Question about mites!

[killswitch]

So I have 10 ball pythons, I never see any of them in their water or their dishes and ive never had or seen mites.
About 2 weeks ago my xtreme gene butter male had a not so great shed. I put him in a small plastic container with warm water and a wash cloth in it and laid it on the warmer side of his enclosure. I ended up leaving him in there for about an hour and checking on him about every 3 to 5 minutes.

well now for about the last week I see him with his head and neck in his water bowl and the rest of his body in his hide. I don't notice any abnormal specs on him ( he has always had a few brown colored scales maybe 2 or 3) I guess my question is without him going in to shed and ive never seen him in his water dish until now is there a chance he has mites? or is it as simple as he likes the water? Would you quarantine him with the amount of information I have? When I open his enclosure he sat there for a bit so I got a good look over him but honestly I don't know exactly what im looking for. I don't see things moving on him, no abnormal specs. he isn't rubbing his body like hes uncomfortable.

Any hints tips or info would be greatly appreciated!

oh and he isn't in his water dish 24/7 I have just never seen him in it ever before, now ive caught him in it for the last 4 days or so at random times.

[pbyeerts]

I never saw any mites on my Oliver, but I did find them when I emptied his water bowl over a white towel in the sink. He also soaked forever when he was gearing up for a shed. Hope this help, pamela

[Saber402]

Let him soak in a sterilite tub with just enough water so he doesn't have to swim, for about 20 minutes. Put a small drop of dishwashing liquid in the water but do not agitate the water to make bubbles. This will drown most of the mites if there are any. The dishwashing liquid breaks the water tension so the water gets under the scales for any mites that may be hiding there.

While he is soaking, wash his enclosure and change out your substrate to just paper towels.

When you take him out of the water check the water for any tiny black dots floating in it. Once you put him back in the enclosure check the paper towels occasionally for any tiny black dots as well. No black dots in either the water or the paper towels and you are probably good!

Let us know what you end up with (or hopefully without)!

[killswitch]

Damn I just read this and I just finished feeding and cleaning out his enclosure along with the rest of my bp's. All of my bp's are on paper towels and I did not dump his water dish through a paper towel. I will do it next time I see him in his water dish. Thanks for the tips!

[bcr229]

If you don't want to soak him, get one of the mite treatments that can be used on the snake, such as Reptile Relief or Reptile Spray. Spray a white paper towel and then wipe the snake with the paper towel. If the snake has mites the dead (or dying) ones will be stuck to the paper towel.

BTW I do that with all new arrivals immediately after unboxing so I don't end up with a nasty surprise after a few days.

[killswitch]

This guy isn't new, ive had him for a while now. I haven't gotten any new arrivals in some time. all 10 of my snakes are out of quarantine and haven't been anywhere near other snakes nor can I think of why he would have mites and why only him. just him hanging in the water was different than how he normally acts lol. I do have a mite spray, I will go ahead and try spraying him and wiping him off with a paper towel.

[Pythonfriend]

If you don't want to soak him, get one of the mite treatments that can be used on the snake, such as Reptile Relief or Reptile Spray. Spray a white paper towel and then wipe the snake with the paper towel. If the snake has mites the dead (or dying) ones will be stuck to the paper towel.

BTW I do that with all new arrivals immediately after unboxing so I don't end up with a nasty surprise after a few days.

using chemicals directly on the snake is unnecessary even when treating mites that are actually there. people choose alternatives because they do not want to take the gamble, and successfully get rid of mites without using chemicals directly on the snake.

using chemicals on your snake merely to detect mites that may or may not be there just makes no sense. it combines high preventable risk with additional costs and with a success rate that will be diminished compared to a bath and checking the water afterwards.

if no dead mites show up when you give the snake a bath or switch to white paper towels for a while, then there are no mites. or at least there is insufficient evidence for the existence of mites to justify starting any kind of treatment.

This guy isn't new, ive had him for a while now. I haven't gotten any new arrivals in some time. all 10 of my snakes are out of quarantine and haven't been anywhere near other snakes nor can I think of why he would have mites and why only him. just him hanging in the water was different than how he normally acts lol. I do have a mite spray, I will go ahead and try spraying him and wiping him off with a paper towel.

checking the water after a bath is better in every way. its bad advice, its a pointless use of a product that should only be used if there is an actual problem, and even then, products that are not used directly on the reptile are safer.

[Neal]

So I have 10 ball pythons, I never see any of them in their water or their dishes and ive never had or seen mites.
About 2 weeks ago my xtreme gene butter male had a not so great shed. I put him in a small plastic container with warm water and a wash cloth in it and laid it on the warmer side of his enclosure. I ended up leaving him in there for about an hour and checking on him about every 3 to 5 minutes.

well now for about the last week I see him with his head and neck in his water bowl and the rest of his body in his hide. I don't notice any abnormal specs on him ( he has always had a few brown colored scales maybe 2 or 3) I guess my question is without him going in to shed and ive never seen him in his water dish until now is there a chance he has mites? or is it as simple as he likes the water? Would you quarantine him with the amount of information I have? When I open his enclosure he sat there for a bit so I got a good look over him but honestly I don't know exactly what im looking for. I don't see things moving on him, no abnormal specs. he isn't rubbing his body like hes uncomfortable.

Any hints tips or info would be greatly appreciated!

oh and he isn't in his water dish 24/7 I have just never seen him in it ever before, now ive caught him in it for the last 4 days or so at random times.

Other reptiles that could have mites could enter the room. For me I see those little tiny house geckos or w/e you call them. I have no idea how they get inside of my house but I'll find one every so often inside my reptile room. They could have mites and then that's how they could get to any collection that is mite free, or at least the places where they have those little things. I've personally never had mites, with the exception of one snake that I got from a show but it no longer has them and he's in QT anyways. When I got my 3 rufous beaked they all had mites on the, I got rid of them on those 3, and they were all wild caught.

Let him soak in a sterilite tub with just enough water so he doesn't have to swim, for about 20 minutes. Put a small drop of dishwashing liquid in the water but do not agitate the water to make bubbles. This will drown most of the mites if there are any. The dishwashing liquid breaks the water tension so the water gets under the scales for any mites that may be hiding there.

While he is soaking, wash his enclosure and change out your substrate to just paper towels.

When you take him out of the water check the water for any tiny black dots floating in it. Once you put him back in the enclosure check the paper towels occasionally for any tiny black dots as well. No black dots in either the water or the paper towels and you are probably good!

Let us know what you end up with (or hopefully without)!

This actually doesn't drown the mites. It causes them to fall off easy and if you're going to do this then you might as well do a betadine antiseptic solution so that it provides some actual relief besides soaking. I would never use dishsoap and leave a snake in the water for the simple reason that with all the chemicals in that stuff now days and the snake may try to drink the water then you end up with a whole new set of problems.

This guy isn't new, ive had him for a while now. I haven't gotten any new arrivals in some time. all 10 of my snakes are out of quarantine and haven't been anywhere near other snakes nor can I think of why he would have mites and why only him. just him hanging in the water was different than how he normally acts lol. I do have a mite spray, I will go ahead and try spraying him and wiping him off with a paper towel.

That's fine and hopefully it's not mites, but never count them out. Mites are freaking resilient and they can travel something like 11 inches per minute and from what I understand, or at least what I was told and I have no idea how true this is but I was told that the mites have these sensory things that can pick out snakes nearby so even in another room you can still get them. This is why when you have mites you do preventative treatment as well. I know people like to spray the door way with pam and stuff but mites can just simply go behind the baseboards and all of that. So there are ways to do it that work a lot better.

What I do:
I use Reptile Relief/Spray and spray on a paper towel to get it damp then I wipe down the snake several times as well with it, from the rear of the head back. I'll take a cutetip that's wet with the stuff and I'll rub under his jaw because mites love to hide there as well. The places mites love to hide: near eyes, heat pits, under scales(more so under the jaw), and around the vent.

Now I'll let him sit in a container with paper towels in which I've sprayed with the reptile relief as well for about 30 minutes. At this time I'm treating his enclosure with PAM(Provent-A-Mite). There are several ways you can do this, but you have got to follow the instructions otherwise you will kill your snake. Reptile Relief works great if it hits the mite, because what it does is it causes the mite to dehydrate. This stuff doesn't have permethrin in it, and once it dries it's no longer effective.

Now once he's done soaking, make sure the water is luke warm because what's warm to you is usually 99-100+ and it's too hot for the snake. I've found that snakes like water that seems a bit cool to the touch which is usually in the 80's. Anyways, I give the snake a good rinsing from the head back usually first a few times then I'll gently rub their head to rinse their head off but make sure if you let it fall on them that it's just like on a dribble. After that I'll use a tad dish soap on my hands and I'll rub the snake from the neck back then rinse him off that way some mites fall off into the drain. After all said and done I still let him soak in the water once until the water cools down, or twice depending on a variety of circumstances. Then I dry them off with a paper towel and put them in the enclosure that's been treated with PAM. Now I'll give you the PAM steps.

With PAM, I cannot insist enough that you read and understand all the directions. You can use stuff like NIX, but what people fail to realize is that permethrin is like a wide range of compounds like when you say soap it could mean anything from dish detergent to actual hand soap. It's a wide term used for a chemical makeup in simple terms. I won't get into this debate with anybody though because when somebody is set on their ways they're usually set.

Anyways, PAM is most dangerous because of the vapors. That's what will kill the snake, so this is the reason you want to give it ample time to dry. If you go off the instructions on the bottle then 15 minutes and you're good, if you do it like I do, and depending if it's for treatment or preventative then I'll give you my recommended drying time. With that said, if the snake has mites and I see them, I spray the whole enclosure. I remove the water bowl, change the water and remove the hides and spray the tub down. I then spray a cloth and wipe the hide all over and then I just put the water dish back. Now I don't do this until after it all dries, with the exception of the hide because it has no water. If you spray on a cloth and wipe, then 15 minutes dry time is fine, if you do like I do when I see mites and spray the tub, then I give at least 30 minutes to dry and I'll smell to see if any vapors are still present. Also DO NOT do this in your reptile room. A little of this stuff goes a ways also.

Now if I'm doing preventative then what I do is I take a tub, clean water bowl since I'm already there and I spray a cloth and then I wipe the top & sides of the top of the lip on the tub. Then I also wipe a little from the bottom about mid ways for me which is still under the air holes. That way it creates a barrier that will kill the mites if they cross. They say that this can last 30 days + to like 60 or something, no idea, but I don't pay attention to that part. For the one that has mites I retreat the tub every 2 weeks. For preventative I do it once a month, and I always do this whether I see mites or not. I'd rather be safe than sorry. Now I keep my mite guy from the show in the master bathroom on paper towels, which were treated as well but when he goes in his tub I'll treat his tub. Also when I sprayed the tub, the fresh substrate was already there so it bonded with it. What happens is when they go off to lay eggs, they come in contact with the permethrin which kills them. Then when the babies hatch to go seek reptiles they die too. Mites can live up to 40 days if I'm not mistaken. So after 2-3 months(my QT time), you should be well rid of mites.

With the Reptile Spray/Relief you can treat a snake at 3 day intervals, though I wouldn't do this unless you still see mites. You aren't supposed to use on a freshly shed animal(6 hours) either. I also always let them soak to rehydrate after using the reptile spray/relief on the snake. DO NOT ever use PAM on a snake.

Now I'll go into a bit of details on how you can get mites. When people go to shows and you're holding snakes or sitting down somewhere mites could easily crawl up your shoe or onto your clothes or arms/hands while you're handling a snake. This is one of the reasons that any good vendor will offer you hand sanitizer before handling a snake, though they may have other reasons, this is one as well. Mites crawl and do move around so they look for new hosts. When you're vending at a show, the person a table over or a few tables over may have mites(this was the case at my last reptile show, though I didn't vend). I did however call the person to let them know that they had mites(which they had prior to the show) and they should of told me about it, but that's a bad mark on them. So I texted my 3 friends that were vending a the show to let them know that a person at the show had mites and to take precautions when they got their animals home. Though most people treat their animals after a show anyways. One of my friends knew exactly who I was talking about even though I mentioned no description or name of the person who had mites. I sort of found that kind of ironic and funny at the same time. This is primarily the reason I only deal with local breeders because I've been friends with them for so long and if I'm calling them a friend it's because I trust them.

Also when you visit a pet store you could easily pick up mites from there. While mites don't like mammals, they could hitch a ride and then when you feed that rodent to your snake, bam. They have many different scenarios in which you could of contracted mites without even knowing. This is why I don't deal with a pet store that I don't think is clean enough to my standards. This is exactly the reason I like dealing with f/t feeders, because mites won't survive that temperature.

I'm sure I may of missed something, but if you have any questions then just ask. I'm battling the flu right now so I feel like absolute crap.

[Neal]

This is when I was treating my third Rufous Beaked after getting him from a show, I noticed mites on him while inspecting him driving home. Yes, don't lecture me on this because at least I wasn't texting and driving . Anyways, after I wiped him down I was letting him soak in a top of a water container while I cleaned a sterilite container for him to soak in. This was just to rehydrate him.


Then this was when I was treating my Lesser Pastel I got from the show that has mites. The bad thing is the vendor knew he had mites and didn't disclose this to me. I put about an inch of water because I saw them under his bottom jaw so I knew he probably had some in his pits and around his eyes. But because I put more water then usual I also put a towel in the middle so he didn't have to try to swim or anything, not that he can't but yea, personal preference. As you can tell he discovered that with his head under water it was providing some relief.