HELP!! Can mite eggs lay dormant until a new host arrives?

[Naom9Anne]

Right guys I am about to scream, one snake on my rack had 4 mites in her enclosure and my pinstripe in the vivarium (across the room) has quite a few.

A few months ago (I think) I had mites in my vivarium and I was wondering if there was a chance that the snake mites eggs could stay dormant and reappear if I hadn't been vigilant enough in eradicating them the first time?

Has anyone come across this? Internet searches seem to follow this but I am baffled and annoyed and currently bleaching, scrubbing and mite spraying everything (even those with no signs of mites just in case)

My new additions 100% do not have mites and have not brought them in so this is the only thing I can assume. Advice would be welcomed here as this is the cherry on the top of a pretty crappy day for me

[jclaiborne]

I have read the eggs can lay dormant, but I don't know if there is any truth to this. I do know they can hitch a ride on you (from stores, expos and holding other reptiles) and be introduced to the reptiles that way. I got back from a business trip on Dec 21st and found Mites on my BTS. I basically did the same thing you are doing now. I pulled everything out of the cages, bleached them. Bleached all the decorations, water bowls, wood, hides. I then baked all wood decorations in the oven for 2 hours. Treated all the reptiles (even those that didn't have visible mites) layed down paper towels for substrate and sprayed the enclosures with Provent A Mite. Luckily I haven't found any on my snakes, but I am still finding dead ones in my BTSs enclosure. I am treating weakly and hopefully they will be gone soon. Also all decorations are still out of the cages tied off in trash bags that I sprayed provent a mite in as well. I also cleaned the entire room my reptiles are in, cleaned the carpets and sprayed Provent a Mite on the carpet around the cages to create a barier that they wont cross. Since this experience anytime I go to the reptile shops or expos I change my clothes and wash up before handling any of my guys. I may be overdoing it, but I don't want to go through this again.

Good luck hopefully it gets better soon.

[bcr229]

In reading over the mite life cycle at http://vpi.com/publications/the_life...of_snake_mites it looks like you're probably dealing with several generations worth of mites if one snake has four visible and the other has considerably more. So, most likely you missed some eggs during the last go-round.

I know PAM isn't available in the UK, what are you using to treat the enclosures that will persist for a few days to catch the mites during the off-snake portions of their life cycle?

[Naom9Anne]

I am using a mite treatment called Callingtons which is like our PAM I believe, going scrubbing and spraying mad and 100% just those two with signs but I refuse to take any chances

[jclaiborne]

I am using a mite treatment called Callingtons which is like our PAM I believe, going scrubbing and spraying mad and 100% just those two with signs but I refuse to take any chances

Good call. I did the same thing and it paid off in the long run, because my other reptiles are still mite free...once the initial cleanup is done, its not too bad to continue treatments, the only hard part is not holding them Also even when visual signs are gone it would be a good idea to treat 1 or 2 more times just to ensure there aren't any babies under scales or eggs that may hatch...just to be safe.

[Naom9Anne]

Yeah, I plan to be overly vigilant this time! I refuse to let this buggers beat me. I'm just annoyed that this is likely to be my own fault by not thoroughly eradicating the eggs last time! The viv was left empty until a couple of weeks ago when I put my pinstripe in and all of a sudden that is where the mites are I'll get rid of them though

[mechnut450]

I had mites once or twice (over the years) I done the same I scrubbed the curd out of the reptile room, I used 3 cans of pam in a 2 month period. I sprayed the rack, the carpet, and )everything in the room. I don't use décor for my snakes but I repeated this for 2 months and by the third month I just did the tubs themselves another 3 months. Both times I had mites it was after visiting a expo. It became a rule that no animals were touch upon return from a expo until after a shower. I so set on this most the time I will stripe in the laundry room and go upstairs and shower. (this way I can wash the cloths right away )