Help, please - mite infestation

Hi

I was handling my baby Borneo short tailed python today and noticed he has mites. I immediately placed him on quarantine and am in the process of disinfecting his cage and furniture.

After washing my hands and arms, I checked on the rest of the collection, and I didn't notice any mites.

My question is what should I do? I know there are a number of mite-ridding products on the market, but I don't know what to trust as far as cleaning him and cleaning his enclosure.

Should I use anything on the other reptiles, just to be safe?

Do I need to take him to a vet? I do have a great local vet, but I'd rather treat it myself, if that is possible.

Thanks to all.

Dude I keep hearing about this stuff called PAM (provent-a-mite) ... every other thread that I have read like this says to use that stuff......

knock on wood.. I have not had that problem yet,.. so I am just going by what every one else here has posted.

Get pam and use it on all the enclosures. I have heard nothing but praise when it comes to pam.

Meanwhile, for some relief, you can wipe all the snakes down with a damp paper towel and see if you can get any mites off. Also, use a mild bleach solution to rinse out all of the tubs.

I had a mite infestation once and only once. They came in on a red tailed boa that i got of kingsnake.com.
I bought some Provent a mite and sprayed his inclosure. For the actual snake i used Repti relief and spreyed a paper towl and rubed the snake down so as not to get it in his pits and eyes. During the next cleaning of all my snake cages i sprayed all the substrate and replaced the snakes. I never had a reinfestation. Provent a mite is Awesome. Nothing works like it.

Thanks everybody! I will get some PAM.

I was reading this article
http://www.anapsid.org/mites.html
which seems to have some pretty good info; I've always trusted Anapsid.org. This article recommends Bedatine baths. Where might I find Bedatine? It also recommends heating the enclosure to well over 100*. If I close the tub (with Sangre in a separate enclosure, of course) and leave it out in the sun, the inside will well exceed 120*. I think I'll try that tomorrow.


And what do you think about mite origins? I know there is no set-in-stone evidence of where they originate, but I have no idea how Sangre could have gotten them. He is captive bred, came from The Blood Line, and he definitely didn't have mites when I got him. The only think I can think of is the one time I took him outside and let him crawl around in the grass. I'm in the western US. Is it possible for him to pick up some type of external parasite here?

Using Provent-A-Mite works very well with getting rid of mites and proventing them. I would really suggest looking into this produce, it works so well with getting rid of mites.

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Originally Posted by Crazy4Herps

Thanks everybody! I will get some PAM.

I was reading this article
http://www.anapsid.org/mites.html
which seems to have some pretty good info; I've always trusted Anapsid.org. This article recommends Bedatine baths. Where might I find Bedatine? It also recommends heating the enclosure to well over 100*. If I close the tub (with Sangre in a separate enclosure, of course) and leave it out in the sun, the inside will well exceed 120*. I think I'll try that tomorrow.


And what do you think about mite origins? I know there is no set-in-stone evidence of where they originate, but I have no idea how Sangre could have gotten them. He is captive bred, came from The Blood Line, and he definitely didn't have mites when I got him. The only think I can think of is the one time I took him outside and let him crawl around in the grass. I'm in the western US. Is it possible for him to pick up some type of external parasite here?

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I doubt your snake got snake specific mites from being outside. Usually they get them from bedding and other various cage furniture you can buy at petstores.

you can get Betadine from Wal-Mart or any pharmacy type store such As Walgreens, Osco, etc etc....

But PAM is the bomb with mites. I'd order some of that. Make sure to use it on ALL of your enclosures.

And in the meantime, rub the animal down with some Reptile Relief.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crazy4Herps

Thanks everybody! I will get some PAM.

I was reading this article
http://www.anapsid.org/mites.html
which seems to have some pretty good info; I've always trusted Anapsid.org. This article recommends Bedatine baths. Where might I find Bedatine? It also recommends heating the enclosure to well over 100*. If I close the tub (with Sangre in a separate enclosure, of course) and leave it out in the sun, the inside will well exceed 120*. I think I'll try that tomorrow.


And what do you think about mite origins? I know there is no set-in-stone evidence of where they originate, but I have no idea how Sangre could have gotten them. He is captive bred, came from The Blood Line, and he definitely didn't have mites when I got him. The only think I can think of is the one time I took him outside and let him crawl around in the grass. I'm in the western US. Is it possible for him to pick up some type of external parasite here?

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I wouldn't trust Melissa Kaplan as far as I could throw her. Dig a little deeper into her background and you'll figure out why.

I've used PAM in the past and it works fine. You treat once (follow the directions) and you're fine.

Get PAM or Reptile Relief, treat the snake, put him in a different tub, bleach the tank, and everything in it, put it all back in.

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Originally Posted by Neal

Get PAM or Reptile Relief, treat the snake, put him in a different tub, bleach the tank, and everything in it, put it all back in.

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ok, so we recently had the same prob. with one, what we did is saok her in warm luke water with a little bit(and stress the tiny bit of soap) of dish soap. Then dispose of aspen shavings spray the tub with mite spray and let it completely dry for a few hrs then re-introduce your rep. to its environment. :)

you can put holes in a tubaware and fill it 3/4 full and put the snake in that over night

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crazy4Herps

If I close the tub (with Sangre in a separate enclosure, of course) and leave it out in the sun, the inside will well exceed 120*. I think I'll try that tomorrow.

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I'm not sure if I read this right but do NOT expose your snake to temps that high. You will most certainly kill the snake via heat exhaustion.

Edit: I just realized this is your blood python, I was confused since the thread is in the general bp forum. I do not have any first hand experience with blood pythons but am assuming that temps that high for them would also be no good.

Looks like she said with 'Sangre' in another location to mean keeping the snake safe while the tub is being heated...or at least I hope so.

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Originally Posted by bailey23

you can put holes in a tubaware and fill it 3/4 full and put the snake in that over night

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Sorry that is terrible advise. :/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bailey23

you can put holes in a tubaware and fill it 3/4 full and put the snake in that over night

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That doesn't make any sense...
The snake could drown because it would get so tired of swimming overnight.

Spaniard, she said that she would do that to the tub, without the snake in it. :D

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Originally Posted by blackcrystal22

That doesn't make any sense...
The snake could drown because it would get so tired of swimming overnight.

Spaniard, she said that she would do that to the tub, without the snake in it. :D

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Oh ok :D

I was wondering why no one had said anything about it :oops:

Thanks, everyone, sorry for the confusion, I should have said that more clearly.

So, I am going with both PAM for all of the reptiles and Reptile Relief for Sangre.

Can someone tell me the brand that makes PAM? I do a search for "prevent-a-mite" on PetMountain, and I get 5 pages of results.

Sorry, double post.

http://www.pro-products.com/ - There were some people on here recently that claimed to have some problems with their orders. Seems they don't sell it in NY anymore. Might want to call just in case.

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

I wouldn't trust Melissa Kaplan as far as I could throw her. Dig a little deeper into her background and you'll figure out why.

I've used PAM in the past and it works fine. You treat once (follow the directions) and you're fine.

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+1. I wouldn't let Melissa Kaplan clean up my toenail clippings, much less trust a word that wingnut writes. She is a fruitcake and the purveyor of some of the most factually void information available on the Internet. Stick with the good information presented here.

Thank you so much everybody!

I just have one more question. :oops:

Until my order comes, I'm bathing him daily and alternating enclosures to try to keep the mites under control at least until the Reptile Relief gets here.

Should I take out his water bowl? It gets cleaned every day with the enclosures.

Well he has to drink. Leave it in. It isn't hurting anything. Just make sure you clean it well if you notice any mites on it.