Snake not eating, and mites!

[doctorowl]

I have a hatchling albino milksnake who has refused his last 2 feedings.

He also has mites, which I have just done a second treatment for. I know they can sometimes take a few treatments to get rid of. If I end up needing to do a third treatment I'm thinking of doing olive oil since I've heard of success with that (I have already done the spray, disinfecting tank + decorations, freezing litter, etc. etc...)

Both times he refused his food happened to be right after I cleaned his tank and bathed him. I feel kind of stupid since it's probably my own fault, I may have stressed him out. He does not like baths!! So maybe that's why he didn't want to eat. I should have timed it better, I honestly didn't think of it at the time. Poor little guy!

Should I try to feed him again ASAP or wait another week? He's missed 2 feedings so I don't think it's an emergency yet. But he is a little guy so I don't think he should go too long without food.

Also as a side note, he is still terrified of me, always shoots away and hides when I try to pick him up. He flails around a lot and pees on me, but usually calms down after a minute. Poor thing!! He must think I'm trying to kill him hahaha. He does not bite or hiss but I have seen some tail rattling. He also will NOT take food from me. He's too busy trying to run for his life. I have to leave him alone in a small tub with his food for 20 min... he eats very slowly and politely :P

[Snake_eyes_88]

I've never had mites so can't help in that department however it does sound like the food refusal could be from stress... Both from the treatments and from the actual mites themselves as they put stress on the immune system.

Be careful with how you treat for mites, I've never done it but there is some silly methods out there and some methods I've seen handed about are just dangerous.

Good luck and don't stress over a couple of missed feeds, my brb went 9 months once for no reason... She barely lost a few grams and then started eating again.

[Andy_G]

Olive oil is not an effective means to treat mites. Use NIX or P.A.M. and research how to use properly. Getting rid of the mite problem will alleviate a lot of stress. Be sure to use simple and disposable hides, a water dish that is easy to clean, and only newspaper or paper towel as substrate until you haven't seen a single mite for a whole month.

A few questions need answering for us to accurately help you out.

How long have you had the milksnake? What kind of milk is it? What does it nornally eat and how often are you offering? Are you feeding him inside his enclosure or are you using a separate container? Why are you giving the snake baths? Whats your current husbandry? What kind of cage is he in?

[Jim Smith]

I think I can offer one possible solution for the mites. I had one case of mites on two of my Honduran Milk snakes and they can be a real pain in the butt to get rid of. I tried completely cleaning and sterilizing the cages and treating with PAM. I did this three times at two-week intervals but no luck, they came back. I tried the same with a dilution of NIT, but I got the same results. This went on for about six months. I finally read about a biological solution to mites, using predatory mites to kill them off. I ordered some Hypoaspis mites. They came in a small plastic container with some "bedding" material. I simply sprinkled some in each cage and let them do their job. In about a week, I couldn't find any mites. They hunted down and ate all the snake mites and even ate their eggs, The predatory mites die off after about 4 weeks so they just go away. I've been mite free ever since. The one downside to using the predatory mites is they only live about four weeks so you have to use them up and they are not exactly cheap. I think I spent around $40, but I had enough to treat all five of my enclosures as a precaution. You can find the predatory Hypoaspis mites at Biocontrol Network - Bio-Rational Alternatives for agriculture, horticulture, commercial and residential use. (http://www.biconet.com) if you want to give them a try. Good luck and please keep us posted.

[Snake_eyes_88]

I think I can offer one possible solution for the mites. I had one case of mites on two of my Honduran Milk snakes and they can be a real pain in the butt to get rid of. I tried completely cleaning and sterilizing the cages and treating with PAM. I did this three times at two-week intervals but no luck, they came back. I tried the same with a dilution of NIT, but I got the same results. This went on for about six months. I finally read about a biological solution to mites, using predatory mites to kill them off. I ordered some Hypoaspis mites. They came in a small plastic container with some "bedding" material. I simply sprinkled some in each cage and let them do their job. In about a week, I couldn't find any mites. They hunted down and ate all the snake mites and even ate their eggs, The predatory mites die off after about 4 weeks so they just go away. I've been mite free ever since. The one downside to using the predatory mites is they only live about four weeks so you have to use them up and they are not exactly cheap. I think I spent around $40, but I had enough to treat all five of my enclosures as a precaution. You can find the predatory Hypoaspis mites at Biocontrol Network - Bio-Rational Alternatives for agriculture, horticulture, commercial and residential use. (http://www.biconet.com) if you want to give them a try. Good luck and please keep us posted.

I've gotta agree with the predatory mites.... Not used them myself but a good friend has just used them in his bioactive enclosures to kill off snake mites. Seems to have worked really well :D

[doctorowl]

Hey guys! Thank you for the responses :)

I've only had him for about 2 months. He's an albino Nelson's. I've been feeding 1 F/T pinkie mouse every 5 days. Because he's so skittish he will not eat in his viv, he just freaks out and runs away, I've been putting him in a small plastic tupperware type thing and he's always been fine eating in there.

The instructions for the mite spray were to spray the snake, let it sit for 20 minutes, then soak him in water for 20 minutes, because the spray is dehydrating. It's Reptile Spray from Natural Chemistry. Soaking snakes also helps kill the mites that are currently on them, it drowns them. Gives them a bit of relief :)

He is in a 15gal glass tank, on Aspen (which I froze for 3 days to kill any possible mite eggs), temps are 82-89 on the hot side and 70-79 on the cold side. He has some various hides and plastic plant and water dish

I am looking into PAM but my local store doesn't carry it so I have to get it online. Olive oil was suggested to me as a way to suffocate the mites, it also works on dog/cat/human mites too. But it doesn't get rid of the ones in the viv. The predatory mites sounds awesome, I might do that! I was told it usually takes several cleanings to really kill them all, and last night when I looked he only had maybe 1 dead mite on his eye socket (they like to stuff themsleves there, poor little guy) and NONE on his body. I was thrilled!!

He has refused 2 feedings but I just noticed yesterday he's gone pink so I suspect a shed. I'm going to wait a bit and see if he sheds before trying to feed again

[Andy_G]

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/general-discussion/17014-nix-treatment-snake-mites.html

If your snake is skittish. Feed him in his cage and just leave the food in overnight. Seperate feeding containers increase stress. That natural chemistry stuff I used when it first came out. It smelled awful and although it worked, I did not like it. Maybe it's changed.

[Snake_eyes_88]

I feed all mine in the viv and I don't experience any unexpected aggression. :)

[Andy_G]

I feed all mine in the viv and I don't experience any unexpected aggression. :)

That's because it doesn't happen. :)

[Snake_eyes_88]

That's because it doesn't happen. :)

I know mate, was trying to reiterate the point for the OP...