Help - I think I have mites

So first of, I owe an apology to Big Cheese. After thinking it may have been their mice killing off my snakes, I think the culprit is actually mites. While inspecting my remaining snakes (have lost over half my collection of snakes since January) and racking my brain, I now notice tiny black creatures crawling on two of my snakes ( a Children's python and Spotted python). I believe they are mites and now need to learn how to rid them. I'm a little puzzled as I haven't added any specimens to my collection since last October's Tinley show. Could the infestion have come from there and remained under the radar for this long? I did take the kids to an educational reptile show where we handled some snakes and lizards. Could we have inadvertently carried them home? What should I do now? I havent noticed any mites or behavior changes in my lizards ( timor monitor, bearded dragon and BTS). Are they still at risk? I've never had something like this happen in 20 years of reptile keeping. Please help!

Did you have necropsies done on the snakes that died? I have 70+ snakes, if I'd lost half my collection in four months I'd be seriously freaked and my CC would have melted at the vet's office.

As for the mites... Mite Eradication 101:

*** Permethrin ***

Permethrin comes in many forms - Provent-A-Mite (PAM), NIX/RID, Permethrin-10 from a livestock supply store, etc. Its half life is 30 days if kept out of direct sunlight.

PAM has several advantages. It has been tested for use with reptiles, and it comes ready to use. The disadvantages are that it's expensive and most reptile stores don't have it in stock, so you have to wait for it to be shipped to you if you don't have any on hand. Meanwhile the mites are busy breeding.

NIX/RID is cheaper than PAM and is readily available at WalMart, CVS, and other corner drug stores. It is also easy to dilute: mix one two ounce bottle of the cream rinse containing 1% permethrin with one gallon of water.

At a dollar per ounce Permethrin-10 is the cheapest of the three options; one eight ounce bottle will make 240 gallons of solution, as only 6 milliliters of it are needed per gallon of water to make an effective mite spray. The downside is that it's all too easy to make too strong of a permethrin solution which can harm your snakes.

No matter which product you use, it must be used correctly. I've never sprayed any permethrin product onto my snakes as it's not needed for mite treatment, and permethrin poisoning in a snake can cause irreversible neurological damage.

Permethrin use: spray the enclosure, paper substrate, and hides. DO NOT SPRAY THE WATER BOWL. Allow everything to dry completely before returning your snake to its home. Also keep a supply of treated and dried newspaper or paper towels and treated hides available so that when a snake makes a mess, you replace the soiled paper and hides with treated ones. Treat the enclosure every two to three weeks.

*** Reptile Spray ***

Reptile Spray kills mites on contact while wet, once it dries it loses its effectiveness pretty quickly. Reptile Spray is a solution of salts rather than an insecticide; it kills mites by dehydrating them. I don't spray the snakes as more ends up on the floor than on the snake. Instead, I spray a white paper towel with a little of it and wipe it on the snake. That way you get even coverage on the snake, you can work it into the area under their chin really well as that's a favorite hiding plate for mites, you don't stress out your snake, and you can look for mites on the paper towel to see how quickly they're being eradicated. Apply twice a week. Note - this stuff hurts like hell in an open wound, yes I'm speaking from experience!

*** Hot Shot No-Pest Strips ***

Some people take a Hot Shot No-Pest strip, cut it into pieces, put each piece into a small container, poke some holes in the container, and put each container into the snake's enclosure. I've used the No-Pest strip but I just hang it in the snake room and close the door. Either way is effective, especially if you have a major outbreak.

If you do use it, remove the water bowls as the insecticide is strongly attracted to water and you don't want the snake drinking it. After 24 hours remove the strip (or pieces), put them into an airtight container for future use, air out the room, and put the water bowls back. Repeat treatment weekly for eight weeks.

Important! If you also keep tarantulas, feeder roaches, crickets, etc. do not use the No-Pest Strip as it will kill them too!!!!

*** Mild Dish Soap ***

One or two drops of mild dish detergent in your snake's bath water will prevent mites from floating in the water so they drown. No more than that is needed, your snake should not look like it is taking a bubble bath.

*** Heat ***

Don't laugh, but temperatures of 150*F for five seconds will kill mites and the eggs. I purchased a heat gun used for stripping paint that can be set to blow hot air from 180*F through 1200*F. Using the heat gun and a temp gun I heated the surfaces and crevices of my melamine enclosures to kill off any mite eggs that may have been laid outside the tubs. Be careful not to get your enclosure surfaces too hot or you can damage them.

Mite treatment should continue for 30 days after you stop finding mites, as an egg can take that long to hatch, so plan on eight weeks of treatment total.

*** FINAL NOTE ***

Effective quarantine means that you treat every new arrival as if it has mites, and new snakes are kept as far away from your established collection as possible (mine go to a friend's house) for at least 90 days. I treat the quarantine enclosure, hides, and paper with permethrin a day or so before the new snake arrives, and I wipe it with a paper towel soaked in Reptile Spray as part of my inspection process when it comes out of the shipping box. If the new arrival has mites I will know it within a day or two at most. This also goes for snakes from "trusted" sources, my first mite outbreak ever came from someone I trusted.

Thanks for all that. I already went and ordered PAM. I havent had necropsies done - stupid I know but I've been swamped with relocation, 80/hr work week, etc - and the snakes paid. Otherwise I may have caught this much sooner. The two recent deaths (one I found this morning, the albino python, and my remaining Spotted python just died in front of me) are being kept cooled until I can get them to a vet ( I think I found one in my area that can do the necropsy). In the meantime, I'm going to revisit my husbandry and get ready for the PAM treatment. I keep tarantulas and feeder roach colonies in the same room as the snakes. Do they need to be relocated while applying the PAM? Once applied, can they be brought back in the room or does it remain aerosolized for some time ?

The thing that really confuses me is that everything I read alludes to the fact that the mites are more a nuisane unless they cause a heavy infestation, or the snake is young or infirm. While a couple of these were yearlings, 3 of these were adults (2 king snakes and 2 spotted pythons - total included also a small carpet python that never seemed to put on size, and decent sized yearling albino BP ) and all were pounding mice at every feeding, behaving robust and showed no signs of illness, except at most for a skipped feeding by one kingsnake (which itself wasnt unsual). Even then, the infestations are not heavy enough that I see loads of mites in the water dishes or crawling around teh enclosures. Even the two dead ones today had no more than a few I could spot. Could there be something more at play here?

Mites can kill a snake eventually through blood loss, though it takes a while. They are also a vector for diseases which is why you need the necropsies.

I wouldn't spray a permethrin-based product in the house if you're keeping insects or arachnids of any kind, permethrin will also kill them and your HVAC will spread fumes around the different rooms. Maybe move the insects to a different room, close off the vents, and leave the windows open for a day when you spray the enclosures in the snake room. Otherwise you can take the paper outside to treat them, just don't let them dry in the sun since UV breaks down permethrin.

Thanks. Dnakes dropped off by my veeery patient and loving wife for necropsies while I'm at work. Awaiting results.

Necropsy may not reveal the cause if it was something viral, full pathology results* may take a little while (I've had it take a week or more). I hope they are able to determine what is going on, it's quite disappointing to get 'nothing amiss found' results but it at least rules out certain things. I wish you the best of luck!

*blood and tissue sample tests

Well gross pathology fpund dehydratipn of spotted python but ball python had severe mitr infestation in mouth and nostrils and anemia secondary. Nothing pvertly onfectipus looking but she offered to send samples for cultures which if i do full panel with viral studies, can run up to $400 and may not show anything. Alternately she suggested treating collection for mites and close observation. If any snake is remotely symptomatic then i could bring it in for fuether testing. If money was no object Id pick option A. Since there no obvious infectious signs for now will probably go for Option B. Waiting for the PAM to arrive but will statt cleanong oit aubstrates and giving my remaining 4 snakes betadine soaks.

Originally Posted by bigjej

Well gross pathology fpund dehydratipn of spotted python but ball python had severe mitr infestation in mouth and nostrils and anemia secondary. Nothing pvertly onfectipus looking but she offered to send samples for cultures which if i do full panel with viral studies, can run up to $400 and may not show anything. Alternately she suggested treating collection for mites and close observation. If any snake is remotely symptomatic then i could bring it in for fuether testing. If money was no object Id pick option A. Since there no obvious infectious signs for now will probably go for Option B. Waiting for the PAM to arrive but will statt cleanong oit aubstrates and giving my remaining 4 snakes betadine soaks.

Honestly I wouldn't wait around for the PAM to show up since your infestation is bad enough that it's killing your snakes. You can go to CVS, WalMart, Walgreens, etc. and get the 2 oz bottle of RID or NIX head lice treatment containing 1% permethrin as the active ingredient. Mix that with a gallon of water and it's an effective mite treatment. Soaking your snakes will just drown the mites on them at that moment, it won't kill off the ones that have migrated off your snakes.

So after mixing as described do I spray the sbake with it or soal the snake in that mixture?