mites

[jossh27]

i was just wondering about mites... how do captive snakes get them? what are preventative measures i can take to avoid the creatures? mainly what to look for?- i saw somewhere that they are little black critters and should stick out pretty noticeably on my albino king

[yeloowtang]

If your snake is clean, the only way to avoid them is to quarentine any new arrivals.
but even then, you may never get another snake and still get them.

-you could visit a reptile show and have them hitch a ride to your place
-you can get them from the pet shop
-a friend with reptuiles who visits you
-accesories from a pet store

if your snake sudently spends all his time in the water bowl, that's a good sign.
loses appetite is another one but not always.
they can get more defensive (get easaly iritated)

the NIX treatment to rid them or simply as a precaution every couple of months is on good way..
many big breeders who go to shows will treat everything going there and coming back home just to be safe..

hope this helps shed light a little

[jossh27]

Lol man snakes are like children in grade school!

I watched a YouTube video of a girls python had mites and they were litteraly crawling all over the poor snake

[Aaron_S]

If your snake is clean, the only way to avoid them is to quarentine any new arrivals.
but even then, you may never get another snake and still get them.

-you could visit a reptile show and have them hitch a ride to your place
-you can get them from the pet shop
-a friend with reptuiles who visits you
-accesories from a pet store

if your snake sudently spends all his time in the water bowl, that's a good sign.
loses appetite is another one but not always.
they can get more defensive (get easaly iritated)

the NIX treatment to rid them or simply as a precaution every couple of months is on good way..
many big breeders who go to shows will treat everything going there and coming back home just to be safe..

hope this helps shed light a little

This is a really good post about how to get them. However the most common way wasn't mentioned.
Wild caught animals brought into the collection without proper precautions.

Also, on accessories and on your person are less likely than most other ways. Mites need food so they won't be hanging out on accessories for too long since it's not a source of food for them.

At shows it comes from handling animals that may have them and not notice them. Or if you're a vendor, someone handles someone elses animals with mites than handles yours. OR the person next to you has them in their collection and they leave their deli cups and come to yours. lol...

Best thing is to be cautious and don't bring bad animals into your collection. It's quite avoidable.

[yeloowtang]

absolutely right Aaron, i forgot to mention wild caught !!! and mites are not the only nasty thing they can bring in a collection..

precaution is a must

[jossh27]

Hence what I've read about quarantining new animals. You guys are awesome.

[pet_snake_78]

You can get them from snakes in your yard too. This fall I found shed skins in my basement, I suspect they are still down there hibernating in the insulation.

[jossh27]

you found wild snake sheds in your basement?

[Aaron_S]

You can get them from snakes in your yard too. This fall I found shed skins in my basement, I suspect they are still down there hibernating in the insulation.

Snakes don't hibernate.

[prairiepanda]

Snakes don't hibernate.

Brumation is similar enough

[Aaron_S]

Brumation is similar enough

No it isn't.

Hibernation is what bears do. They literally sleep all winter. With Brumation the snakes are still active to a certain level. Still need water at times as well.

They aren't that similar.

[kateness91]

A good preventive on top of the mite sprays you can use hot spots pest strips on the outside of the enclosures on the OPPOSITE side of their water bowl..

[jossh27]

Lol Aaron, you always seem to be there to set people straight. I'd be intimidated to buy a animal from you ;)

[Aaron_S]

Lol Aaron, you always seem to be there to set people straight. I'd be intimidated to buy a animal from you ;)

hahaha You'd be the first person to ever feel that way.

[pet_snake_78]

I've never seen the actual snakes, most likely they are still in insulation or somewhere hidden in my wife's many boxes of belongings lol However, numerous sheds have were found in fall and I've not had any escapes so I imagine there's multiple snakes down there. I leave 8 oz deli cups of water on both sides of the basement in case they need water. I assume they are milk or garter snakes, I've got ringnecks and dekays in the yard too but the sheds were many times larger than those. the only downside is I have a lot of reptiles down there just for winter and the hottest part of summer so I don't want them dragging something in.

[shaunyboy]

Lol Aaron, you always seem to be there to set people straight. I'd be intimidated to buy a animal from you ;)

lol this is the new user friendly Aaron.....

Mod Aaron 2.0 :shocked::cool:


he probaly bites down hard on a piece of wood as he writes his posts these days :laugh::laugh::laugh:

eh Aaron ?




you know i'm only fecking with you my friend ;)


cheers shaun:D

P.S. Aaron knows his stuff mate

[shaunyboy]

re mites

i use provent a mite in my quarantine tanks,it's a great product for prevention or cure folks


cheers shaun

[jossh27]

R- rated ssnakess.com would be extremely humorous. Everything comes together with a little bit of harsh language

[trailblazer295]

It would be pretty funny and anyone who is having problems with something can truly vent the way they are thinking.

[reptiledude987]

best way I've found to treat mites is to remove all substrate. discard anything that cant be sanitized. Sanitize the enclosure with a dilluted bleach solution and rince well. use newsprint or paper towel as a temp substrate and spray with nix solution (1 50ml bottle of nix shampoo diluted into 1 gal of water mixed well) every 2nd day for a month. when spraying solution spray the entire enclosure all hides and the animal its self.

[Aaron_S]

lol this is the new user friendly Aaron.....

Mod Aaron 2.0 :shocked::cool:


he probaly bites down hard on a piece of wood as he writes his posts these days :laugh::laugh::laugh:

eh Aaron ?




you know i'm only fecking with you my friend ;)


cheers shaun:D

P.S. Aaron knows his stuff mate

You made me laugh. Thanks Shaun.

[yeloowtang]

best way I've found to treat mites is to remove all substrate. discard anything that cant be sanitized. Sanitize the enclosure with a dilluted bleach solution and rince well. use newsprint or paper towel as a temp substrate and spray with nix solution (1 50ml bottle of nix shampoo diluted into 1 gal of water mixed well) every 2nd day for a month. when spraying solution spray the entire enclosure all hides and the animal its self.

the only thing I would add to this :)
your way of doing it will for sure kill everything hehehehe
but you don't need to do it every two days, once a week for 3 weeks is all you need. even then, that first treatment will have killed everything but to be 100% sure, it's recommended to do it twice more.
reasons are:
- you have to remove the water bowl for 24h after treatment, if you do it every two days !!!! snakes won't have access to water too often.
- the solution stays active once it dries and will kill everything that comes in contact with it. I use paper towels sprayed with NIX in my fruit fly culture shelves. kill wanderers,fly mites and any other bug that walks on it for weeks..

extra note: keep the unused solution in a Dark cold place, light will illiminate the active ingredients, if kept in the dark, it will have a shelf live of 1 year.

[shaunyboy]

You made me laugh. Thanks Shaun.

i also made myself laugh pal....

picturing you,biting down on and snapping pieces of wood,as you type mate

a leather belt would be much better for your teeth ;):laugh:





imo you can't beat laughter,so i'm happy,your happy my friend


your one of the good guys mate :)


cheers shaun :)