How to remove specifically stuck mites

[kilopular]

(this is a question not a guide; I forgot the ?)

Recently found poor Monty soaking with evidence of foreign invaders. I've cleaned out his tank, everything is replaced and sterilized, waiting on PAM to arrive (using Reptile Spray for now). Gave him a reptile spray bath (using a paper towel to get it on him) and there remain a few pesky mites on his lower jaw and neck I cannot seem to shake (either they're dead and stuck or they're feisty.)

I was wondering how I would remove specific mites that seem to be 'stuck'. Would I just keep trying with the spray/paper towel/soaking or would I physically try to pull them off? I'm not sure the method here and can't find anything on it.


Really bad photo of 2 of the stuck mites. I think there is another one on his neck somewhere under.

[bcr229]

Mites really like the areas under the jaw, around the eyes, and around the vent. Just keep wiping with the paper towel soaked in spray - I've found that spraying the snake directly just aggravates the snake and most of the spray ends up everywhere but the snake.

[kilopular]

I'll keep trying but there's only so much I can do until he refuses to be fondled any longer =( I don't want to hold him too much and stress him out. I need to get rid of those mites though and I don't know how to do it without stressing him out too much.

[Neal]

The one time I had mites from snake sitting a friends snake it was the most annoying battle ever. It was something like 4 years ago, but I treated everything twice a week for three weeks(giving the eggs time to hatch if they weren't killed). I cleaned all enclosures with bleach and wiped everything down with bleach of course it was diluted. I used the reptile spray and wiped the snake down when I did the enclosures then I let them soak in a bowl to hydrate afterwards.

For mites that are dead but under the scales, if you take a piece of paper and rip it off you can gently slide it under and get them from the snake, works like a charm.

[kilopular]

For mites that are dead but under the scales, if you take a piece of paper and rip it off you can gently slide it under and get them from the snake, works like a charm.

I've done all the cleaning, I'm just worried about those mites on his jaw (that I'm pretty sure are dead, there was a lot of soaking/spray in that area and there is no way they are that resilient). For this, it sounds great and pretty simple, but how would I hold the snake still for this? He is rather new and I've successfully fed him 3 times and he's not used to being held too much, so how do I go about getting those with the paper and holding him still?

[Neal]

I've done all the cleaning, I'm just worried about those mites on his jaw (that I'm pretty sure are dead, there was a lot of soaking/spray in that area and there is no way they are that resilient). For this, it sounds great and pretty simple, but how would I hold the snake still for this? He is rather new and I've successfully fed him 3 times and he's not used to being held too much, so how do I go about getting those with the paper and holding him still?

Just hold him and let him settle down to where he's not moving around much then try it, if he keeps moving then I wouldn't worry about it right now. If you start trying to hold his head then you're going to stress him out more then the mite treatment is doing already.

[kilopular]

Alright. Thank you, I'll give it another go tomorrow, or Wednesday to give him a break. Everything else is clean, I just hope those mites on his jaw are dead instead of still alive.

[Neal]

Alright. Thank you, I'll give it another go tomorrow, or Wednesday to give him a break. Everything else is clean, I just hope those mites on his jaw are dead instead of still alive.

Yea, you could always wipe a bit of stuff on a paper towel and rub the bottom of his jaw. Just be careful using PAM.

One thing I will say is clean the entire enclosure, around it as well.

[bcr229]

For under the jaw I found it easier to let the more wiggly/active snakes crawl across the soaked paper towel instead of trying to hold them still and wipe them with it.

PAM is awesome stuff, just be absolutely sure to use it as directed.

[kilopular]

I've tried having him go over the paper towel many times but those ones are truly stuck.

Also, because I don't want to open another thread and annoy people, I was seeing if I could remove the mites with a soft toothbrush/the piece of paper and they just don't budge - I'll be trying a second treatment of the spray today/tomorrow with paper towel again to see if that'll get rid of them under his jaw.

The second issue is, when I was holding him today to try and get the extra mites off his jaw, I noticed his belly coloration was different - I'm not sure if this is scale rot or some other thing (ignore my messy desk and tons of money):



I know scale rot needs to be kinda a rusty color so it doesn't look like this and this did happen overnight practically.

Now what I think it is, is when I cleaned his tank on Tuesday, I woke up on Wednesday to find feces in two corners of the tank and poop smeared everywhere. It was very rude, lol. So I'm assuming that is due to his smearing it all over his tank like the filthy beast he is. By the way it looks, it looks like it could be that. I've never left his substrate wet before except when he went overnight and part of the paper towels were damp from his mess but that couldn't have been more than 6 hours and he wasn't on that side when I found it.

My substrate is paper towels with 55-57 humidity and hotspot of 90, with cold side of 82 and ambient 83.