I just found some mites....advice?

[Phobiaz]

I've never had this problem before now, but I noticed my BP soaking, he's NEVER soaked, he doesn't like to. His humidity levels are good and every shed he's had since I've gotten him has been a CLEAN one piece shed. He's a great snake and ferocious eater. I've noticed mites, I'm worried sick now. I keep my BP in a 75 gallon tank. I plan to remove him from the tank and treat him and the enclosure for mites, (cleaning the 75 gallon tank is going to be FUN...err) I was wondering what the best method of treatment would be, is there a cheap easy way to rid the snake and enclosure from mites? I would like some advice from past personal experiences, quite honestly I'm tired of looking at the theoretical process of removing mites, it's driving me insane. I'm also worried about my young red tail boa, I've seen 2 mites in his cage but no more... I don't know where they are coming from. I plan to treat both of these snakes for mites, either of them are showing no signs of being weak or anything, as of now they are in good health, other than soaking. I need to treat this NOW and fast... I don't want my snakes getting hurt.


If you reply please include some of the information requested:

The NAME of the product used to treat the snake- Don't tell me "Oh theres this blue can at walmart it's 4 bucks"

Include the use of the product, is it for defecting the enclosure? Or is it for defecting the snake?

Please be specific in your response, that's what I'm lookin for, I don't want links to specific mite removal threads by popular demand, I want accounts from personal experience removing these evil bloodsuckers. I don't mean to be rude here, I'm just sick of looking at a million different mite removal sheets each claiming the "greatness of their product"

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope you guys can help!

[Samuel]

This worked really well for me.

Take the snake out, and coat in mineral oil. Nothing too extreme, just so that the mites on him will suffocate. DO NOT COVER THE HEAD!

Put the snake in a bucket, and leave him while you are cleaning the cage. Use a 9:1 ratio mixture of water and bleach (bleach being the 1 part) and soak EVERYTHING in the cage in it. EVERYTHING, if something can not be soaked ... throw it away.

Clean out the cage with the same mixture, and make sure to get EVERYTHING with it. Clean it three times to make sure if you have to. Take a bucket of the bleach mixture and scrub everything within a 4 foot radius of where the snake is kept with it, everything that can be cleaned should be. After everything has soaked or has been cleaned, rinse it all of REALLY good with water and let it dry. COMPLETELY dry. Place everything back in the cage, take out the snake. I rinsed off what I could of the oil, and put the snake back into the cage.

Again, this worked really well for me .. this is what my Vet instructed I do .. and it worked the first time. Best of luck!

[SatanicIntention]

Do NOT put mineral oil on the snake.. That just prolongs the infestation and will not kill the eggs. Just suffocates the mites that are on the snake at that time.


www.pro-products.com or www.entirelypets.com Get some Provent A Mite
OR www.pro-exotics.com and get some Black Knight II

Both work similarly and are very safe for the snake. Just follow the instructions to a T and the mites and eggs will die very quickly.

Cuda, please inform your vet that he needs to read up on how to effectively get rid of mites. Mineral oil is not one of the options.

[Phobiaz]

Thanks for the reply,

I want to do more than suffocate the mites, I want to make sure they are dead. I know suffocating will kill them, but I'm hopin for a safe spray that kills them directly. Yeah...cleaning the tank out is going to be a pain, one of his hide spots is wood so I'll have to replace it. I'm mainly worried about the mites coming back. Mites like to attatch themselves in the corner of a snakes eye- from what I've read, is applying mineral oil to his face, safe? Mites reproduce VERY fast, if I miss ONE, that means the same problem all over again.

[Samuel]

Do NOT put mineral oil on the snake.. That just prolongs the infestation and will not kill the eggs. Just suffocates the mites that are on the snake at that time.


www.pro-products.com or www.entirelypets.com Get some Provent A Mite
OR www.pro-exotics.com and get some Black Knight II

Both work similarly and are very safe for the snake. Just follow the instructions to a T and the mites and eggs will die very quickly.

Cuda, please inform your vet that he needs to read up on how to effectively get rid of mites. Mineral oil is not one of the options.

Yeah .. ok. Sorry for offering what really worked for me as help. This was cheap and really effective, and whether or not you think that it is the best way .. it worked. It got my snake relief right away (as I live in a small hick town so I would have had to drive for hours or wait for something to come in the mail) and he has been mite free for a while now.

I will inform my vet that her recommendation saved my snake from suffering longer.

Thanks for the kick in balls, that's awesome.

[Phobiaz]

Cuda, dude thanks for your input man. I'm looking for -extreme- action though. I like BlackKnight II, that stuff sounds like it will do the drop. Your response was helpful, and yeah the idea is to suffocate them but mineral oil is not going to kill the ones lurking around outside the cage(that is a possibility) I'm lookin to terminator style on them. Thanks again guys

[Corrupter]

I prefer Ivermectin because it is alot cheaper and just as effective as BKII and PAM (from my experiences at least), but for just a couple snakes I would definately go with the PAM/BKII. They work well and are trusted by many of the members here.

[TanyaL]

I had gotten hundreds of mites with my last bag of substrate. After one PAM treatment they were gone and I mean immediately! I have not seen a single mite since and it's been at least a month since I first treated. I treat each substrate change-out just to be sure I don't bring anymore in the environment.

GOOD LUCK!

[Schlyne]

Once you've treated the cage with provent a mite, it should kill all of the eggs and mites. You may want to treat again in like a month? to be sure, but it should keep you from getting repeaters.

I'd also suggest you treat the floor around the cage as well as mites can travel extreme distances.

I think black knight II works the same way, but I've never used it.

And if you have pet arachnids, move them out to a different place...provent a mite will kill arachnids.

[Pythonian]

one little trick i have done with my tarantulas is to take a empty and clean prescription botttle and put several small holes in it (a paper clip heated up will do the trick nicely, or gently with a drill bit). Slime the inside with a mix of honey and vaseline(more vaseline than honey) put the lid back on and place in the cage. it will attract mites and they cannot escape the vaseline. simply throw away when you need to.