Might have mites? and a Bad Shed...

[thelyonsking]

I was holding Tigger last night and right after he pooped on me, AGAIN, I noticed what I think was a mite on him. It was not much bigger than the head of a stickpin. I got it off and squished it:smash: and then went over Tigger real well without finding anymore. I am assuming my best course of action is to clean the cage real well. As for Tigger, I read somewhere to bath him, but for how long should I have him in the water to get rid of any mites that may be there?

Also, we had our first shed last week, but it didn't go so well. I noticed he was in blue, so I was trying to keep the cage misted as my house is pretty dry. However, I can get the humidty up for just awhile and then it evaporated I assume as the hygrometer goes back down to about 30% by morning. I panicked when I saw only half a shed, so I immediately tried to help him with a wet towel and rubbing (although I'll admit I did pull a few pieces off and now know I shouldn't have done that). I think I may have acted too quickly and should have given him some more time. If he has a partial shed again, how long should I wait to help him?

One last question, Tigger spends nearly all his time in his hides. When I take him out he is very active and loves to crawl around my hands (when he's not pooping on my arm :-puke02: ). But as soon as I put him back he goes to the hide. He never climbs on his log and he is never out and about. I assume its just a personality thing, but I want to make sure its normal.

Thanks for all your help. I get tons of advice hear from just reading posts daily!

thelyonsking (Greg)

[KatieL]

Hey there, we recently had a problem with Sienna having mites, and thanks to the advice we got from DAND, they're all cleared up. I'll forward you the email he sent me in a sec, hopefully it'll help you too. (Hope ya don't mind me spreading the word, Dave, but it's really helpful!)

Also, Tigger is probably out and about a lot at night. You can try checking then to catch some of the action! Remember, corns are nocturnal, so they're just sleeping most of the day. Good luck getting Tigger all fixed up!

[pcar]

to help with the shed and humidity problem that you are having...you could cover half the viv top with either plastic or a towel. This will help in keeping the moisture in the viv. Or, just during the blue stage till the snake sheds, you might try a humid hide (a bowl with a hole in the side, place moist paper towels in the bowl and put the lid on, then place in the viv)

[Uncloudy]

Mites are a pretty serious problem and can lead to death. If you have them you will notice them in the water bowl, on the sides of the terrerium, or on your snake. Mites look like specks of pepper that will move. They need to be irradicated with an after market mite treatment for snakes. All your cages and cage furniture will need to be cleaned and treated with the substrate thrown out. Mites spread to your whole collection, so it's best to clean and treat everything. Go to some snake websites and search for mite treatment to find out better how to treat for mites, identify them, and what worked for others. Good luck.
Uncloudy

[KatieL]

The mites Sienna had were pretty big, and didn't exactly look like specks of pepper. I mean, you could see tiny legs on them and everything. In any case, the Nix treatment took care of them right away.

[Joejr14]

Sevin Dust works extremely well for knocking out mites.

[JTGoff69]

Are you sure you can use Sevin dust with snakes? :eek1:

[TrpnBils]

Are you sure you can use Sevin dust with snakes? :eek1:


I was reading up on this a couple weeks ago and I found a thread where the guy used Sevin dust on his whole collection without problems (except for one kind of lizard, if I'm remembering right). Do a search on it and I'm sure you'll find it somewhere on here.

He had a whole explanation of how he uses it, and if you're thinking about using it, I'd read what he has to say first. I'm sure if you let the snake ingest it or something like that it wouldn't be healthy, so just to be on the safe side, follow somebody else's lead.

[thelyonsking]

Thank you all, especially Katie L for the emailed procedure.

[KatieL]

You're welcome, I just hope it works as well for you as it did for me! :)