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Mites

danielle

danielle

New member
My new stripey boy shed to today in three pieces which is odd so I tke him out to inspect for stuck shed and what do you know? MITES!!! So here is what I've done so far:
1. Put him in a deli cup while I took his cage outside to empty in the trash can
2. Have cage soaking in wipeout and bleach with boiling water dumped in right now
3. Have hides in oven baking of course after disinfecting and soaking will keep in there for an hour or so
4. Covered him in olive oil to drown them and make it easier to get them off- watching him the whole time by the way.
5. Removed him and soaked a washcloth in olive oil letting him squirm through for another 20 minutes, then a water soaked wash cloth (new one) for another ten to get the oil off and make sure I couldn't see anymore.
6. Transferred him to a shoebox with white paper towels, paper towel roll, and new water bowl.
7. Going to go vacuum room now!!

So heres my questions:
1. I had him and three other new snakes in quarantine, have checked them, and will continue to, but didn't see any yet- should I still treat them preemtively?
2. I read to make a solution of nix and water and spray him down daily, but found conflicting advice about how much water to nix, for how long (days), and how many times a day- Can you tell me?
3. Should I still feed him knowing I will be treating him daily and handling?
4. Should I up or lower his temps not sure if they breed more rapidly with increased temps?
5. How harmful is the nix for a snake we treat with olive oil for lice in my home I hate chemicals if not necessary? Can I do twice a day olive oil treatments for two weeks instead?
6. If not do you rinse the snake off after treating with the nix and if so fter letting it sit on him for how long?

If I forgot ANYTHING please tell me!! If I am doing ANYTHING wrong please tell me!! Thanks guys:)
 
danielle said:
Great article!! Of course now it freaked me out even more:(
Click to expand...
The best way to ensure you have them beat is to get your collection into rubs with no paper or substrate... Use Vaseline around the vents and the top (this traps the mites that are wandering looking for new snakes or somewhere to lay)
You can hold the rubs to the light and see the little devils through the rub, and squish them....
As long as you get them before the adult stage you can stop egg laying and break the cycle...
PS look under the snakes chin in the fold (a good magnifier helps here) they love it their...
 
What are rubs? Will go vaseline cage tops now on everyone thanks never heard that one.
What about feeding him though I think I should hold off to avoid a regurge, but you know mor than me:)
I have inspected each snake especially around the eyes, mouth, chin, and vent and will do dump everyones aspen now.
Curious about my olive oil question though since nix scares me and I worry about its toxicity.
 
R.u.b.s Really useful box..... Big plastic boxes with lids.....
Vaseline..... The mites enemy.. It traps their movement...
Feeding...... ??? Some feed some don't, sometimes the stress of mites puts them off food..
TBH.... I use front line (as PAM is an American product and can be hard to find over here or expensive.... I need to find another can as it's great in the Quarantine rub as it kills all mites if they have any)....
I dilute the front line by 50% and spray it onto kitchen roll, never directly onto the snake..... Let the snake squirm through the kitchen paper...
Remove water for 24hrs after treatment..
Olive oil..... I understand the reasoning behind it, but mites can be drowned... I would check the rubs in the shower room wash the snake and rub every day to stop them becoming adult...
Remember if you use PAM..... Allow the viv to air out before returning the snake and don't wash it out as you wash away the PAM.... One treatment of PAM will kill all the mites for around 6 weeks so it easily breaks the cycle of hatching....
I'm in the process of acquiring an Australian product that is supposidly better than PAM and Frontline and is not toxic to reptiles..... I'll make a post when I find it and test it out..
 
Danielle, I just had a mite scare about 2 months ago (luckily just two snakes ended up having them).

I used the Nix treatment, mix it 8:1 (water to Nix), put the snake in an appropriately sized container (mine were both adults, so they went in Sterilite shoe boxes) filled with enough water to cover a little more than half the snake, then spray the Nix on top. The water drowns the mites and any mites that try to escape the water are killed by the Nix. Worked great! I used it once a day, every 3 days, for 3 or 4 treatments (if I remember correctly) and did not rinse it off afterwards (but did dry the snake using paper towels, getting off any visible mites in the process). I have heard of using olive oil, but haven't personally tried it.

Of course, other precautions were taken: all cages were scrubbed and disinfected (with both F10, which is part of my normal cleaning routine, and the Nix solution), every snake was put on paper towels and watched closely (I'm actually just now starting to replace paper towels with aspen again), and I vacuumed obsessively for at least a week.

One of the snakes that was having issues was also having regurge problems (I have a feeling that is why the mites took to him, he was already weak), so I would probably wait until your treatments are done to feed. Also, maybe use some Nutribac in his/her water as a preventative, just in case the treatments are stressful enough to cause problems when you do start feeding again.

Just my personal experience with it. Hope that helps. :)
 
Ouch, Danielle! It looks like you've got some great advice here (being a newbie, I don't have any advice). Please let us know how everything goes and, when you're mite free, what you think worked best.

I've never had to deal with them, but hope to learn from those who have.

Good luck!!!
 
Thanks Hallie and Fred I've used all my reps till tonight but I appreciate the well wishes and advice. I have all but three cages left to change out which I am doing outside to avoid knocking eggs or mites into the house, but what about my chahouas or cresteds can they contract the same mites that affect snakes? If so I have over 50 more cages to do and I will cry.........and then get it done:(

I called my vet about the nix or olive oil and she prefers olive oil though the treatment will be much longer and more expensive. Basically drench snake in olive oil and leave for at least 15 minutes swimming in it practically, then allow to swim in luke wam water another 15 minutes and pat dry. The remaining olive oil makes it hader for them to latch on well, but I am going to get nix too after all these cages are done and treat with that every other day to be extra sure for at least a week maybe more. I will also vacuum everyday like a psycho,lol and change paper towels daily as well. Please anyone who thinks I am doing something wrong or has something to add don't be shy!!
 
My vet had mentioned lice MD its non toxic and pesticide free so safer for a hatchling which I just bought. I also bought RID spray for all the carpets and furniture that I used after vacuuming. Its supposed to kill adults and eggs and since I bought 8 cans I will be doing this everyday too, but I'm still unsure about the dogs and geckos. I have searched the web and can not find a straight answer on whether the geckos can get these mites though I assume the dogs can't from most of what I have read. Any gecko owners know my one last answer?
 
Dog's can't get them. Neither can humans. I'm pretty sure lizards in general can't.

I know for a fact that pigs can :D :D :D
 
Actually lizards and geckos are two separate species and yes both can get mites, but I'm not sure about snake mites:( Anyone know?
 
Yes you may be which is why I am asking for someone who absolutely knows:) I know geckos can get mites I own over 100, but still not sure if geckos can get the same type of mite snakes do. I know mammals can't get the snake mites though:)
 
An update on my boy!! I used lice MD a new non toxic non chemical way to kill lice. No pesticides, no smell, and no retreating- these are the things I liked most,lol I let him swim in the lice MD cut with water for an hour, bleached his cage, and he is still on papertowels along with the rest of my collection. The only drawback to this stuff is its oil based and real oily:( but it kept him coated real well to avoid reinfestation and was completely safe. I vacuumed daily and 11 days later no one else has become infected and he's been clear since that day.

It was pretty gross to see all the eggs and baby mites that came off him in the solution, but so far so good. I was planning on giving everyone their aspen back on Wednesday since it would 2 weeks then and I think I'm clear. On another note geckos do not get snake mites yay- so next time I won't go bleaching 100 cages,lol:)
 
I'm glad you got a laugh I was up all night literally scrubbing cages I had just cleaned, got the kids to school the next day, and get a call from the vet saying no your geckos are fine don't bother. It's kinda funny now,lol
 
Ah, but there's always the 'what if', so you'd probably have wanted to scrub and treat the geckos vivs in case the mites migrated there and could then return to affect the snakes again.
 
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