Oliver update

[pbyeerts]

So, after looking like h*ll for 5 days, Oliver finally shed his skin. I've found the skin in pieces, and he's going to have a nice bath/soak in a day or 2. Oliver ate 1 small mouse and 1 fuzzy the day that he shed, which is why I haven't rushed to soak him. And he's grown as well! I have to get a scale for him.

Oliver still has some mites, and I'm planning on doing a thorough cleaning. I'm going to throw out the current substrate (reptile-bark) in his tank, and soak all of his many bushes, vines, tank, etc in diluted bleach and hot water. I've frozen the rest of the bag of substrate to kill any mites that are in it. I also plan on adding some of the Reptile Relief to his soak. I hope this will get rid of them! I have the Provent a Mite, but I'd prefer to not use harsh chemicals if I can avoid it. Obviously, it will get used if there are more mites after the cleaning. I prefer a gentler approach first....

Sound like a good plan? I'm curious to hear your thoughts.... Pamela

[Spencer88]

Should also spray down his enclosure with the diluted bleach. Let it sit for awhile and then rinse it really well and make sure all the fumes are gone.

[pbyeerts]

Yeah, we're going to take the entire tank apart and completely start over on Saturday. Everything will be bleached, rinsed, and dried thoroughly to eradicate the mites!


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[patientz3ro]

I'm not 100% sure freezing is going to kill them. You might be better off scrapping it and getting more. If you do, get it from somewhere else this time.

Also, if you're going to use bleach, I wouldn't use it on anything porous or absorbent. Wood, silk plants, etc. It probably wouldn't hurt anything as long as you rinsed the holy hell out of it, but I'm a little paranoid about that kinda thing.

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