A new menace TICKS!!!!

this has taken an awful turn just a while a ago I posted about ants now im having issues with ticks. where they came from im pretty sure where so heres the story in early feb i purchased a pressumably clean feeding ltc female adult from NANCY CROUTON WHO STILL OWES ME 175 DOLLARS BY THE WAY!!!! she advertised the female as clean and she appeared to be so while trying to feed her she refused and those rats and I foolishly gave them to my cb male so more than likely that is how they have come over to him!! and just as of now now when he came out of his hide I realized a tick and some elevated scales at mid body I was surprised and I did not want to believe it he is also in shed which is why i havent done anything yet WHAT SHOULD I DO? remove them even though he is in shed? or wait it out till he finishes the process the tick is as big as a bird seed and colored like a booger in his neck area and the elevated scales must mean there are more what should be my plan of action and as for the other female what of her? A quick inspection and maybe a insecticide like reptile relief or provent a mite? i need some asap were can I get some quick!
I would appreciate any help possible please
thanks,
Jose Gallegos

Countless ticks come into the US every year on snakes, lizards, tortoises and other herps. It is not that big a deal. Wait for your animal to shed. Take it out of the cage and either spray the cage with proventamite or wash it out with bleach and water. If you hosed the cage with proventamite put the snake back in the cage. If not spray the snake with reptile relief or pick the ticks off the snake by hand (but do not pick the ticks off if you don't know how as you will do more harm than good).

You can find either product in most herp pet shops or all over the internet, from the manufacturers or one of many distributers. Proventamite will run you $15-20 and reptile relief is about $8-15.

THANKS!!! I just bought some reptile relief and provent a mite but it wont come till monday hopefully he will shed after monday he just went into blue just yesterday night so i hope everything well go okay
again thanks for your help
Jose Gallegos

No problem. Email me if you need more help.

One thing I have always done to prevent little buggers from coming around is to constantly have a "NO PEST STRIP" in the room. Just thought I'd add that for ya.

You can always go to Wal-Mart to the cosmetics/health and beauty department. Buy a can of "equate bedding spray" It is made for treating headlice. It is exactly the same as provent-a-mite, only difference is that it only costs $5.00. Same ingredients, 0.05% permethrin. The best way to get rid of them is to completely spray the inside of any container with a lid. Wait about an hour or so for it to dry. Then put your snake in container for about an hour. In the mean time, remove his water dish and spray his enclosure. About a 1 second blast per 30 cm.(per foot or so) No need to remove or replace substrate. Place him/her back in enclosure but wait 12 hours before returning water. Repeat this process in 2 weeks and you will be mite/tick free. A good idea is to put a paper towel in the container after you spray it and it has dried. Then you can see the ticks/mites that die and fall off of him easier. This method is tried and true. Here is a link to the advice and other methods for removing mites.
www.smuggles.com/MitTre1.htm
I did the same as you, I ordered a bottle of provent-a-mite, before I did any research. I ran to Wal-Mart and the mites were dead and treated before my provent-a-mite even arrived in the mail. Mite free ever since. Good luck buddy. I have an unopened $20.00 can of provent-a-mite now, but I treated the problem for like less than $5.00

http://www.smuggled.com/MitTre1.htm

Above is the correct website. The first post was incorrect. Good luck bud. I know how you feel too. I was so pissed, and in a panic. I was like "MITES!!!! NOOOO!!!!!!" but it really was easy to treat.

I might have to buy that seeing is how the reptile relief and provent a mite wont come till friday...which blows I thought I ordered next day but ordered on Sat geuss that was the problem.... well any way he shed so his mid body tick was removed by his shedding but the one very near his head and neck region stayed well ive read wat to do so I did it I dabbed the tick with alcohol and dripped dripped it on it till it was basically almost dead and i got some tweezers I dont know if I did it right though but it was getting on my nerves so I gripped him good with the tweezers (im surprised that my snake was very cooperative by the way) and slowly twisted him off but it still was not easy but i did pull him off... but now im worried if I did it right the tick had 3 visible mouth parts does that mean I did right? or are their mouth parts look more bigger and if I did it wrong what should I do now....
I would really appreciacte any feedback,
Jose Gallegos

It is not the same as proventamite. The inventor of proventamite is a chemist who works for the government on pest control and designed the chemical after years of working with ticks. The stuff you are using is not as safe and has never been tested on reptiles as proventamite has and you may be very sorry when you have dead bugs and dead herps.

If you use pest strip, be sure it is away from the animals and in a well ventilated area. The fumes from the chemicals in the pest strip are very toxic and have killed many reptiles over the years that were in cages with pest strip and not ventilated enough. Also, it is very toxic to have on your skin or to touch an animal as indicated on the packaging. Burmese pythons are very sensitive to pest strip and can acquire permanent neurological damage from it and will never be right again or may just die. I have seen it many times.

Also, nix and other lice killers are used dilluted in water and sprayed on herps with bugs. If the animal drinks that water/pesticide mix it will kill them.

Please put the health and welfare of your animals first above the desire to save money or time and use only products that have been proven safe for killed pests on reptiles.