Mites treatment

[Bogertophis]

One example of a very respected breeder using olive oil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raaKeK_pafM&t=558s

So I just watched this & he seems to be promoting olive oil from one instance where a snake he got had a few mites & after this treatment, the mites were gone, so now he routinely uses this as his go-to mite prevention method. My problem with that is his admission: that snake wasn't badly infested in the first place, & apparently he happened to remove the mites the snake had this way, & while I'll agree that olive oil won't really 'hurt' a snake, I'm just not convinced it's (a) all that effective* and (b) not going to cause problems for snakes with future sheds, since that's been reported many times by others. *I can see where sliding a snake thru a damp paper towel (that's wet, either with olive oil or just WATER) will get a few mites off the snake & stuck to the paper. Yes, I get that. HOWEVER- IF that snake he "cured" of mites this way had had mites in it's heat-sensing pits or stuck to the vent scales or around the eyes, they'd NOT have come off this way as shown, and it only takes one mite to survive & lay eggs in the snake's enclosure so in my opinion, in the example he gave as "proof of efficacy" I think he just got lucky that the few mites that snake had were places he managed to wipe with the paper towel.

Mites truly must be taken seriously- they can spread deadly diseases to snakes, & can kill them when they reproduce exponentially, & cause dehydration & circulatory collapse in the snake's body that results in shock & organ failure. I'm in favor of safe & non-toxic methods to rid snakes of mites, & there's nothing wrong with doing this method first, the minute you're aware of the problem & before mites spread or reproduce- but please be realistic about how effective this is (or isn't). Near the end of this video, he is shown spritzing an unknown toxic pesticide into his rack of snakes- so obviously he is NOT relying solely on "olive oil" to kill all the mites in his collection, as you're making it sound. Okay?

I don't mind this being part of the discussion, but it's not the whole picture, not even for the guy whose method you're endorsing. Personally when I dealt with mites, I did the soak with a few drops of mild dish soap in the water, to drown as many mites as I could -first- before using another method (brief pesticide exposure, which I truly HATE to use) to make sure all mites were gone. FYI- Using dish soap, you do NOT want a bunch of suds- only a drop or 2 of soap will break the surface tension of the water, so that the mites all drown, they cannot swim or float; no residue will remain on the snake to affect sheds in any way.