Mite question

[byrns149]

Lately my male has been going off feed, i found he had mites and he is undergoing treatment with natural chemistry. A female lives in the same 40 gallon cage with him. Theyre both about 300 grams. they were housed on aspen bedding and the infestation was pretty bad. however my female has no symptoms, she eats perfectly, never refused a meal and no mites. I treated her aswell with natural chemisty just to be sure then put her on moist paper towels along with the male for 20 minutes or so. the male had tons of mites coming off. 10+ mites. The female had absolutely none. is this common for one snake to be affected by mites and the other to not be affected? i totally cleaned out the cage and put them on fresh newspaper. Although what worries me is that my female is ALWAYS soaking in her water dish. please reply.

[dr del]

Hi,

No mites tend to infest and spread quite quickly. They also lay eggs which are hard to kill so 30 days after you think the problem is fixed they come back.

I would recommend seperating them and buying a can of Provent-a-mite and treating both enclosures (follow the instructions on the can exactly) and then repeating the treatment in 30 days.

And 10+ mites is not a lot - there can be hundreds of the little bleeders on each snake in bad cases all jammed into their heatpits, nostrils and around the eyes.


dr del

[SixSnakes]

Yeah, the female is soaking probably due to the mites. She is proactively drowning the little buggers and therefore has less mites on her. Don't be fooled. She has them for sure. Good luck! I HATE mites... If these guys are near any other reptiles, you may have a bigger problem than you think.

With my infestation, I was able to remove the infected snakes, enclosues and stands and prevented the mites from spreading. I had other tanks in the same room. I never treated the other snakes for mites, but I did treat them all like they were in quarantine and was very careful. They were closely monitored but never got them.

I used Reptile Relief, bleach and soaking to beat the problem. At the next expo, I picked up a can of PROVENT-A-MITE, but never had to use it. But based on the faith in the product, that's what I would go with.

[byrns149]

ok but my next expo in january 22nd. should i continue soaking them and treating them with natural chemistry for the time being and seperate them? i have a spare 20 gallon i could use.

[SixSnakes]

Yea, you might have to get the PROVENT-A-MITE online. I have never seen it in a pet store here.

You may not have to separate them ( I didn't ) but if your snakes are stressed, it might be better. Snakes can go off feed due to the stress of treatment and another snake in the tank can add to that. For sure separate them if one regurges.

I gutted my tanks and replaced the aspen with papertowels. I would soak the snakes for about half hour and then wipe them with a paper towel doused in Reptile Relief.

While they were soaking, I bleached everything in the tank, and the tank itself. I used scorching hot water and filled the tanks to the brim with water with bleach. I would also disinfect their stand, and the outside of the tank. Bleach works wonders, but everything must be rinsed thoroughy. I soaked the hides in bleach as well. You will want to rotate hides as you do not want to put a wet hide back in the tank. Once bleached, I would soak them in water, dump the water after a while, soak again and rinse. This process gets rid of the bleach/water stuck in all the crevices.

I would repeat this process every 2-3-4-5 days (more often at first).

I think I did this for... maybe a month? After treatment, I kept the paper towel set up and monitored the snakes. You will see evidence within a few weeks of mites (if not earlier) The best time to spot the buggers is when the snake is feeding and their throats are stretched out. I am really paranoid so I am not sure if I went overboard. But my processed worked I have never seen another mite.

[dr del]

Hi,

I would order it online.

Treat once and then relax secure in the knowledge that it keeps on working for 30 days at which point you treat for the second and final time.


dr del

[Kaorte]

Order provent a mite online. I believe this is the only way to really kill all of the mites.

Separate the animals. Unless you are breeding them, they should be separated. When they are together they can become unhealthy, stressed, and go off feed. Ball pythons are not social animals and thrive when housed separately.

[byrns149]

they have been together since they were babies. they sleep together, same hide, everything. they also have a fairly large tank. they never had trouble eating. both great animals. i dont think ill seperate them but ill order the provent a mite and ill do what you did sixsnakes. I have reptile relief so ill do it monday. i did treatments to both snakes today and ill buy provent a mite soon. the male took a hopper also i might add. They seem fine but the mites are the problem. i totally cleaned the tank out today and put newspaper. im finding some dead mites on the newspaper.