Mites

[tanukihat]

So my new snake has mites. I got him on the 18th, at which time he had no mites, and now he has little black bugs crawling on his face. Apparently they hatched over the interval.

I got him from PetCo, so naturally I went back to the store and told the manager that they had sold me an infested snake, and asked what she planned to do about it. I told her that this is the first and only snake that I've ever owned, so obviously the mites, which transfer snake-to-snake, could not have come from my house. The manager assured me that their snakes do not have mites - she was very sure of this. She told me that the bedding the store sells has been coming in with mites, and she was not responsible for that.

Now this sounds like BS to me. Wouldn't this mean that the bedding would have had to come into contact with an infested snake for it to have mites? Also, wouldn't this mean the mite eggs would have to be hanging out in a sealed plastic bag on a store shelf?

Can this happen? Can store-bought bedding transfer mites? Or is this lady full of crap, trying to weasel her way out of comping me some mite-b-gone or vet bills, as I suspect her to be?

[Mr.AJ]

Why would the sealed bedding bag have mites in it in the first place, I doubt the factory it comes from has many snakes roaming around it? That's the question i would ask her, Then ask her what shes doing about the infested bedding and ask why they're still selling it if they know its infested.

More likely just the snakes have it and she doesn't want you to start telling other customers because it would be bad for business..

[Metal_luke666]

yea. This is a bad store. i would demand some compensation. like the payment of vet bills, and also report that company somewhere. they obviously arn't looking after the animals propperly.

[Metal_luke666]

and also, i hope that your snake gets better and everything goes well.

[The Nothing]

I've heard, time and time again, people blaming bedding for mites. Personally I've NEVER seen it happen. Look at where you got the bedding. At a show where mites are likely running rampant? So many variables. You cannot blame the store either. Do they have mites? Probably, many stores do. Have you been at a friends house that had mites? Then you brought it home. Again - have you been at a show? You could have EASILY brought the cursed things home with you.

You can't blame the store. They usually don't have the snake for longer than a couple weeks. At that point the mites could have come from the store. They could have come from the wholesaler. They could have come from the breeder.

What it comes down to is that you don't know where they came from.

Treat all your cages with provent-a-mite any time you setup a new cage, or clean an old one.



Afterall - who would you blame if your cat or dog had flees? Its the same thing...

[bsr8129]

i have mites on my snake too, had the snake for about 2 months and just recently have seen mites like in the last week. the only thing that has been new in the cage is the aspen beding, i dont know where the mites came from but i can only guess it came from the aspen, i got it from petco, i live in cali so not sure if this is related

[Cam5]

The guy at the local herp only shop...whom is VERY matter of fact and knowledgable. Said that yes, bedding can have eggs which hatch out. On another forum someone had said it had happened in bedding he was using for incubation and decimated the eggs. The suggestion is to freeze the bedding for a couple of days prior to use.
All that said, wouldn't it be nice if the big chain pet stores took responsibility once ina while for their animals?!