay at about 20-30% humiditiy so idk i guess.

Well, i didnt know about the eye caps, keep the soakings going then. When i had to deal with mites my baby fit in a deli container so it was pretty easy for me. What was the consistency of the mixture you used? How did it look? If you going to treat her for mites, make sure not to soak her for 24 hours and just leave her with the treatment on her (get the ones on her head)

Also, just my opinion, if my bp had mites, and retained eye caps, and an RI, i would leave the eye caps as my last priority, focusing more on the RI, because for an RI you need low humidity and for eye caps you need high humidity, its kinda conflicting to treat them at the same time, and as we know, eye caps are not life threatening, an RI is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gc99

Also, just my opinion, if my bp had mites, and retained eye caps, and an RI, i would leave the eye caps as my last priority, focusing more on the RI, because for an RI you need low humidity and for eye caps you need high humidity, its kinda conflicting to treat them at the same time, and as we know, eye caps are not life threatening, an RI is.

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Yea. I've never had to deal with any of this before.. So took her to the vet and this is his plan so idk what is best for her at this point... I think im just thinking about everything to much and letting it overwhelm me😔

I know how that can be. I was dreaming of mites killing my snake for a straight week, i was going crazy. Just keep treating her, and i hope she recovers

Now I'm confused.

I've always heard that higher humidity is better to treat a RI. Not wet substrate, just higher humidity overall.

Mites won't kill the snake, neither will eye caps.

Treating the mouth rot and RI is absolute first order.

You "can" treat for the mites as well, just make sure you don't overwhelm the snake's system. Any mite treatment IS poison. Its just "save" if used correctly.
But you can do damage by doubling up or using to much, just like what can happen with dogs and cats if you use more then one flea treatment. So pick something and stick with it...if you want to try something else, let a few days go by or ask the Vet and on our forums whether that combo is safe.

Last thing you need is to add neurological damage to the snake at this point ;)

Don't get overwhelmed. The snake didn't get into this bad shape within a couple of days (no matter what former owner says) and it will take more then a couple of days to fix it back up.
But you will get there. Slow and steady !!

Agreed. Mouth rot and RI come first. And you can do the mite treatment as well, but not too much, if anything once a week