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Mites - ACK!!!

Lavagirl

Lavagirl

New member
Tonight when changing out the paper towel when removing Lavagirl to feed her, I saw a black spot on there like pepper. I looked again and it was moving! Then I checked and saw a couple other little black spots like pepper but they were not moving. I got her before she ate and checked her over. Nothing on her chin or on the underside (in the Corn Snakes The Comprehensive Owners Guide New Edition it said to check there), but she does have some black around her right eye only. Crap!!! Could it have been in the aspen? But I bought a fresh bag when I brought her home. I have no other herps, so it couldn't be from them. She didn't appear to have any when I bought her and brought her home. Of course, I did get her from that Petco where month ago the hatchlings they had were infested with them. I'm going to search the forum for other threads on mites, but now I'm grossed out. Grossed out that they are in there with her and hoping that I can eradicate them soon. She's not looking dehydrated, no wrinkled up skin around her neck or anything and she's been eating well and pooing, etc. I'm just mad at myself that I did not notice it until now. She's such a sweet sweet snake. Rats!!! Have many of you had mite issues in the beginning? :cry:
 
i brought home a lil corn earlier this year that had a BAD mite problem. he was 3 months old at that time. I treated him with zoomed mite off for a week. daily replaced aspen and bleached enclosure. he was fine within that time and the mites didn't spread to any of the other reptiles.
 
If I remember correctly, they can have eggs on them. The mites can appear later on after you get them home. You should only keep her on paper towels (so you can see the mites better) and then treat her. You can soak her in a lukewarm bath (around 80 degrees). Put 1 drop of dishwashing liquid in the water before soaking her. Then...if you have olive oil at home, you can put some on a paper towel and gently coat her with it. Try to avoid getting the oil in her nostrils, though. Pay close attention to the areas where you can actually see mites.

One other thing you can do (it's kind of messy) is to put a 1/2 inch thin line of vaseline on the outside of her cage all the way around the top. This will prevent any mites that have made it outside of the tank from coming back in. They get stuck in the vaseline.

Good luck and be sure to keep us posted!
 
There are a few over the counter mite sprays specifically made for reptiles that you can use more safely than Nix or insect strips.
 
When I bought a baby last summer from my favourite pet store, I noticed in the store that there was a single mite on my hand when I was looking at the snake. Never saw any on the snake itself. When I got home, I put Vaseline around the rim of the tub and used papertowels for substrate. I never found another mite, so I think they could have been mites from the millipedes they had housed in a next door enclosure. The Vaseline made me feel better about keeping the mites from my other snakes, though.
 
I bought the Zoomed mite spray. I threw out everything in her viv except the stone hide and her water dish. Those I disinfected with a hot water/bleach solution as well as the viv and its lid. I put Vaseline on her eyes and put her in the warm water with a drop of dish detergent in it and let her soak. There was a mite in the paper towel when I dried her off. I bought those more expensive soft paper towels for her - my non-animal friends would think I'm nuts for doing that for a snake. LOL. Anyway, after I patted her dry, I treated her with the mite spray. I'm going to wait until she poos and digests her latest meal and then repeat. I was worried that I was going to ruin some of the progress I have made with her by all this, but I want her to be mite free. She seems to be okay and not traumitized by it. She really likes the paper towel cardboard I put in there. :) Thanks for the advice and support. In my intro post, I stated that she is an albino. I was wrong. I meant to type Amelanistic. I hope to be able to post a couple of pics soon.
 
I brought home a new baby 2 weeks ago and gave him time to adjust to his new home. After 4 days, I picked him up and noticed mites. I immediately cleaned both snake cages with bleach and used the Nix solution (1 gallon water w/1 Nix bottle solution mixed up). I sprayed the entire cage including all surrounding areas and let dry all while both snakes were taking a bath to get rid of any possible mites on them. I didn't trust using the solution directly on the snake so I used Olive oil. Used paper towels and sprayed with Nix solution as well. I haven't noticed any mites since. I've done 2 treatments so far, but haven't heard about the vaseline until I read this post. Will try that tonight. All the stress on the new baby, I didn't think he would eat, but to my surprise, he has eaten every 4 days as normal with no regurges.

This forum is an excellent source of information and wouldn't have known to do any of the above until searching this site!! Thank you to all.
 
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