In the Meantime Question

Okay so after 2 days of soaking I have discovered that Tanveer has mites. The evidence were the little tiny black bugs in the water bowl. I ordered PAM today but am guessing it will be a few days before it arrives. Also I read some past threads about how to clean out his tank when it arrives etc..

1. Is there anything I can/should do for him in the meantime until the PAM gets here?

2. Is this most likely why we are going on 3 days of soaking during the day?

3. Could this attribute to him not eating the past couple months?

Thanks a bunch for your input!!!

Luckily I have not had to deal with mites yet. But if it were me I would soak him to help rid some of the mites already on him and bleach all his stuff (cage, hides, water bowels etc) until the pam gets there and do it all over again once the pam gets there. You will not kill the eggs I don't think without the pam but you could make him more comfortable by getting rid of as many mites as possible until you get the pam :gj:
1.) answered this
2.) definately
3.) I would guess yes, if he is older it could also be because of the breeding season...

I should mention again that I have not encountered mites yet so this is just what I would do and my opinions. Someone who has delt with them before could definately help you better then me :gj:

I believe that bleach will kill the eggs, if you bleach the tank and such. Bleach the tank, hides, water bowl, throw the substrate away, just make sure you rinse all the bleach off.

Just clean the tank and put the snake on paper towels. He will survive 3 days with the mites. Just might be a bit uncomfortable.

Reptile Relief is sold at Petco and Petsmart and gives immediate relief to the snake. It will kill the mites that are currently on its body, but it shouldn't be used in place on PAM.

If you're willing to shell out a couple extra bucks, it might be nice to have.

If you're sure it's going to be in 3 days then it's really no big deal, but the local petsmart/petco or even regular pet store should have other stuff. They have a product called Reptile Relief by Natural Industries I believe, and it works great. I've had to use it once before and I sprayed it on paper towels then rubbed the snake down, and the mites died in a matter of a few seconds.

when I first got my snake he didn't have mites...so does the snakes get mites from live mice or rats? my snake is mite free since i have went to frozen mice.

That was good thinking about keeping them on paper towls Kaorte . I use newspaper a totally forgot that a lot of people use some type of substrate to keep their ball pythons on...

A number of things can cause your snake to get mites. Not cleaning the cage properly is probably one of the biggest ones, another is bringing in a new snake and not qt'n it.

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Originally Posted by Halloween

when I first got my snake he didn't have mites...so does the snakes get mites from live mice or rats? my snake is mite free since i have went to frozen mice.

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No, snake mites are snake specific.

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Originally Posted by Halloween

when I first got my snake he didn't have mites...so does the snakes get mites from live mice or rats? my snake is mite free since i have went to frozen mice.

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I have only ever fed Tanveer F/T rats and he still managed to get mites so I don't think it has to do with that.

I have no idea where they came from. I got rid of his wood hide several months ago. He has 2 plastic hides now and a fake tree branch. I do use a thin layer of Repti-Bark on a sheet of newspaper for substrate. Oooh I wonder if it was the coconut husk brick I had used before when I was having humidity issues. Hmmmm not sure.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

No, snake mites are snake specific.

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thanks for your reply....:)

The 2 reasons I listed are the 2 most common cause of mites, and as Kaorte said, snake mites are snake specific.

PAMite is the best mite-killer, hands down. You're right to be going with it. In the meantime, you could do dish-soap soaks. Get a Rubbermaid that's big enough for your snake to stretch out in. You'll then squirt in a drop of dish liquid in (I used non-antibacterial Joy for this years ago.) and add-in water that's slightly warm to the touch but Not hot, about the same temperature as your snake's water dish water... Make it nice and sudsy with your hands..

Make the water deep enough to cover your snake's spine, but not so deep that he has to swimto keep his head above water. Put the snake in; put the lid on. Leave for maybe about 10 minutes; keep an eye on him to watch out fo struggling and to prevent drowning, Take snake out.. you should see some dead mites floating in the water.. towel-dry snake and replace into tub. You can also do this while you're waiting for the PAM todry in the tub/tank when treating it.

I would skip the pet-store stuff; I don't know if it works, and I would be leary about using other chemicals/products in addition to the PAM. It seems overpriced to me as well.

I wish you luck in ridding your snakes of those horrible little things. I had them a few years ago, and PAM helped and worked wondes.

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

I would skip the pet-store stuff; I don't know if it works, and I would be leary about using other chemicals/products in addition to the PAM. It seems overpriced to me as well.

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Ah, I had forgotten about the dish soap bath.

But I do know for sure that Reptile Relief works. Before I even knew about PAM, I used it to get rid of mites completely. It takes a while, but it does work. And it's an all natural formula, so it doesn't have any harmful chemicals. JurassiMite, on the other hand, I have no idea how well it works.

Still though, there is no supplement to PAM.

Thank you everyone so much for the tips and advice!

The past two nights I did the lukewarm bath for him. It seems to have helped a lot as far as him being more comfortable! He is no longer hanging out in his water bowl and just chills in his hides. I could definately seem some mites in the water. About 6 yesterday and tonight only 3. I also cleaned out his tank really well yesterday and now he only has his 2 hides, water bowl, and paper towels in there as recommended:D

Should I get rid of my remaining ReptiBark left in the bag and just stay with paper towels in the long run? Or just wait until the mite issue has definately resolved completely and then use the ReptiBark?

Also I clean his tank out completely once a week and also spot clean every day. So how is it that he could have gotten it from not cleaning his tank properly??? I don't understand:confused: I didn't Quarantine him because he is my very first and only snake. I doubt he has had them since the end of May though! I would have noticed way before now!

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Originally Posted by BuddhaLuv

Should I get rid of my remaining ReptiBark left in the bag and just stay with paper towels in the long run? Or just wait until the mite issue has definately resolved completely and then use the ReptiBark?

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I would recommend staying with paper towels. They're just easier all around, and not to mention cheaper. Also, people have said they've found bugs in Repti bark before. I used it at one point, but I don't think it was worth the effort, since the snake doesn't care what it's on.

the one time i had them was with the albino ball, had pam on hand since I use that on all new arrivals, luckily with the albino having them I was able to see them under her scales and was able to use a flat end toothpick and slide it under the scale with them, they came right out, of course this was in conjuction with everything else that was mentioned, just helped remove the current ones on her :)

Just wanted to let everyone know that the Provent-A-Mite arrived yesterday:D I treated the enclosure as directed and then laid it in the AZ heat to dry and ventilate for several hours. He seems to be doing much much better and I can see fewer mites on the paper towels now!

I was wondering how often I should continue with the soaks? Or now that the PAM is being used should I just stop the soaking?

Also if I place the vines I had for his enclosure in a bucket of bleach water and then air dry, are they okay to eventually put back into his enclosure?

I plan on staying with the paper towel substrate from here on out!

I don't know about your soaking question, but concerning the bleached vines you should be ok. Bleach kills just about anything living (even raised a strain of E. coli myself to test it). Just make sure they don't smell of bleach when you put them back in.