Quote:
Originally Posted by Helenthereef
So sorry to hear about this, and really hope you don't have any further outbreaks. I have no experience of mites (thankfully), but could this have been a hatching event? Could there have been eggs under the scales that hatched overnight?
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No. Female mites leave the host and lay their eggs in places like tiny crevices in wood furniture or substrate. This is why PAM works even though it's only applied to the paper substrate, hides, and enclosure walls: the female mites walk on the treated surface and die, or the nymphs hatch, walk on the treated surface, and die.
Once you have a mite infestation you have to treat everything for at least six weeks after you stop finding mites on your snakes, as an egg can take up to a month to hatch after being laid.
An infestation scares the bejeezus out of me. I've been through two and my collection was much smaller then. Today I have over 100 snakes, including adult retics. Even using the less-expensive options for making a permethrin-based mite spray would be expensive in time and resources to treat.