MITES!! Freaking out! What do I do??

[bcr229]

The active ingredient in NIX is permethrin. The active ingredient in PAM is permethrin. Used correctly both will eradicate mites without harming the snake. Used incorrectly both will kill your snake.

Two ounces (a bottle) of the 1% permethrin NIX diluted in a gallon of water makes an effective mite spray. Use it as you would use PAM - spray the enclosure, paper you will be using for substrate (if you have cypress or aspen throw it away), hides, rack, floor, walls, etc. Allow surfaces your snake comes into contact with to completely dry before putting your snake back into its home. DO NOT SPRAY THE WATER BOWL or you snake with the permethrin product, if your snake ingests permethrin it may suffer neurological damage or perish.

You can soak your snake for 30 minutes or so in warm (not hot, about 85*F) water with a small drop of dish soap to break the surface tension of the water so the mites can't float, and they drown.

You can use Reptile Spray on the snake to kill mites. My vet suggested spraying a paper towel with it and then wiping the snake, as most snakes hate getting sprayed and get stressed out when you do it. Plus you use less Reptile Spray per treatment since more ends up on the snake and not on the floor, the tub, the rack... Do the wipe treatments twice weekly until you stop seeing mites on the paper towel, then weekly for four weeks after that to make sure you don't get hit with a re-infestation because you missed an egg.