Hello all,

This is my third attempt at drafting a thread post for this question, because I just keep getting way too wordy.

So, as short as I can manage it,

My baby BP (maybe 3-4 months old, 220 grams), Fitz, has mites.

I won't get Provent-a-mite until Monday, but in the meantime, I've sanitized the tank and equipment, replaced the substrate with paper towels, and have been spraying the paper towels and hides in the tank with an extremely diluted (more so than the instructions called for) and sparsely sprayed ivermectin solution.
He's got at least four mites that I can see under his scales, and with how lightly I've been using the ivermectin, I doubt it's going to do anything about those nasty little *censored grumbling*.

I'd like to try giving him a dawn soap bath as I've seen suggested, but I've not found a lot of instruction on how to GIVE a mite-ridden snake a bath, except for one snake exert who said to leave them in the water, filled halfway up their body, for several hours. Not saying that I doubt he's right, but it really shocked me. I'm hesitant to put Fitz in water for that long given how young and nervous he is, and all of the recent changes that have happened to his cage in the last couple of days.... I'm just not sure how to balance the stress all this is causing with the necessity to be as thorough and quick about these mites as possible.


I know everybody's got their own different opinions here but,


1) In any of your experiences, how long do you really need to let a snake sit in water for mite-killing purposes?

2) Is the stress of sticking him in a box of water going to be that detrimental for him compared to letting these mites sit on him and continue to breed until I'm able to get a hold of provent-a-mite and try to treat with that??

(also, I haven't seen a clear answer, but does one need to bathe the snake in tandem with using PAM?? So far, from what I've read, it seems people just spray the tank and all of the mites, even on the snake, somehow die??)



I probably don't need to be worrying so much about stressing this little snake out, compared to getting rid of the mites... but I've also kept betta fish, and the slightest introduction of stress with those guys is often a recipe for extreme sickness or death, so maybe I'm just paranoid from that.... I'm betting snakes are much hardier...