mites

This might get a little long winded but I want ot make sure you knwo EVERYTHING we did to try and get rid of these dang mites! We have treated her and her cage 3-4 times and they keep coming back! Just last week we did the fallowing:

we took her out and sprayed her with "Natural Chemistry Reptile Spray" and put her in a smaller cage with no substrate while we cleaned her regular cage. We took the substrate, hide box, sticks, water bowl etc... with a completely empty tank we first used a spray bottle with vinegar and SOAKED it all and let it sit for about 5 minutes. we then rinsed it with VERY hot water and dried it and then we sprayed it down with th mite spray as well and let it dry. we set everything else outside (it was like -20*f) for about 24 hours and then soaked it all in a HOT vinegar bath then rinsed it with hot water and let it dry.
We put in brand new subtrate (astro-turf) and then sprayed everythign again just before putting it back into the cage. Oncer everything was back in the cage we let it sit with all of the lights and everything on for a few minutes until everything was dry of the spray. Once the cage was all ready to, we gave her a quick little dip in warm Coca-Cola (local Herp vet told us to do this, coca-cola kills them instantly she said) then a warm rinse and then put her into a different container with a nice warm towel for about 20 miuntes until she was dry. We then sprayed her again with the might spray and put her back into her normal cage.
That was roughly a week ago and she looked GREAT for the first few days. now she is covered in mites again! when we rinsed her off I bet there was a good 50~ mites in the sink and we could not see a single one on her anywhere. She is never cranky and she still eats great and seems to be very healthy over all but obviously we need to get rid of these mites!


ANY SUGGESTIONS??

The last time I had mites (notice I said last time) I used Nix - a head lice treatment available at any drug or grocery store. You mix the whole 2 oz. bottle of Nix to one gallon of distilled water and shake until the Nix is dissolved (I'd suggest putting all the Nix into an empty gallon jug and then adding about a quarter of a gallon of the distilled water and shake until the Nix dissolves and then add the rest of the water and shake some more). Put the solution into a spray bottle and spray the snake, tank, everything. Place snake back in tank with only paper towel (nothing else) and keep your eyes open for any live mites. Offer water and then repeat on the 3rd day and again if necessary 3 days later. Place any unused solution in a dark place (under the sink) and it will remain usable.

In the future you should pre-treat any new arrivals and quarantine them so as to make sure this doesn't happen again or if it does it will not be all your snakes needing treatment.

I had received a snake once that had mite eggs and used Provent-A-Mite. I followed the instructions to a tee and did a follow up. Havent had a mite problem since then. In the old days, we used to use olive oil and talk about some slippery slithering creatures. Back then, that seemed to work too but with todays technology, its probably best to use some sort of chemical.

Originally Posted by k_schutte

This might get a little long winded but I want ot make sure you knwo EVERYTHING we did to try and get rid of these dang mites! We have treated her and her cage 3-4 times and they keep coming back! Just last week we did the fallowing:

we took her out and sprayed her with "Natural Chemistry Reptile Spray" and put her in a smaller cage with no substrate while we cleaned her regular cage. We took the substrate, hide box, sticks, water bowl etc... with a completely empty tank we first used a spray bottle with vinegar and SOAKED it all and let it sit for about 5 minutes. we then rinsed it with VERY hot water and dried it and then we sprayed it down with th mite spray as well and let it dry. we set everything else outside (it was like -20*f) for about 24 hours and then soaked it all in a HOT vinegar bath then rinsed it with hot water and let it dry.
We put in brand new subtrate (astro-turf) and then sprayed everythign again just before putting it back into the cage. Oncer everything was back in the cage we let it sit with all of the lights and everything on for a few minutes until everything was dry of the spray. Once the cage was all ready to, we gave her a quick little dip in warm Coca-Cola (local Herp vet told us to do this, coca-cola kills them instantly she said) then a warm rinse and then put her into a different container with a nice warm towel for about 20 miuntes until she was dry. We then sprayed her again with the might spray and put her back into her normal cage.
That was roughly a week ago and she looked GREAT for the first few days. now she is covered in mites again! when we rinsed her off I bet there was a good 50~ mites in the sink and we could not see a single one on her anywhere. She is never cranky and she still eats great and seems to be very healthy over all but obviously we need to get rid of these mites!


ANY SUGGESTIONS??

Go to LLL Reptiles site, there you will find a step by step on how to get rid
of mites using the provent-a-mite spray and natural chemistry.
I was frustrated like you and followed the steps, it worked perfectly
good luck
Jim Macdonald

I had mites come in on a red tailed boa several years ago. I tried several products to remove them but they always came back. On the net i found some people talking about Prevent-a-mite. So i thought i would give it a shot. I removed the snake from the enclosure. Removed all the bedding and sprayed the inside of the tank. I put in fresh beddind and spreyed it down with a thin mist. I let it sit for 30 minutes and replaced the snake. The snake was still covered in live mites. After a week i checked for mites. None on the snake that i could see. I respreyed the enclosure and replaced the snake again just in case. That was a few years ago and still no mites.
If you have mites and want to get rid of them P-A-M is the way to go.

Check this link out for an interesting alternative treatment

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=159361

I had mites on a snake that I got a few years ago. This what I did. a simi warm tote with dawn dish soap in it soak the snake for 4-5 hrs in it. It needs to be full and very soapy. Than use tea tree oil to clean the cage with. repeat in 30 days if needed I only had to do one treatment. Just rember to wash off the snake after soaking it. and reclean the cage befor adding the snake back in. also there is a disinfectant called RolCal from farm vets that will also repeal mites but dont kill anything but bacteria