Ugh.. mites..

[duckschainsaw]

So I discovered mites in my rack.. pretty much every tub. I do everything I can to keep things clean and sanitary. Right now I'm treating everyone, treating every enclosure, and the rack itself. Seeing lots of dead ones, and the snakes seem fine.

I suppose what I really want to know is where did they come from? I'm so frustrated and mad at myself. What did I do wrong? I use frozen feeders, and have been using forest floor. Of course now it's paper towels. What can I do to keep those nasty little beasties out of my rack and off my babies?

[BCS]

Mites can come from anywhere that sells animals and the supplies. I have been told that mites can come from bedding as well, not too sure if that is true though. Another way is if you have gone to a pet store and they have an infestation. Or breeders or an expo. Cannot tell you exactly where they have come from without knowing your exact visiting locations. If the mites are so bad to infest your entire collection, you probably have had them for a while.

[duckschainsaw]

They were all on paper towels then I switched to forest floor for the humidity. It's fitting to be drier here and my place is never that humid. It's only been a couple months on the forest floor. Before that it was fine. If a pet store I went to has an infestation could it have been in the substrate? The bags do have little holes in them.

[BCS]

It probably could happen. All I know for sure is that mites are not native to north America so in order to get mites, it would have had to come from somewhere that other reptiles are present.

[bcr229]

Mites can come from a lot of places, including:
- An improperly quarantined animal. The QT enclosure, paper substrate, and hides for new arrivals are treated the prior day with PAM or a similar permethrin-based solution, and part of my unboxing process is to wipe the critter with a white paper towel that has been damped with Reptile Spray. If a new animal arrives with mites I will know it almost immediately.
- Pet stores. Even if you don't purchase an animal, female mites travel to lay their eggs. Since reptile equipment and substrate is located in the store very close to the animals, it's easy enough for females to lay eggs in bedding or on cage décor. Or, employees in the store could handle the animals and then inadvertently transfer the mites to almost anything else.
- Expos. You can bring a hitchhiker home with you. When I get home I shower immediately and wash the clothes I was wearing.

[duckschainsaw]

I've gone back through my cleaning and care logs. It seems to have appeared quickly. I got a giant bag of forest floor from a pet shop, and the tubs that got substrate from that bag had the worst infestations. The others had maybe one or two mites. I'm going to contact the pet store tomorrow and give them a heads up.

A few questions. How often do I treat and how long do I continue the treatment? I've got some PAM on the way, right now I just used reptile spray. Could I use super hot steam in the hard to reach corners of the rack?

[bcr229]

Mite Eradication 101:

*** Permethrin ***

Permethrin comes in many forms - Provent-A-Mite (PAM), NIX/RID, Permethrin-10 from a livestock supply store, etc. Its half life is 30 days if kept out of direct sunlight.

PAM has several advantages. It has been tested for use with reptiles, and it comes ready to use. The disadvantages are that it's expensive and most reptile stores don't have it in stock, so you have to wait for it to be shipped to you if you don't have any on hand. Meanwhile the mites are busy breeding.

NIX/RID is cheaper than PAM and is readily available at WalMart, CVS, Rite Aid, and other pharmacies or drug stores. It is also easy to dilute: mix one two ounce bottle of the cream rinse containing 1% permethrin with one gallon of water.

At a dollar per ounce Permethrin-10 is the cheapest of the three options; one eight ounce bottle will make 240 gallons of solution, as only 6 milliliters (1/4 oz) of it are needed per gallon of water to make an effective mite spray. The downside is that it's all too easy to make too strong of a permethrin solution which can harm your snakes.

No matter which product you use, it must be used correctly. I've never sprayed any permethrin product onto my snakes as it's not needed for mite treatment, and permethrin poisoning in a snake can cause irreversible neurological damage.

Permethrin use: spray the enclosure, paper substrate, and hides. DO NOT SPRAY THE WATER BOWL. Allow everything to dry completely before returning your snake to its home. Also keep a supply of treated and dried newspaper or paper towels and treated hides available so that when a snake makes a mess, you replace the soiled paper and hides with treated ones. Treat the enclosure every two to three weeks.

*** Reptile Spray ***

Reptile Spray kills mites on contact while wet, once it dries it loses its effectiveness pretty quickly. Reptile Spray is a solution of salts rather than an insecticide; it kills mites by dehydrating them. I don't spray the snakes as more ends up on the floor than on the snake. Instead, I spray a white paper towel with a little of it and wipe it on the snake. That way you get even coverage on the snake, you can work it into the area under their chin really well as that's a favorite hiding plate for mites, you don't stress out your snake, and you can look for mites on the paper towel to see how quickly they're being eradicated. Apply twice a week. Note - this stuff hurts like hell in an open wound, yes I'm speaking from experience!

*** Hot Shot No-Pest Strips ***

Some people take a Hot Shot No-Pest strip, cut it into pieces, put each piece into a small container, poke some holes in the container, and put each container into the snake's enclosure. I've used the No-Pest strip but I just hang it in the snake room and close the door. Either way is effective, especially if you have a major outbreak.

If you do use it, remove the water bowls as the insecticide is strongly attracted to water and you don't want the snake drinking it. After 24 hours remove the strip (or pieces), put them into an airtight container for future use, air out the room, and put the water bowls back. Repeat treatment weekly for eight weeks.

Important! If you also keep tarantulas, feeder roaches, crickets, etc. do not use the No-Pest Strip as it will kill them too!!!!

*** Mild Dish Soap ***

One or two drops of mild dish detergent in your snake's bath water will prevent mites from floating in the water so they drown. No more than that is needed, your snake should not look like it is taking a bubble bath.

*** Heat ***

Don't laugh, but temperatures of 150*F for five seconds will kill mites and the eggs. I purchased a heat gun used for stripping paint that can be set to blow hot air from 180*F through 1200*F. Using the heat gun and a temp gun I heated the surfaces and crevices of my melamine enclosures to kill off any mite eggs that may have been laid outside the tubs. Be careful not to get your enclosure surfaces too hot or you can damage them.

Mite treatment should continue for 30 days after you stop finding mites, as an egg can take that long to hatch, so plan on eight weeks of treatment total.

*** FINAL NOTE ***

Effective quarantine means that you treat every new arrival as if it has mites, and new snakes are kept as far away from your established collection as possible (mine go to a friend's house) for at least 90 days. I treat the quarantine enclosure, hides, and paper with permethrin a day or so before the new snake arrives, and I wipe it with a paper towel soaked in Reptile Spray as part of my inspection process when it comes out of the shipping box. If the new arrival has mites I will know it within a day or two at most. This also goes for snakes from "trusted" sources, my first mite outbreak ever came from someone I trusted.

[pbyeerts]

I always heat substrate to 300 F in a roasting pan in my oven to kill any beasties that might be in the bag.....


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1 dog, 3 cats, 1 macaw, 1 husband, 1 daughter, and GINGER


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[duckschainsaw]

Treatment seems to be found well. Signs of mites have dramatically decreased. I am only finding a dead mite here or there. I'm going to continue the treatment for a full 6 weeks though.

Now I'm wondering about feeding during treatment. Should I continue regular feeding or back off for a little while?

[Mr. Misha]

Keep feeding them if they eat. Mine went on a hunger strike when I was battling mites but started eating again after.

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