OH NO, Mites!

[JubJub]

I see a couple in the damn cage, and I just did a break down clean on it less than a week ago. So, my question is...1. How do I get rid of the dang things, and 2. How do I avoid them in the future.

I will search for mite posts, but if you have any quick advice, please let me know.

[JubJub]

Okay, reading up on mites, I don't think I have these. I saw 2 little tiny, tiny, tiny, red bugs crawling on the thermostat readout thing. They were not black, like I read in the post. Any idea what these little red buggers are?

[Royal-y__Great]

are they the aphid thingys? you can see them around sidewalks and grass/flowers around sidewalks

i dunno much about them, but i bet google does

[Cody]

Sounds like they might be red chiggers. Do a google search on them and you'll find some stuff on them. I don't know much about them. All I know is they're larvae of the harvest mite, and that harvest mites feed off of plants and such. So I guess they wouldn't be any harm to a snake...I dunno. I know they're little pests for humans though. Their bites cause itching and stuff.

Edit: here's the first site I found when I googled "red chiggers". If they are what you found, the site might be useful. I haven't checked it out in depth or anything, lol.
http://www.pestproducts.com/chiggers.htm

[crotalus]

Ugh. Ick! (My sympathies) My first advice would be to clean up your cage really, really well, and put him onto a white substrate like paper towels, so's you can monitor the presence of the buggers (no decor where they can hide - just a hide, and a water dish. Then you can either buy a commercial mite-killing spray, or take him to the vet. More expensive, but the vet can check for & remove mites in difficult places like the eyes.

Don't use No-pest strips. They do worse things than kill mites.

[Marla]

Take any plants you have out of the room. Reptile mites aren't red but chiggers are. I would treat it non-chemically for now, with high-visibility substrate like white paper towels, and call your vet for advice if the chiggers persist. They are not a common indoor pest and most likely came in on something you brought in around the same time as the snake -- maybe a hunk of bark or wood? I've lived around chiggers almost my entire life and only seen them inside when the building itself was starting to fall apart.

[JubJub]

Can I try drowing the chiggers? i.e. put the wood that I have in water for a day? I will keep an eye out, but I just fed Jubs last night when I saw them, so I will have to wait another day before I start moving him around and cleaning.

[Royal-y__Great]

some little annoying creatures can live under water for up to 14 days (or so says that orkin commercial about ants :wink: )

so, maybe you could try.....bleach, or baking it, i dunno what else

keep us updated

[led4urhead]

You could try boiling the substrate or baking it as Royal-y said. I would definitely switch to paper towels or newspaper to keep an eye on how bad of an infestation you may have. Good luck!