Mites Next Door; How Concerned Should I Be?

As some of you may remember, a few weeks ago I was ranting about how my mom's boyfriend got himself a pair of jungle carpet pythons, and was just generally behaving like a teenager. Guess what?

They're infested with mites.
Of course, mom's boyfriend only noticed this TODAY, because he doesn't do much with them.
It's pretty bad, their water is all speckly with dead mites, they're soaking, and you can see the mites crawling all over them. It makes me so angry, he'd better do something about it soon.

My question is, how concerned about my reptiles should I be? I keep all my snakes in my bedroom, which is right beside their room. I have borrowed his feeding containers, and have checked the snakes that I fed in there, no signs of mites on the snakes. Everything else, water bowl, hides, plants, etc, stays in their own separate rooms depending on who owns it.

So for the most part, everything stays separate, my biggest concern is the feeding container I borrowed to use for my corns on feeding day. He says the last time he fed was two weeks ago, I used the container on Wednesday, the 29th. If there were mites in the container, how long could they live in there without a food source?

And, this is probably a no brainer-- his ball pythons are in the tank beside the jungle carpets, they'll probably need to be treated too, right?

Sorry about lengthyness, I tend to rant when I'm freaking out...

I did read your other post about him and I feel bad for you and the snakes that you're in this position. :nope:

I'd still be prepared to fight off the mite invasion. Provent-a-mite is a very good mite-killer. I've only had to use it once to rid my snake mites! Hope you can fight them off soon!

Checked the ball pythons, they're both infested. It's pretty bad for all 4 of them (2 bp's, 2 carpets) you can actually see the mites on the snake. They've been soaking, and Jasmine, the female BP, hasn't eaten since we got her-- Maybe because of the mites? I dunno if the BP's came with them or not, the BP's, carpets, my rainbow boa, and 3 of my corns came from that shop. I've checked the corns, they're all clean, checked the boa, she had one in her water dish and two or three under her chin-- soaked her, got them off, sprayed her with mite-off and treated her tank and accessories with boiling water and vinegar solution, then sprayed that with mite-off too.

Boa's on paper towels now to make things easier, will be keeping an eye on her.

Just to see if there are any hidden mites on the snakes, I'd take a damp white paper towel and just wipe your snakes with it. Any loose mites that you might of not seen before could fall off? Just a thought. Hope yours stay unaffected!

Thanks for that suggestion, I didn't even think of that! Will definitely give that one a try.

I would be proactive about this and treat everything as if they were infested. You can't go wrong that way.

About five or six years ago, our rodents developed mites and as a treatment and to prevent them from spreading, we would use Sevin Dust on the floors and surrounding area. We would also put this in the rodents bedding. It's safe because when the "dust" gets wet, it's then rendered inert. It's safe to use around kids, animals and I believe Kathy Love did a write up about using it safely, on reptiles.

It took care of our problem!

Wayne

Two things, first, I don't believe the mites that effect rodents will effect reptiles. They are host specific IIRC.

Secondly, I'd recommend using the nix treatment. The first and only time I had mites, I used it and got rid of them in one day. I sprayed snakes, enclosures and the floor and walls of the snake room...and haven't seen a mite since. I keep a mixed bottle of the solution ready, just in case....

That's the plan for tomorrow! Nix'ing everything, switching everyone over to paper towels instead of their aspen, it's going to be fun!

Nix is da bomb. My corn was crawling with mites as well. Gave him a Nix bath and within 24 hrs there wasn't a single mite on him. Also completely cleaned and Nixed the cage and surrounding areas.

Drewby07 said:

Two things, first, I don't believe the mites that effect rodents will effect reptiles. They are host specific IIRC.

Secondly, I'd recommend using the nix treatment. The first and only time I had mites, I used it and got rid of them in one day. I sprayed snakes, enclosures and the floor and walls of the snake room...and haven't seen a mite since. I keep a mixed bottle of the solution ready, just in case....

Click to expand...

Well, I should have explained better. Years ago, I didn't keep reptiles, just a large compliment of rodents and when I mentioned, "Keeping them from spreading," I meant from rodent colony to rodent colony.

Another thing, if you do develop a problem. Separate known affected snakes, from the rest of your collection. Move the whole tank into another room, if you can.

Good Luck and sorry for the confusion. unch:

Wayne

Thanks Wayne! Already done-- Checked my boa, who came from the same shop and was in my room, as soon as someone decided to tell me about the mite problem (they found out in the morning, mom didn't casually bring it up until evening!) She had a few on her, her temporary-tank and all it's stuff has been cleaned, treated with mite-off, she's been treated with mite-off, and is now downstairs in the living room.