Help with mites :(

[ophidile]

Well this is a (bad) first... got a male woma at a show a few weeks ago. He looked clean but now I just realized he's covered in mites
He sure wasn't a few weeks ago but while I've fed him and he ate OK I haven't been inspecting him too closely until now. I'm looking around online, but I'd love any advice you guys have. So far I threw out all his bedding, replaced it with paper towels. I soaked him in lukewarm soapy water for half an hour, and there were lots of dead mites in the water, but I think there are still some on him? What kind of soap should you use, I used shower wash?

I understand I need "prevent a mite", is that right? He was quarantined but I just don't know. I'd rather just treat my whole collection as if they were exposed anyway. Anyone got advice, how best to do it, what to expect? When are you "safe" again?

I'm also not sure what to do about this deal. The guy makes it sound like mites "happen" sometimes, and it was probably a baby picked up at the show, but it's no big deal. I kind of want to return the snake but the problem is it was a partial trade and I don't really want the other animals back, either, and the dude doesn't want to just give me the cash value. So now I just don't know. I guess I'd rather just hold on to this guy, but what else should I have him checked for if I do? He does eat OK. I haven't checked his poops, he was on aspen and I'd just scoop them without looking closely.

I've never dealt with this before. I'm trying not to freak out but I'm pretty upset. I also have so little time right now it's stupid, this is the last thing I wanted to deal with :/

 

[Utta]

First, prevent a mite is just for bedding/branch/cage. You can use "reptile relief" or zoo meds "jurassimite(sp) to use on the animal. Untill you get that, bathe em in warm water with Dawn. You'd want to treat everyone in your collection.

 

[ophidile]

First, prevent a mite is just for bedding/branch/cage. You can use "reptile relief" or zoo meds "jurassimite(sp) to use on the animal. Untill you get that, bathe em in warm water with Dawn. You'd want to treat everyone in your collection.

OK, thank you for the reply! How often should I be bathing them...?
I will order the reptile relief/jurassimite, too.

 

[Utta]

Id bathe them every few days.

 

[Melinda]

google "nix snake mites" for a treatment using the head lice shampoo NIX. Follow the directions exactly.

 

[DavidBeard]

You can spray Black Knight directly on the snake....or at least you could with the old BK. Its the best mite solution on the market IMO.

 

[tkeyser]

you can by the furniture spray at the store it the same ingredient but 10x cheaper. my friend puts her snakes in a tote bag with water for 24 hours they keep there head up and it kills all the mights

 

[reticguy76]

jurassimite for everything. works awesome and is non-toxic.

 

[jeremyk]

what show did u get it at? all animal expo? good luck.. Hope u had it in quarantine

 

[ophidile]

He was quarantined but I'm still kinda freaked out... waiting for my provent-a-mite to arrive :/
He did seem clean initially and to the vendor's credit it took a month before he had a serious problem... anyone know what kind of mite load is necessary for an infestation after one month? Could it have been a few eggs picked up accidentally, or would he have had to had an established mite problem?

I got him at the midwest reptile show. The vendor made it sound like mites are just something that happens if you keep snakes but fffff, not if I can help it. I've been soaking him and cleaning out his cage entirely daily and it's certainly reduced the load, but he still obviously had mites.

Uhg. Honestly, tho it's been a wake up call for me. These animals are just too much stress and I think I'm gonna get out of it. Keep a few pets and just stop everything else.

Hoping to return this guy... he is pretty and all but I just don't want to do this anymore.

 

[yankees789]

buy a top notch spray i boughtmine for 27 dollars an i clean the cage with it to.my beardied dont need them nasty little things its called de flea an says reptile relief.says it kills mites,fles an ticks on contact an it does.trust me oh an its made by natural chemistry.they been around since 1989

 

[Utta]

Don't give up because you got mites. They do happen at shows. Just get the jurrisimite or reptile relief and treat them at the show. Then treat them at home. And keep treating every now and then while in QT(for in QT, just PAM, no need for RR/Jurassimite unless you see them on the animal)

 

[jeremyk]

He was quarantined but I'm still kinda freaked out... waiting for my provent-a-mite to arrive :/
He did seem clean initially and to the vendor's credit it took a month before he had a serious problem... anyone know what kind of mite load is necessary for an infestation after one month? Could it have been a few eggs picked up accidentally, or would he have had to had an established mite problem?

I got him at the midwest reptile show. The vendor made it sound like mites are just something that happens if you keep snakes but fffff, not if I can help it. I've been soaking him and cleaning out his cage entirely daily and it's certainly reduced the load, but he still obviously had mites.

Uhg. Honestly, tho it's been a wake up call for me. These animals are just too much stress and I think I'm gonna get out of it. Keep a few pets and just stop everything else.

Hoping to return this guy... he is pretty and all but I just don't want to do this anymore.

Mites are definitely NOT part of keeping snakes.. making sure u never get them IS part of keeping snakes…always, always, always, buy from a reputable BREEDER. everyone likes a "good deal" but in the end, this is what usually happens. Easiest way to find mites on an animal u may want to buy.. Use ur thumb, pull the skin around the eyes back examine the tissue around the eye. if it has mites ul find them there. Look under the head in that little crease that runs the length of the head, they like to hide out there. check the business end, repeat until sure. If u plan to purchase online and cant examine the animal, do some research on the person. if u don’t have a large collection they shouldn’t be too had to get rid of as long as u keep up with cleanings until ur sure there gone. This could be months.. reptiles should be a stress free hobby, I don’t think u should let this sway u from working with them. just use this incident as a stepping stone and learn from it.. Best of luck to u

 

[Utta]

Mites are definitely NOT part of keeping snakes.. making sure u never get them IS part of keeping snakes…always, always, always, buy from a reputable BREEDER. everyone likes a "good deal" but in the end, this is what usually happens. Easiest way to find mites on an animal u may want to buy.. Use ur thumb, pull the skin around the eyes back examine the tissue around the eye. if it has mites ul find them there. Look under the head in that little crease that runs the length of the head, they like to hide out there. check the business end, repeat until sure. If u plan to purchase online and cant examine the animal, do some research on the person. if u don’t have a large collection they shouldn’t be too had to get rid of as long as u keep up with cleanings until ur sure there gone. This could be months.. reptiles should be a stress free hobby, I don’t think u should let this sway u from working with them. just use this incident as a stepping stone and learn from it.. Best of luck to u

Animals you get from a show will most likley have mites (unless the vendor doesn't let people handle animals)

 

[ophidile]

Animals you get from a show will most likley have mites (unless the vendor doesn't let people handle animals)

I do shows every now and then and I've never gotten mites... in fact the snakes that were my own that went to the show and back don't have them so far, either. But then again, I have hand sanitizer... though I imagine it's more the washing action that helps than the alcohol XD

I know I took a risk, hence the quarantine... but yeah if I'd really thought about the fact that I might have a sick snake on my hands right when I'd planned to tone down all the snake stuff and focus on school I wouldn't have done it. The dude has an ok rep but I wish I'd just gotten one from Mike Curtin (where I got my girl from, she's been spectacular and worry free, I just loved the look of this guy when I saw him).
I'm still done though... thanks for the encouragement but this just sort of made me remember breeding/selling snakes isn't a life goal of mine, and I'm spending a whole lot of time on it vs the other stuff I want to do. This distracting me from school just sort of drove the point home.

I have to admit giving him a bath is kind of cute though XD

 

[jeremyk]

Animals you get from a show will most likley have mites (unless the vendor doesn't let people handle animals)

hmmm, i do shows iv never had mites, ive done shows with other reputable breeders, they don’t have mites.. Brian sharp does shows..he doesn’t have mites..just sayin

 

[Utta]

Guess I have some messed up shows

But we do have a lot of "pet stores" with subpar quality animals for cheep. And have a lot of them. So

 

[ophidile]

Guess I have some messed up shows

But we do have a lot of "pet stores" with subpar quality animals for cheep. And have a lot of them. So

Oh yes. I'll never forget the show were a dude had big boas and burms in tubs with insecure lids next to us. He'd walk away from his booth periodically and myself and my friend were obliged to push his snakes back in when they nosed their heads out.

And the at the end of the show, I saw a mite crawling on them

Fortunately I dodged the mite-bullet that time. With that sort of display I'd been dubious from the get-go and used copious hand-sanitizer whenever I touched his snakes, and when I got home soaked all my snakes and put them in quarantine for a month. But yes, there are a lot of mites at shows but, it seems possible to avoid them and/or prevent them from spreading if you accidentally get an animal with them...

 

[BigTattoo]

Ridding your reptiles of mites

Provent a Mite is great stuff and worth every penny. It is the only proven, certified reptile safe mite treatment. Other products have been used such as Black Knight and cheaper products found at wally world. There was a real pi$$ing match on KS several years ago about using these cheaper products vs Provent a Mite. The manufacturer of the cheaper product even came on the forum and told people it was not the same formulation as P a M and told them it was not reptile safe. Use it or not your call I'm not interested in a flame war about this.

First all your herps should be bathed. The best solution is liquid dish soap with table salt added. The dish soap breaks surface tension and removes the waxy coating that protect the mites. The salt reduces osmotic pressure and the mites begin to absorb water until it results in their ultimate demise. This is the same as reptile relief which is a good product but is only effective while wet. The same holds true for the dish soap and salt solution.

Clean all enclosures thoroughly and remove and replace all bedding. I prefer a product called Iodophor for cleaning as it is a no rinse, iodine based sanitizer that kills everything. Iodophor only needs a 2 minute contact time and once dry is totally inert so there is no danger to your herps. A 10-15% bleach solution will work also but bleach requires a 15 minute contact time and will leave a residue which must be removed by rinsing. There are other good products on the market as well.

Use P a M as directed. You don't need to saturate the enclosure surfaces a short 1-2 second misting of all surfaces will suffice. You can also spray your bedding. Again a 1-2 second misting on the surface, stir the bedding up and repeat a couple times. Be sure to allow bedding adequate time to dry before returning your herps. Since mites will travel from enclosure to enclosure it is a good idea to spray around the openings of your enclosures. P a M will remain effective once dry for 30 days and any mite coming in contact will die.

I had a pet shop and mites can be a real problem as you have customers come in that have handled herps with mites and want to handle yours and voila you now have a mite situation. They also bring in W/C and suspect pets wanting to make a quick buck off of W/C or wanting expert advice on what's wrong with their pet. Kind of an uphill battle for a shop owner. P a M was used regularly in conjunction with the dish soap/salt baths in my shop and I can testify to it's effectiveness. I would give weekly warm baths to all of the herps in my shop. Since most of them would drink the bath water when first introduced I would put them in plain warm water. Then after they had time to drink I would add the soap/salt solution. I would make up a batch of solution with 1 TBLS soap and 1 TBLS of salt per gallon of water and add one cup of this to each bath. Meanwhile I would clean and restore bedding while treating with P a M. Initially your cost for P a M seems expensive but when used as directed it really is quite economical and 1 can should treat most herp rooms several times and only needs repeating once a month until you are sure your mites are gone. Normally 2 treatments. I had to do weekly treatments due to the cross contamination issues of customers either bringing in mites from the own herps or from handling herps at other shops and then coming into mine. I had one shop in my area that always had mites on all of his herps. I also treated my small animal enclosures with P a M although the manufacturer advised it had not been approved for use with mammals and birds but was in the process of doing so at the time. It takes about 8 years of testing with FDA supervision to get approval.

The same is true of herp shows. You may look at a herp at one table and not even realize you've picked up mites from one vendor then go to another, purchase and animal and cross contaminate being none the wiser. Or cross contamination may occur before you even look at any animals. All it takes is one vendor with mites and the whole show can become cross contaminated. This is why some vendors do not like you to handle their herps and display them in clear deli cups.

I have a friend who works for the local AG Dept lab. They did several experiments with different varieties of mites. They placed mites in a covered sterile petri dish. Then surrounded that with other covered, sterile petri dishes which had scent from preferred food items. Each dish was surrounded by rings of flour and the setup was left for 24 hours. Upon examination they could see trails through the flour where the mites had left the central dish and traveled to each and every dish surrounding it.

Prophylactic measures to minimize mite infestation.

If you go to a herp show of visit a pet shop it is best to remove all clothing and wash as soon as possible. You should also bathe thoroughly before even going into your herp room and handling your herps.

Any and all new herps purchases should be given the dish soap/ salt treatment immediately. They ideally should then be placed in a P a M treated enclosure preferably one not in your herp room for a minimum of 30 days. Again once you have handled these animals you should follow the directions noted above as to disrobing and bathing.

Are mites a PITA, absolutely. Can you completely rid your herps of them again absolutely.

Sorry for the long post.

Hope this helps.

Big T

 

[ophidile]

Thanks that helps a lot
Provent-a-mite did seem the best so I didn't mess around with the other remedies.
I'd pretty much been doing what you said, except for the table salt, I shall add it!
And be a bit more vigilant when I go to shows XP