Night before moving and what do I find?!

[Elleken]

That my snakes have mites! My first bp ever has them the worst. First of all it is incredibly stressful just moving, but on top of that we are moving a day earlier so I have less time to pack and now I have found out that they all have mites. This isn't just a tiny move either we are moving from Central New York to Provo, Utah. I am so incredibly stressed right now. Any suggestions on moving them and treating mites at the same time? I really hope that they are species specific as I've read because not only do I have a small python/kenyan sand boa collection, but a fairly large (20+) tarantula collection as well.

[Kaorte]

Pretty sure snake mites are snake specific. They shouldn't harm the arachnids.

First on your list to do is get some PAM (provent a mite). Meanwhile, you can soak your snakes to help kill off any mites on their body and disinfect all of the enclosures (bleach, preferably). It would be in your best interest to put the snakes on paper towels so you can better see mites hanging around.

Your snakes will be fine for a day or two while you move. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Once you are moved you can treat with the PAM and hopefully be done with that problem.

[WingedWolfPsion]

Hose them all down with Natural Chemistry "reptile spray", which you can buy from most pet stores. If you have to wait to get your hands on some Provent-A-Mite, just clean everything extremely well in the meantime, and order it now.

When you receive the PAM, remember that it's designed to kill arthropods. Spray the cages AWAY from your arthropod collection, and don't bring them back into vicinity until they're completely dry. The PAM will kill any remaining mites, and will then go on to kill newly hatched mites later on (since nothing kills all the eggs). Re-treat the snakes according to the time frame on the Natural Chemistry product, after you treat the bins with PAM. That should be the end of the mites--if you see any more, you won't see them for long.