How did your snake get mites?

I have been reading numerous old threads in order to research the prevention of snake mites, especially where they come from. While most threads indicate that mites usually come from a living host (i.e. a snake or other reptile), I did find numerous threads that claimed that mites can spread in other ways, such as from store-bought bedding. I hope to hear from your experiences on how and where your snake got mite, and the likelihood of getting mites from the different possible ways. Thanks!

My snake does not have mites, but as you can tell, I am very paranoid about getting them :)

Tim

I’ve had the displeasure of bringing in mites from a new purchase many years ago. It tends to makes you even more vigilant after fighting the little demon-spawn. When I had a large collection (42), in addition to quarantining all new purchases, I also pre-treated my cages with a product similar to Provent-a-mite. I did not pre-treat any of this years’ new additions, but did go over them very carefully at purchase and again at home. It’s also handy to rub a damp paper towel over their skin as you will likely dislodge at least a few and they are easy to spot against a white background. That’s also one reason many keepers put new purchases on paper towels or unprinted newspaper. The mites show up better and these substrates are easier to clean versus natural bedding.

It also helps to know your seller. With the exception of Artemis, who I bought off CL, I’ve done business with the other breeders off and on for years. I know they are diligent in caring for their collections, so I have a bit more confidence that I won’t bring anything home. That said, snakes from them are treated exactly the same for pre-checks and quarantine as for anyone else. It doesn’t hurt to be cautious.

As the old saying goes an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Treat everything that isn't yours as if it was infested.

I've had mites show up twice. Both times it was new purchases that were still in quarantine. Keeping them on paper towels while in quarantine helps to catch the outbreak early.

If I go to a show with animals, they will get wiped down with reptile spray after the show before they go back into their enclosure. Clothes come of and go directly into the washer, then I shower.

I help tend to another keepers collection too. She has had mites 3 maybe 4 times. First time I found them on a snake was right after I started helping her. They were on a snake she had purchased several months prior. She didn't know they were mites and just thought they were bugs. The infestation was pretty bad. That snake got isolated and treated but unfortunately some mites or eggs managed to get into another enclosure that was nearby. So a few weeks later that snake had to get isolated and treated too.

Recently the same person acquired a retic and a month later a burm. Despite my recommendations neither was quarantined. The retic was fine up until the burn showed up. The previous owner of the burm dropped it off and apparently had wiped most of the visible mites off before delivering. While dropping it off the previous owner of the burm also handled the reitc and transferred mites to that snake. Anything I come home from that other keepers house, I don't touch any of my snakes or rodents. Clothes immediately got into the wash and I shower.

I've seen breeders wiping down snakes before a show. I've gotten to the point that I trust nobody.

I've only had 2 snakes with mites ever, both were new snakes many years back; one was from a pet store (I was new to snakes) & the other was shipped to me
(not seen in person prior to sale). I guess it's possible that mites could hitchhike in substrates bought in pet stores, but mostly I think people are in denial when
they claim that...you feel silly when you failed to see mites on a snake you just bought in person (hey, they're HARD to see!), or you trusted the seller more than
you should have. Snake mites are not native in the wild* (thankfully, though I wonder if snakes released in places like Florida could alter that eventually?) but there
ARE other things (pathogens & parasites) they can pick up if you put them on the ground (which I don't). If I take any snakes outdoors, they are on me.

*not in the U.S. anyway

Another thought, lots of folks will go to a show and handle a number of different animals just for the opportunity to do so. It is a great way to get a feel for an animal you may be interested in, but also a way to pick up mites or transfer them between vendors. Most vendors in my area require you to use an alcohol gel before, and sometimes after, handling. I imagine it helps, but it is by no means foolproof. For myself, I don’t handle anything I’m not seriously considering buying. And after reading 67temp’s post, I think I’ll adopt the practice of dumping everything in the wash when I get home and grabbing a shower.

I mostly stay out of pet stores, since I consider them germ factories. My dogs don't need that, my snakes don't need that, ditto rats and birds. I buy equipment and supplies like substrate on-line. That way it hasn't been sitting for weeks on the shelf underneath some pet store snake bin with a bunch of stressed hatchlings. Don't know how well a mite can grip onto the plastic packaging.

Never had a mite infestation, and I hope I never get one!

I have never had to worry about any of my animals at home having mites.

But at my box store job, we have had animals from the breeder show up with mites. =_=;

Many moons ago, at a local pet shop that had a nice reptile room. I seen a really cool looking BCI, and got a bonus mite collection. Back then I used no pest strips, but not sure how safe that is any more. Mites suck big time! Best of luck getting rid of them.

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Originally Posted by distaff

...Don't know how well a mite can grip onto the plastic packaging....

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I don't think they can, but the problem is that bags of substrate usually have air-holes in them, so there actually IS a way in. :(

I'll add that the few times that I dealt with mites, I was lucky because each time they remained only on the original snake. I had many
more they COULD have gotten into but didn't...there's something to be said for having your cages spread thru-out your house, instead
of all together in one room or worse yet, touching each other.

From me :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Sonny1318

...Back then I used no pest strips, but not sure how safe that is any more....

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Same here...they were safe & very effective IF you used them very carefully & in a limited way (in 'cages' so the snakes couldn't touch them) & for not too long,
then repeated the treatment once. I don't consider ANY pesticides really safe though, so prevention is always better than the cure. It's just like the many things
we are exposed to that are carcinogenic etc.-some of us hold up better than others, & multiple exposures probably has a lot to do with what we can fight off.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Same here...they were safe & very effective IF you used them very carefully & in a limited way (in 'cages' so the snakes couldn't touch them) & for not too long,
then repeated the treatment once. I don't consider ANY pesticides really safe though, so prevention is always better than the cure. It's just like the many things
we are exposed to that are carcinogenic etc.-some of us hold up better than others, & multiple exposures probably has a lot to do with what we can fight off.

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I remember removing the water dishes, and placing small pieces in little Rubbermaid containers I drilled holes in. And then only leaving them in their enclosure’s for a limited time. I can’t remember more then that at the moment, lol.

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Originally Posted by Sonny1318

I remember removing the water dishes, and placing small pieces in little Rubbermaid containers I drilled holes in. And then only leaving them in their enclosure’s for a limited time. I can’t remember more then that at the moment, lol.

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Yes, like you, I only used a small piece, like an inch maybe? Then I suspended it in a wire cage from the cage top, & blocked most of the airflow so there was a space
for incoming fresh air, and a space for outflow (over the UTH where the air was naturally rising). If I remember right the initial treatment was about 12 hours max, &
the follow-up was 8 hours, but don't quote me, it's been many years. I don't miss having mites at all! I do know that I never saw any adverse reaction in the 2 snakes
I treated, but 2 isn't a big study group. There are very few things that I am willing to use a pesticide for: mites are one, wasps are the other, & both are rare occasions.

I've only had one issue with mites...years ago when I lived in an end 3rd story apt of a fairly upscale apt building. I had not added any new animals in probably 2 years, had not been to any pet stores for at least 6 months, used newspaper as substrate, and had been using frozen feeders that I had in a spare chest freezer at my mom's (i was using that batch for quite some time). And I did not (and currently do not) have any friends that kept/keep reptiles. The only thing I can think of is that a baby bird had flown in the window about a week or two prior and it took me several minutes to catch it and get it back outside. I'm wondering if it could have carried some mites in...? Anyways, I caught them very early, mainly in one of my blood pythons cages (I had had her about 3 years at the time). I treated all of my tanks just in case, and they were gone pretty quickly.

One of my snakes probably arrived with a mite or two that got onto the shipment box, because the mites didn't show up until a whole month (or a month and a half?) after I had the snake. And they were a ton of babies at that point, plus only two or three adults.

So quarantining is necessary! Things can linger and not show up for an entire month or more.

Anyway, it's not possible to get snake mites just from bringing your snake outdoors, because snake mites are not native to North America. They're only circulating within the reptile trade or new imports, so you can only get them from an infected captive snake at a show, shop, etc. or touching one and accidentally bringing them home.

Finding them on feeders would also be very rare, because snake mites don't live on feeders... The only way would be if the feeder recently came in direct contact with an infected snake.

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Originally Posted by redshepherd

Anyway, it's not possible to get snake mites just from bringing your snake outdoors, because snake mites are not native to North America. They're only circulating within the reptile trade or new imports, so you can only get them from an infected captive snake at a show, shop, etc. or touching one and accidentally bringing them home.

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Yeah, I realize they are not native to North America. However, I currently live in East Asia. There are many wild snakes around my house, and I found one in the garage once. (Don't worry, my snake is kept upstairs). I'm not sure if snake mites are native to here, but given the warm temperatures and high humidity, I'm guessing its entirely possible, so I just want to be extra careful. Thanks!

Eww, another reason to get rid of snake mites! If correct, this article from a seemingly reliable source says they can get on humans too! :O I was actually
searching for an article that talks about where -what countries?- snake mites are found in nature. This article claims they are worldwide, while I've previously
found that the distribution, so far, does not include the U.S.A.-? You'll notice at the very top this comes from NIH, the Nation Institute of Health.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4345101/

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Originally Posted by kristan

I've only had one issue with mites...years ago when I lived in an end 3rd story apt of a fairly upscale apt building. I had not added any new animals in probably 2 years, had not been to any pet stores for at least 6 months, used newspaper as substrate, and had been using frozen feeders that I had in a spare chest freezer at my mom's (i was using that batch for quite some time). And I did not (and currently do not) have any friends that kept/keep reptiles. The only thing I can think of is that a baby bird had flown in the window about a week or two prior and it took me several minutes to catch it and get it back outside. I'm wondering if it could have carried some mites in...? Anyways, I caught them very early, mainly in one of my blood pythons cages (I had had her about 3 years at the time). I treated all of my tanks just in case, and they were gone pretty quickly.

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Out of curiosity, what country do you live in? Snake mites are not native to the USA (so far as we know) but birds sure do carry their own mites, and when I read your
post it occurred to me that you might not be in the USA, in which case I'd imagine that a bird could have brought in your snake's mites. Or maybe, bird mites might also
like snakes, or vice-versa? (-does anyone know off-hand? We need to recruit some zoo-keepers for membership...;))

I'm in the United States (PA). It wasnt until months later that I had considered the bird incident...thinking that maybe bird mites could also live on reptiles. It was just such a bizarre situation, I didn't really know what else to blame it on. Two Nix treatments later I was bug free.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Eww, another reason to get rid of snake mites! If correct, this article from a seemingly reliable source says they can get on humans too! :O I was actually
searching for an article that talks about where -what countries?- snake mites are found in nature. This article claims they are worldwide, while I've previously
found that the distribution, so far, does not include the U.S.A.-? You'll notice at the very top this comes from NIH, the Nation Institute of Health.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4345101/

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Thank you for the article. Its helpful to also have a perspective from the scientific community, which can help shed light what we find in the pet-keeping community.

My BP (who was also my first snake) came to me with mites. Of course, at the time I didn’t know much about snake mites at all and didn’t even realize he had them until several weeks after I brought him home. That said, I’m kind of glad I experienced them with my first reptile as there was no way for them to spread and it has made me super diligent about preventative treatment with new additions.

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Originally Posted by KKM

... I’m kind of glad I experienced them with my first reptile as there was no way for them to spread and it has made me super diligent about preventative treatment with new additions.

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That IS lucky...it's miserable to have them spread to a whole collection of snakes before you realize they're there at all. When I've dealt with mites in the past, I did have
quite a few snakes, but all cages were spread out in my house & the mites never spread beyond the one new snake they came with.

So far I've had them twice, both times they came on new bps and thankfully both times I caught them before they spread to other tanks. I got rid of them by liberal use of reptile mite spray and a mostly bare and sanitized tank for the afflicted snake. Both times the mites were gone within a month.

Got it three times as I remember. First two times from a snake that came with them, thankfully was in Qt so was easy to get rid of.
The second time I took some of my collection with a local herp group for a event that we were doing. Bearing in mind, I had been doing this for ~3 years with no issues, but one of the people (the people who run it no less) had a Sudanese plated lizard they brought along that was absolutely riddled with mites. I found the mites after we were handling the plated, then my burm.
Found mites on her a couple of weeks later, and infested almost all my collection

Took around four months to get rid of entirely but they've been mite free for a good three months now and I hope they do not come back again.