Time to battle some mites!

[RedRabbit]

So I brought home my second BP from the Reptile Super Show this past Saturday ... but as of Tuesday, I've discovered that he also brought home some mites. Argh! There was definitely some initial panic, but I got down to business as fast as possible, so my main goal for posting now is to check in with you guys to see if I've overlooked anything. Here's what I've done so far:

- Quarantined BP #2 far away - i.e., at a completely different house from my current apartment. Since there were some interim stays before BP #2 came to my apartment, BP #1 and BP #2 were in close proximity to each other (meaning, close enough to count as being in the same room) for less than 24 hours total. I did try to keep their enclosures spaced apart even at the start, but the reality is my single apartment is just too small, with too much of an open layout, to create any kind of truly effective quarantined space. From now, I am willing and able to commute weekly between the two residences for as long as necessary to care for both snakes before they can safely be brought together again, and have wonderful family members at the other home who are able to help with small maintenance tasks when I'm not there.

For BP #2 (the new one who had visible mites on him) -
- Treated his tub and all its contents (excluding water dish) with Provent-A-Mite on 1/8/19; full PAM treatments to continue every 2 weeks until 30 days from last time mites were seen
- Stored away all superfluous decorations, leaving only his two hides plus water dish; will return decorations after PAM treatment period is over
- Water dish was cleaned with hot water and dish soap, and put back in the day AFTER everything else was PAM-treated
- Substrate is white PAM-treated paper towels
- Gave the snake himself a wipe-down with Natural Chemistry Reptile Spray on 1/9/19 (was able to remove 2 mites, but could still see 2 wedged too far beneath his scales to dislodge); may try repeating these wipe-downs once a week until I can't find any mites on him anymore

For BP #1 (preventive care, still hanging out in my apartment with me) -
- Same full PAM treatment for tub and contents, removed nonessential decorations, etc. - done 1/9/19
- Substrate is also PAM-treated paper towels, and will probably stay with this until 30 days out. IF any mites are spotted, will advance to comprehensive treatment just like BP #2.
- Took out and PAM-sprayed the small table that BP #2's tub had been sitting on; sprayed some PAM on a paper towel and also wiped down any possibly contaminated nearby items such as weighing scale, temp gun, etc.
- No Reptile Spray wipe-down for this snake, for now - did not see any obvious mites on him or in his tub on visual inspection, plus he only just finished shedding like ... yesterday, so his new skin might be too sensitive for it regardless
- Cleaned the countertop that BP #1's tub sits on - unfortunately too little ventilation in that area for me to feel safe spraying on more PAM, so I used my usual diluted chlorhexidine cleaning solution instead
- Vacuumed the carpet around the two key areas - where BP #2's table was, and where BP #1's countertop currently is

Of note, in both cases, I allowed everything that was PAM-sprayed to dry and ventilate for at least 1 hour or more before putting the snakes back, to hopefully minimize any issues with residual fumes.

I am also carefully recording their feeding dates so that I can schedule feed days around the disruption of upcoming treatments as much as I can.

Did I miss anything? Any suggested changes or additional recommendations? All advice is much appreciated!

[artgecko]

Sounds like everything was covered. I usually pre-treat paper towels with pam and have them already in my quarantine setups just in case.

I would suggest that you go ahead and pre-treat some paper towels in a well ventilated area (I do this on my screened in porch) so that you have a supply of already treated, dry, paper towels to replace your current ones when the snakes soil their cages. The PAM is good for two weeks, so you can treat some, say on the weekend, and have them still be good for the following week.

I would continue the PAM-treated substrate regimen for at least 1 month...maybe 2 even if you see no visible mites.

Good luck! Mites are no fun. I've had an ongoing battle with them due to some (apparent) mite eggs on cork bark.. persistence is your only weapon..If you can keep up your routine for ~1-2 months and be consistent, you should be able to win.

[RedRabbit]

Sounds like everything was covered. I usually pre-treat paper towels with pam and have them already in my quarantine setups just in case.

I would suggest that you go ahead and pre-treat some paper towels in a well ventilated area (I do this on my screened in porch) so that you have a supply of already treated, dry, paper towels to replace your current ones when the snakes soil their cages. The PAM is good for two weeks, so you can treat some, say on the weekend, and have them still be good for the following week.

I would continue the PAM-treated substrate regimen for at least 1 month...maybe 2 even if you see no visible mites.

Good luck! Mites are no fun. I've had an ongoing battle with them due to some (apparent) mite eggs on cork bark.. persistence is your only weapon..If you can keep up your routine for ~1-2 months and be consistent, you should be able to win.

Thank you, that's a very good point. I actually did pre-treat several sets of paper towels with PAM and left those at the family house with BP #2, so they would already have those prepped in case substrate needed to be changed for pee/poop clean-up before I am back this coming weekend. If the pre-treated towels are still good for up to 2 weeks out, then I'll prep a larger supply of them both there and at my apartment. For ventilated areas, the family home has an outdoor patio area, and my apartment, though on the 4th floor, has a serviceable little balcony I've been using for this purpose.

Thank you for the well-wishing, and best of luck to you as well. That's really unfortunate about the cork bark - with such porous and uneven material and with mite eggs being so tiny, there's probably no way you could have detected that until the mites already started hatching. As you say, I may also go with continuing to PAM-treat at least the paper towel substrate for 2 full months rather than 1, for both snakes, just to really err on the safe side.

[bcr229]

I would also give this a try. The Frontline lasts a lot longer than the Natural Chemistry Reptile Spray so any mites that crawl back onto the snake to feed will end up dying.

[RedRabbit]

I would also give this a try. The Frontline lasts a lot longer than the Natural Chemistry Reptile Spray so any mites that crawl back onto the snake to feed will end up dying.

Thank you! I do remember seeing Frontline brought up as well while I was trawling through past threads on this forum for mite treatments. I think I ended up leaning towards the Natural Chemistry salt solution spray because the snake being treated is very young (a late September hatchling, and small for his age) and I was concerned about whether he could tolerate the Frontline spray, but I'll definitely give it a try if the Natural Chemistry spray just isn't doing the job.

[artgecko]

I would also give this a try. The Frontline lasts a lot longer than the Natural Chemistry Reptile Spray so any mites that crawl back onto the snake to feed will end up dying.

BCR- I have just recently purchased that (got it in last week). I will be trying it out this weekend...I was waiting on some of my snakes to shed out. This, I think, will be a much easier solution than dealing with PAM. This stuff isn't cheap, so hopefully it'll work.

[Phillydubs]

Plus one for frontline. I’ve used it recently and it’s worked very well from what I can see thus far.

You can also youtube muscle serpents university or Dave Paulumbo. He has a video on it as well.

Ttaylor also recently had the same issue as you from a show and has used this successfully as well.

[RedRabbit]

Good to hear the success stories with Frontline! @artgecko, best of luck and hope it works well for you. @Phillydubs, I've watched some of Dave Palumbo's videos before, I'll certainly check it out! And haha, I remember seeing tttaylorrr's post just about a week ago and thinking "oh boy that sucks, I hope I'll never have to deal with that!" and now here we are, pfft.

[RedRabbit]

Just wanted to post a positive update! After one more reptile spray treatment, I continued with PAM-treated paper towels as the substrate, and Ravus has been, by all appearances, mite-free for coming up on a full month now. His appetite has not been affected at all, as he's a voracious eater, and he's been gaining weight steadily and just had his first shed with me, which went fairly smoothly. Also, there was no spread to my other snake Iggy, so he's in the clear!