Mites? Please help....

[LeeC]

Tonight I was handling jasmine and found a tiny tiny black bug on her, defintally not a tick.... I was thinking it is a mite. I removed it and crawled around on my finger before i killed it so i know it was a bug, but it was so small you couldnt make out any legs or anything....

I have a book called "Corn snakes and other rat snakes, a complete owners manual" and it says to put a no-pest strip on top of the cage for 10 days. It also they're in large numbers, yet I only found 2... one of witch is still under jasmines scale. Does it sound like mites? and how should I deal with the one under her scale?

[LeeC]

well i got that one black dot out from under her scale with tweezers and a steady hand lol. Im glad jasmine does not fuss when we hold her, if i tell her to stay still she wont move a muscle.
When I got it out it didnt look like bug, just some dirt or something.... and I dont see anything floating in her water or any black dots in the cage at all.

Do you think it could be that the one bug i killed was the only one? If they are mites shouldnt their be more?
To be on the safe side Im getting some mite killer at the pet store tomorrow.

:flames: . <burning mites!!!

[Sylphide]

Hey,

From what I know about mites, only the adults are visible. You could have eggs and babies already ON Jasmine if you found the adults. And they do sound like mites... check the water dish to see if there are any black dots on the bottom (sometime corns emerce themselves to relieve the itching). It sounds like your girl doesn't have a lot since they're not visible... you should get the mite strip or a good mite spray, and CHECK HER EYES. They can hide in there... if that's the case you're better off going to the vet.

Rumoredly, mites aren't easy to get rid of... :-(

[Sylphide]

Just as follow up - the vet can give more specific medicine and deal with eyes if she has any there.

Also, I'd suggest taking her out of her viv for treatment, and just as a precaution use some anti mite medicine to wash her home as well to make sure there are no eggs there (make sure you clean all the nooks).

I had a baby that I bought already with mites (very bad case of them... her eyes were almost black because of it and she was a snow) who is now doing a prolonged stay at the vet's...

also, check your other slithering as well if they spent any time together at all because mites are very contagious. It might be a good idea to keep them seperate until you know for sure both are completely healthy. :-)

Good luck!

[LeeC]

Thanks for your help/care... But I got rid of those 2, then put some snake oil on her, that says it takes care of mites. Then I cleaned her cage and changed the bedding... no mites yet. (like a few weeks later)

If they were mites they were easy to get rid of.

[snakewispera snr]

It is possible that you found the mite that would have caused you major heart ache,and killed it before it had chance to settle in. no matter how unlikely it may seem, it is possible.(I think)
best keep your eyes open though,all the same
MIKE

[Sylphide]

Lee -

That's GREAT NEWS! Yay. Several weeks should be indicative that everything's fine because it takes at the longest 24 days for a mite to live (or so) so if nothing now - then awesome.

I've just heard too many tragic tales - including one about a Python who died because of mites no matter what medicine the vet gave him - so I am a little paranoid about those little buggers.

Glad all's good though. :-)

[Cornylover2]

I bought a corn from a mom and pop reptile store and silly me, didn't know about cornsnakes.com at the time and didn't quarantine my snake. Well, needless to say, this snake was FULL of mites. I used lice killer mixed with 1 gallon of distilled water shaken very very well. Put in a spray bottle and I cleaned cages every 3 days for the next 2 weeks. I used Olive Oil on a Q-tip to get the mites out of the scales. I then smeared vaseline along the outer edges of all my cages so the mites would get "stuck" if they tried to transfer cages.

Just an idea. Glad to know I have fellow corn lovers in Portland!!