information needed on mites

[SquamishSerpents]

hey guys, i have done a forum search, and haven't quite found the information i am looking for.

last night i took out our het. pied female, and i saw a BUG on her! a teeeeeeeeeeny tiiiiiiiiiiiny white bug! and of course i started freaking out, since they had just come out of quarantine, and the whole collection is now together, in a plywood rack. AHHHHHHHHH freakin' out! no idea if i can get Provent-A-Mite here in canada, haven't looked into it yet cause i haven't confirmed if it's mites or not. i really only saw 1 or 2 bugs on her, but none on any of the other snakes.

so i checked the water dishes, and sure enough in about half of the snakes, there were black spots floating at the bottom of the dishes. however i am not sure weather or not it's dirt; we hadn't washed and replaced everyone's water in almost a week. i didn't even bother checking the brazilian rainbow boas, because they're kept in what looks like dirt anyways, so i wouldn't be able to tell weather it's mites or dirt.

what we did before bed last night was empty out all the water, and throw the dishes in the dishwasher. this morning i replaced everyones water, and i'm going to wait a day or two and check again for black spots and also try and find a magnifying glass.

the only thing that leads me to believe it's not mites, is that the bug was white, and i didn't find any on any other snakes, not even in the typical under-chin skin folds. i have read that mites are black, or red.

also about a year ago i saw a white bug on an ornament in my snow corns cage, but that was it, the only bug that i saw.

could the bug just simply be some sort of bug that came from the plywood? it's a new rack that we just built a little while ago, and the wood was obviously sitting in a warehouse at Home Depot, and then sat out some more at my boyfriends grandparents garage after we had cut the plywood.

sorry for the long-winded post, BUT what i'm really wondering overall, is WHERE DO MITES COME FROM!?!?!?

we had them all in quarantine, and inspected all of them whenever they were handled. do they just immaculately concept in snake collections or WHAT! i had a work friend come in and tell me that Repti-Bark that has been misted seems to attract tarantula mites. but...where do they "attract" from?

and also, what harm do they cause to the snakes? is it like fleas in dogs? can they wipe out a whole collection? are they really as hard to get rid of as a flea infestation?

is this due to poor husbandry? i certainly hope not, as i am SOOOO diligent about EVERYTHING.

i know, i know, "it happens to everyone" but this is really gonna suck if it happens to be mites.

does anyone have pictures of mite eggs in water dishes? or a snake that is infested with mites?

any info would be so greatly appreciated, thanks!

[Jessandyballs]

Hi,

I am not Mite expert, but mites can be white. I would definitely quarantine and get some Black Nite 2 bug spray.

Good Luck,
Bill

[cinderbird]

no need to quarentine. if they are mites and you see one there are already more.

grab yourself a can of Prevent-a-mite, follow the directions, and watch your problem go away.

just to let you know, i think white bugs are wood mites. snake mites (all the ones ive ever seen ) have been black or very dark brown.

[CritterVet]

If you don't see any adults on the snakes, I am suspicious that these aren't snake mites -- assuming you have looked very carefully around the eyes, around the mouth & sensory pits, between the jaw, etc. In addition to looking closely, you can soak one of the snakes in water and see if black adult mites come off. Or you can run a wet paper towel all over the snake and see if mites come off. If you do find black, suspicious-looking specks again, squish one and see if blood comes out. What are you using for bedding? Wood mites can come in on shavings. They look similar to a nymph stage of snake mites, but they aren't parasitic. Before you start spraying pesticides all over the place, I would confirm that you do indeed have a snake mite infestation.

[SquamishSerpents]

thanks CritterVet, i saw 2 bugs on the little het. Pied girl, both near the head/face, one was crawling around the eye, but that was it for bugs. none anywhere else.

we use zoomed shredded aspen as bedding. i had thought of that, but haven't recently replaced any of the bedding. we spot-clean whenever we see a mess, so we don't change out the aspen that often. i'm probably going to be switching to newspaper pretty soon anyways, as i'm sick of the aspen getting all over the carpet.

i'm wondering about the plywood rack too though, could it be harboring some sort of wood mite/bug/parasite?

i am going to check the water bowls as soon as i get home (yes, i'm internetting at work, bad girl!) and i will for sure try running the het. pied, and a few other snakes through wet paper towel to see if there are any other bugs.

if it turns out this is some sort of other bug, do i even need to do anything to irradicate them?

[cinderbird]

thanks CritterVet, i saw 2 bugs on the little het. Pied girl, both near the head/face, one was crawling around the eye, but that was it for bugs. none anywhere else.

we use zoomed shredded aspen as bedding. i had thought of that, but haven't recently replaced any of the bedding. we spot-clean whenever we see a mess, so we don't change out the aspen that often. i'm probably going to be switching to newspaper pretty soon anyways, as i'm sick of the aspen getting all over the carpet.

i'm wondering about the plywood rack too though, could it be harboring some sort of wood mite/bug/parasite?

i am going to check the water bowls as soon as i get home (yes, i'm internetting at work, bad girl!) and i will for sure try running the het. pied, and a few other snakes through wet paper towel to see if there are any other bugs.

if it turns out this is some sort of other bug, do i even need to do anything to irradicate them?

i had woodmites in my bedding once (used to use reptibark) a treatment of PAM and i never saw them again.

i've switched bedding to newspaper because i can get it free though.

to pre-treat for wood mites you can do any of the following, or several of the following:

- freeze your bedding for a few days prior to using it
- bake in the oven at 225F for a hour before use
- spray Prevent a mite into the bag before use, shake, spray and then you should be good.
-pre-treat cages with PAM before adding new bedding.

[SquamishSerpents]

does anyone know if PAM is even available in Canada? or can it be shipped to Canada? last year i had ordered a skin care liquid, and it was ceased at customs. i got a letter saying that a package addressed to me had been taken out of the mail because it was "flammable." and my pet store has been having a lot of problems getting some products (namely dog ear cleaner, eye wash, certain treats, etc) due to some new licensing thing.

i'm hesitant to treat anything since i haven't even confirmed mites. i came home and looked at the het. pied that i originally saw the bugs on, and i didn't see any today. also, no speckles in the water dishes. so i'm wondering...and sitting here all paranoid still...

[CritterVet]

The active ingredient in PAM is permethrin. This is the same active ingredient in the popular human head lice treatment Nix, as well as other head lice treatments. Many breeders use Nix to successfully eradicate mites. I'm sure if you do a google search you can find some protocols. Keep in mind, permethrin is a neurotoxic pesticide, not a benign substance.

My feeling on wood mites is that they are annoying but not harmful. If they get to high numbers, I imagine they can be irritating to the snakes. You can probably get rid of them by changing to newspaper and spraying down the plywood rack with a permethrin product.

[burtard]

Get black night!!!!!!! it got rid of my mites on my red-tail easily. Just spray it in each cage of your collection. You might have to do it twice (2 weeks apart). Look at pro exotics web site it has some instructions on it. Black Night 2 is the silver bullet of mites.

[aarondm]

Where do you get it from, I dont see it on PE