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Mites

arrowhd

arrowhd

STL Cardinals Fan
I'm hoping someone can help here. I fed all of my snakes last night. This morning I noticed one did not eat and I removed the dead fuzzy. Under it to my surprise I found a couple of mites. Never experienced a mite infestation with reptiles. I have seen them in my invertabrate collection and treated them with Hypoaspis miles. Oddly I have not noticed any mites on my snakes. Anyone else ever notice snake mites attracted to a dead prey item?
 
Are you using Cypress Mulch or Coconut Hulls with your invertebrates? There are fungus gnats that are often found in those types of mediums. As mike said if they were snake mites they would be on the snake not the prey. When I have seen them I usually see them floating in the water bowl first, they look like pepper.
 
wade said:
Are you using Cypress Mulch or Coconut Hulls with your invertebrates? There are fungus gnats that are often found in those types of mediums. As mike said if they were snake mites they would be on the snake not the prey. When I have seen them I usually see them floating in the water bowl first, they look like pepper.
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No they don't
Poppy seeds.... ;)
 
No, I'm not sure they are snake mites at all. That is what I was wondering. I have never seen a snake infected with snake mites though. I have seen mites in my invertebrate collection feeding off of dead crickets. This may be what I saw this morning but they appeared larger than normal. I'm going to take a good look at all of my reptiles tonight. Are snake mites easily seen by the naked eye?
 
Are you using Cypress Mulch or Coconut Hulls with your invertebrates? There are fungus gnats that are often found in those types of mediums.
Click to expand...
Yes I do use a shredded coconut hull product with my invertebrates. The gnats look much different however. These are indeed some sort of mite.
 
arrowhd said:
No, I'm not sure they are snake mites at all. That is what I was wondering. I have never seen a snake infected with snake mites though. I have seen mites in my invertebrate collection feeding off of dead crickets. This may be what I saw this morning but they appeared larger than normal. I'm going to take a good look at all of my reptiles tonight. Are snake mites easily seen by the naked eye?
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In the final stage of change ..... yes.
They look like poppy seeds, or as Wade said... Black pepper....
Look around the eyes and under the chin/head in the fold of skin under the jaw (their favourite place to hide)
The water bowl is a good place to look as the jaw ones drowned and float about and are easily seen in the water, as Wade pointed out.....
 
You could wipe your snake in a damp white tissue as well.... The mites will show up if you wipe any off...
And if you crush them they will leave a spot of blood.
 
Well I'm not seeing them on any of my snakes. They are however in all the enclosures around and in the water bowls. I believe this maybe what is attracting them. Starting to think these are the same mites I've noticed in my tarantula enclosures. They too feed on dead prey items but seem to ignore the tarantulas themselves. They are clear/yellowish the size of a small pin head. I'll be keeping an eye on this. Ordering predatory mites to help wipe them out. Thanks for the help.
 
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