Need some help with mites.

[Kodieh]

I currently have two types, I believe, one a red microscopic mite and a slightly larger black mite. I came home today to find a single snake absolutely infested. The two snakes above this one in the rack were soaking, however all of the snakes below the infected one showed no signs (soaking) or traces (visible mites) coming off of them. The other snakes above the two soakers above the infected snake also show no signs or traces.

My questions are, and I will be treating everyone with the appropriate spray:

1. I've seen some crawling on the rack, which is made of 2 x 4's and melamine. I was planning on spraying this down too. Will that be enough? Should I spray it down repeatedly?

2. I know I have to treat everyone, and I've started this process. Everyone is being dumped from aspen to paper towels and I'll be doing multiple treatments for the next foreseeable stretch. How many, at what time frame?

3. If one snake is so much worse (it was astounding, to me, just how many were on her. I literally was mistaken for a moment thinking she just had a bad shed), then obviously it has to be the carrier/epicenter right?

[bcr229]

I currently have two types, I believe, one a red microscopic mite and a slightly larger black mite. I came home today to find a single snake absolutely infested. The two snakes above this one in the rack were soaking, however all of the snakes below the infected one showed no signs (soaking) or traces (visible mites) coming off of them. The other snakes above the two soakers above the infected snake also show no signs or traces.

My questions are, and I will be treating everyone with the appropriate spray:

1. I've seen some crawling on the rack, which is made of 2 x 4's and melamine. I was planning on spraying this down too. Will that be enough? Should I spray it down repeatedly?

2. I know I have to treat everyone, and I've started this process. Everyone is being dumped from aspen to paper towels and I'll be doing multiple treatments for the next foreseeable stretch. How many, at what time frame?

3. If one snake is so much worse (it was astounding, to me, just how many were on her. I literally was mistaken for a moment thinking she just had a bad shed), then obviously it has to be the carrier/epicenter right?

Answers depend on which spray(s) will you be using...

For the snakes, products like Reptile Spray designed to be used on the snake can be re-applied every three days. They are basically a salt solution that works by dehydrating the mite. I prefer to spray a paper towel and wipe down the snake with it, it seems to stress them less, and you can check the paper towel for mites to get an idea of how many are left on the snake. Unfortunately it also dries out the snake's skin so expect their next sheds to be really bad.

Permethrin products (PAM, NIX, RID, Permethrin 10, etc.) mixed to the proper concentration can be applied every 7 days to the hard surfaces like tubs, racks, and plastic hides. Make sure they are completely dry before the snake can come in contact with them again. Don't spray the water bowl. Wooden decorations can be baked in an oven at 200*F for a few minutes to kill off any mites or eggs. I repeated the treatment for six weeks since eggs can go quite a while before they hatch.

The newspaper or paper towels you use to line your tubs should be treated, allowed to dry thoroughly, and used to replace soiled paper. I found it helpful to get a clothes-drying rack at WalMart, hang the paper from it, spray it, and allow it to dry so I always had treated paper available.

I've never used No Pest Strips but others claim they work, though there are reports that some snakes don't react well to them (mainly rainbow boas). Since you have a multi-tub infestation I would consider putting a small piece of the strip in the room, not the tubs, to help kill off mites or eggs not on the rack.

ETA: you don't have two different types of mites, the small red one is just at an earlier stage in the life cycle than the black one. They are both snake mites.

[vangarret2000]

You need to treat the all snakes and all the equipment. How many treatments depends in what you use. If it is a weekly treatment I would do three myself. With the right product done properly the first treatment should do it, you just do 2 more to be safe. I use a Nix solution. Some people don't like it because it's a product that is for humans but when used right it works amazing and I stand by it.

Make sure you use. Product that kills eggs a well as the mites themselves. Biggest thing is really do the treatment properly. If you cut corners they will come back.

The one with the lots in it could have been the original and most likely is but not neccisarily. It's also right for you to treat all the snakes. Just because the others seem like they don't have any it most likely just means it hasn't gottin to serious yet. Generally when you have mite issues you won't even see them just crawling around. It's really bad at that point. For every mite you see there are dozens more you don't.

Sounds like you are on the right track. Keep it up.

[Kodieh]

Im using the Rite bed bug and mite spray. Its a lower concentration of the permethrin or whatever it is in PAM. I did like BCR said, and have now sprayed the rack down well, the tubs inside and out, and the paper towels that went into the cages. I also sprayed hides for those who still have them. Everything has been allowed to dry thoroughly before coming back into contact with the snakes.

Three weekly treatments is what I will do then. Im going to look into the no pest strips too, overkill is nevrr a bad thing with mites I think.

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[Kodieh]

Today, only one soaker. The one that was the worst shed out over night and soaked her head for a bit afterwards. I see lots of dead mites!

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[Running Elk]

I had ridiculous success with Provent-a-Mite when I brought back pests from a local reptile expo. It was a simple as cleaning each tub well, followed by spraying down each tub and waiting overnight for it to dry. It took me a couple days to complete my entire rack.

http://pro-products.com/provent-a-mite/

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-in-particular

You NEED to be careful though! Read the directions and be cautious! This stuff will save you a lot of time and effort and frustration (In my thankfully limited experience, it works WELL) but it needs to be used properly. NEVER put it on the snakes. You have to spray the bedding, wait some time for it to dry, and then put the snake back in, and that will actually kill the mites on the snake. It also boasts preventing mites for some weeks after using it.

Take your time, do not rush. This stuff works without the pain of having to freeze everything and scrub everything like twice a day every day for a million years and hoping you got everything.

The trade off is you need to respect the toxicity of the product when wet.

I strongly recommend this product.

The results are noticeable almost instantly -- that means almost instant relief for your snakes. Yes, it really can be that easy!

[CryHavoc17]

2x on the PAM recommendation. I knocked out a BAD infestation I picked up off of a pet store bag of cypress in 2 treatments.

The only thing I did differently the above is that I also soaked my infested snakes several times a chlorhexadine solution. This did two things; first, accelerated the process by drowning any mites on the animals they missed by soaking themselves, second cleaned and disinfected all the thousands of tiny bites on the animals, which I think was a good thing for their health.

I think the shed was a good sign. I figured I was in the clear when all my snakes shed within about 48 hours of each other a couple weeks after treatment.

I also quarantined my "epicenter" snake in a separate room. Im not sure how helpful that really was, but it made me feel better and I think it may have helped stop the spread

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