Chronic Mites!

[Crazy4Herps]

I got my 09 Borneo short tail from Keith McPeek in May. He was in perfect health and was doing great until he got mites.

I think he may have got them during a photoshoot in my backyard, but I didn't know we had native snake mites.

After lots of treatment, they finally disappeared. I waited an additional month, monitoring him closely, before removing him from QT.

He's been out of QT for a while now, but a few days ago I noticed another mite! Moved him back to QT, decided to dump the Reptile Relief and order PAM. I like what I see in terms of reviews on PAM, but I'm wondering if this might be something more than a defective mite repellant. I want to stop this problem at the source.

I know it's crazy, but I keep thinking they're living inside the walls of the house. How does he keep getting the mites?



Here's his tracking for the past few months, if you want treatment schedules and dates.
http://www.iherp.com/HerpTrack/Track...AnimalID=21412


ANY help is much appreciated!!

[AaronP]

I would keep treating him with Reptile Relief until you get the PAM in. Once you get it in soak the snake, and treat him with the Reptile Relief, then clean EVERYTHING in his enviroment and then treat it with PAM.

After the PAM dries put him back in his setup and in 2 weeks repeat. I had a really bad mite investation that was brought into my collection because of a new addition a little over a year ago, I did exactly what I just told you to do and I haven't had a single mite problem since.

[Darkice]

Repti relief doesn't kill the eggs so they will keep coming back. When you get the PAM clean out all your reptile cages even the ones that never had mites and spray the substrate down in All of them. Let dry and replace animals.
Wait about a week then remove the animal and give each cage another spritz.
Should not get a reinfestation.

[cinderbird]

Just make sure you follow the directions on the can EXACTLY. You have to remove the animal and the water bowl. Neither can be anywhere near the PAM, let it dry, then replace animal and water bowl.

You can spray anything else-
cage
cage furniture
hides
substrate
etc

PAM does warn you, if you have any insects (spiders, crickets, etc) it will kill them for x amount of days (i cant remember exactly how many) so if you keep any of those, or have any insect eaters, be careful with those.

good luck!

I had one snake with a REALLY bad case of mites, one treatment with PAM eradicated them completely and within seconds I saw the mites dieing off.

[rabernet]

Provent-a-Mite doesn't kill the eggs, but the residual effects of the P.A.M. lasts for 30+ days, so that when mite eggs hatch, they die shortly thereafter, ending the life cycle of the mites.

I brought in 3 "rescues" that were infested with mites - I pre-treated all of them outside my home with Reptile Relief, then brought them into Quarantine in their already prepared - pre-treated with Provent-A-Mite tubs. I also treated all of my existing colony's enclosures as a preventative measure, so that even as careful as I was, I wouldn't inadvertently carry a mite egg or mites on my clothing and transfer them to them.

After 30 days, I re-treated the three in QT's enclosures, and I haven't had a mite since.

When I go to shows out of town, I always pre-treat a travel tote with PAM to bring any new acquisitions back in.

[BPelizabeth]

I also read somewhere that you need to get rid of any wood in the enclosure ....like a branch or something. Not sure if that is true or not. I am sure that the people that have been doing this for a long time can tell you for sure.

[nixer]

I also read somewhere that you need to get rid of any wood in the enclosure ....like a branch or something. Not sure if that is true or not. I am sure that the people that have been doing this for a long time can tell you for sure.

you dont need to throw away anything other than the reptile relief!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

As already mentioned PAM is the way to go, reptile relief is just a temporarily fix (more of a relief) until you get PAM.

Once you get your PAM you need to treat your ENTIRE collection not just the snake in QT.

[Crazy4Herps]

Thanks so much, everybody! You've been a great help. I will make sure to treat the rest of my collection, to be sure.

I am confused on one thing; is PAM strictly to be used on enclosures, or can it be used on the actual snake? Once I treat the enclosure with PAM, should I continue to treat the snake with Reptile Relief every 3 days?

[mainbutter]

USE AS DIRECTED, TO THE LETTER.

I've never used PAM (luckily never needed it), and thus have never actually read the directions, but I'm pretty sure you DO NOT USE IT ON THE SNAKE.