Columbia rainbow

[GyGbeetle]

I've been wanting one of these guys for awhile now, and wanted to start my research about husbandry here first. I've read that Brazilian rainbow boa husbandry isn't very forgiving when it comes to humidity and temps, and I'm wondering if this is also true for the Columbians. We live in an arid climate, and all of our other snakes (save for one BCA, who has been having shed issues and dry skin) all appear to be doing well. If you have any experience regarding these guys and husbandry please let me know.

Or any experience at all really.

[bigsnakegirl785]

I think Colombians are slightly more forgiving, but do still require extremely high humidity. They might at most be 5-10% less than a Brazilian's needs, if there is a difference.

If you want higher humidity, the key is limiting air flow and using high humidity bedding. EcoEarth, ReptiChip/Grow!t, and sphagnum moss are a few examples. I'm currently keeping my rainbows on a mixture of EcoEarth and cypress mulch, but I plan on switching the mulch for ReptiChip. The only problem with the ReptiChip is it's not currently available on Amazon (not sure why), so I have to find somewhere else to buy it at.

Test-running an enclosure ahead of time with a hygrometer might be able to help you pin down how exactly you'll be able to keep one where you live. Just keep in mind hygrometers deteriorate quickly inside an enclosure with such high humidity. If the display is inside the enclosure, I've found the display blows out so you can't read it after a few weeks, and it will throw off the calibration in the probe just as quickly. So don't leave it in there 24/7.

[GyGbeetle]

Thanks for the insight. I will definitely take these into consideration if we end up buying a Columbian. I want to get our current snakes out of their current mite infestation, get our latest addition out of quarantine, and get a better setup than what we have before I bring in more. I say I'd like to; whether or not that'll happen remains to be seen. We have several spaces in the house that can act as quarantine locations if I end up not waiting and getting another baby earlier than expected.

We are also talking with someone that may have another potential rescue boa too. I don't know. I already have 11. I feel like if someone doesn't stop me soon, I'll have 11 in every single room of our house by year's end :(

[SnoopySnake]

I think Colombians are slightly more forgiving, but do still require extremely high humidity. They might at most be 5-10% less than a Brazilian's needs, if there is a difference.

If you want higher humidity, the key is limiting air flow and using high humidity bedding. EcoEarth, ReptiChip/Grow!t, and sphagnum moss are a few examples. I'm currently keeping my rainbows on a mixture of EcoEarth and cypress mulch, but I plan on switching the mulch for ReptiChip. The only problem with the ReptiChip is it's not currently available on Amazon (not sure why), so I have to find somewhere else to buy it at.

Test-running an enclosure ahead of time with a hygrometer might be able to help you pin down how exactly you'll be able to keep one where you live. Just keep in mind hygrometers deteriorate quickly inside an enclosure with such high humidity. If the display is inside the enclosure, I've found the display blows out so you can't read it after a few weeks, and it will throw off the calibration in the probe just as quickly. So don't leave it in there 24/7.

^^^This. Colombians are much more tolerant to lower humidity and higher temps (not by much). Although for a healthy animal you want it very humid. I keep my colombians at room temp (74F ish) with a hot spot at 84F. I keep them as humid as possible, around 90%+ even as adults. Proper humidity and lower temps are much more important for babies, temps above 90 for prolonged periods are still a no-go with colombians.

[akane]

I keep looking at these too but the husbandry puts me off. I don't think I have enough experience with snakes that have much of a humidity requirement and with a large enough variety of caging and heating methods for that.

[TRD]

I'm not sure of restriction airflow is the proper way to increase humidity...standing moist air seems to me the perfect environment for all kind of nasty things you don't want your snake to have...

There's also the option to create a false bottom that you can fill with water and refill as needed using an aquarium heater to evaporate it.

Not sure though, never tried, just read about the technique.

[akane]

I was thinking of bottom heat on material that holds a lot of water. It works for my clean up crew cultures for bioactive tanks. If I fill it with really wet soil that holds moisture and put bottom heat it will steadily evaporate it to condense on the upper areas. Air flow is somewhat restricted for that though. I've also set a cheap humidifier ($40) on my sumatran python with the directional piece removed so it all falls straight down. Cheaper and more water than any of those reptile misters.

[SnoopySnake]

Really wet soil can lead to scale rot. Rainbow boas seem to be more resistant to it, but wet substrate isn't the way to achieve proper humidity. Regular misting (I usually spray the walls of the enclosure) and cleaning will ensure high humidity and a clean cage. Moist bedding is fine but you don't want wet, heat mats do definitely help too.

[GyGbeetle]

Really wet soil can lead to scale rot. Rainbow boas seem to be more resistant to it, but wet substrate isn't the way to achieve proper humidity. Regular misting (I usually spray the walls of the enclosure) and cleaning will ensure high humidity and a clean cage. Moist bedding is fine but you don't want wet, heat mats do definitely help too.

OK. So with all of our snakes, we have them on Forest Floor, and we try and mist once a day. Humidity says about 70-80% most days; not the 90% that was stated in this thread. Everyone gets UTH for their heating source.

So do you use a humidifier? We were thinking about getting a humidifier to keep the humidity up if we do in fact purchase this little guy. But won't it get corroded?

And my question is this; the snake we're looking at has been at the pet store now for almost a year. They don't do anything special; forest floor, with frequent misting, and UTH. She has a plastic hide. And she's healthy (I check her out frequently). So how does she stay healthy there?

I really want her, but she's not like my other boas. They appear to be very resilient with low humidity (everyone has been on paper towels now for close to 2 months). What if we get another mite outbreak? Will she handle paper towels for 2 months? I'm a little worried about this.

[SnoopySnake]

I personally don't use humidifiers. My snakes are kept in plastic tubs and I only put as many holes in them as I need. 80% is fine but I prefer as high as possible. Paper towel is definitely harder to maintain humidity with, but it can still be done, you will just need more frequent misting. Having the water bowl on the heat source also helps a lot

[GyGbeetle]

I personally don't use humidifiers. My snakes are kept in plastic tubs and I only put as many holes in them as I need. 80% is fine but I prefer as high as possible. Paper towel is definitely harder to maintain humidity with, but it can still be done, you will just need more frequent misting. Having the water bowl on the heat source also helps a lot

What if I went with a biophile or some other plastics enclosure like that?

I only bring up the paper towels because of mites. I'm finishing up my first mite infestation, and still have no clue where they came from. I put everyone back on their substrate too early, and ended up with mites a month later, so they're staying on paper towels for 2 months, no exceptions, this time around. we're on month 2. And all I've been reading from breeders and enthusiasts is to keep new snakes on paper towels while in quarantine, which we now do about 60 days (sometimes longer, depending on what's happening). So if we mist twice a day, do you think that'll be enough? I guess the only way to know is to get the enclosure and test it out for a few days to see what happens in these scenarios.

She's still there at the pet store.

[akane]

I use aquariums with mesh lids and heat lamps instead of mats because of thick bioactive substrate so humidity is an issue. I want to see my snakes easily rather than just collect them away in bins and racks. Summer isn't too bad but it got down to 20% humidity in most of the house for part of winter and was around 35% in my aquarium room where I moved the blood python and covered part of his mesh lid with a plastic storage bin lid trying to keep humidity up until my humidifier recovered. My husband ignored the use pure water and not tap water directions when we have very hard water. I had to clean it and run the dispersal base with vinegar and RO water to get it moving again. I had to get creative about what I'm going to do as my setup for the blood python when I move him to a bigger enclosure with space to work with so a rainbow boa would be quite different from what I can usually maintain in my setups.

[GyGbeetle]

I use aquariums with mesh lids and heat lamps instead of mats because of thick bioactive substrate so humidity is an issue. I want to see my snakes easily rather than just collect them away in bins and racks. Summer isn't too bad but it got down to 20% humidity in most of the house for part of winter and was around 35% in my aquarium room where I moved the blood python and covered part of his mesh lid with a plastic storage bin lid trying to keep humidity up until my humidifier recovered. My husband ignored the use pure water and not tap water directions when we have very hard water. I had to clean it and run the dispersal base with vinegar and RO water to get it moving again. I had to get creative about what I'm going to do as my setup for the blood python when I move him to a bigger enclosure with space to work with so a rainbow boa would be quite different from what I can usually maintain in my setups.

All of our snakes right now are in those glass aquariums with the mesh tops. We don't go quite as fancy as everyone else; we use forest floor for substrate and keep a large plastic water dish in there, as well as plastic hides. I'm trying to stay away from wood because of what happened with the mites (we lost quite a bit of our accessories). We use purified water too :) Good to see I'm not the only one. So maybe we'll go with another one of those for the rainbow boa. We've been thinking about so many different things to change our setup. Looking into biophiles, American plastics, other options, rack systems (not my favorite option), even just putting them all on metal racks and calling it a day. I don't know, there are way too many options out there, and everyone has a different take on it.

We live in the desert, where things are really arid. Even inside the house. I'm cautious to up the overall humidity in the house because we have wood furniture throughout the house, but this is now the snake's house, not ours, so...

I'm rambling. I think once Hope gets out of quarantine, we may just pick up the Columbian boa, and she can go into the quarantine area.

[akane]

My whole house is wood with wood floors, hardwood doors, and my only furniture with any real padding is the bed and it can get to 90% humidity here lol Never actually heard of it being much of an issue and I've lived in a lot of old wood houses. Mostly you just end up running dehumidifiers in the basement part of the year because the amount of moisture in the soil is always sneaking in and some of the doors tend to stick during summer rain storms as the wood expands and contracts. Every now and then you have to rehang a hardwood door but the things have continued to sit in those doorways for generations. Most external siding has been replaced by other materials though. I've seen pictures and video of how the outside of houses with just wood and paint breaks down in areas that stay warm and wet year round instead of having our dry winters for part of the year. I don't think you could ever get an area that humid with regular indoor humidifiers starting from desert conditions.

[GyGbeetle]

My whole house is wood with wood floors, hardwood doors, and my only furniture with any real padding is the bed and it can get to 90% humidity here lol Never actually heard of it being much of an issue and I've lived in a lot of old wood houses. Mostly you just end up running dehumidifiers in the basement part of the year because the amount of moisture in the soil is always sneaking in and some of the doors tend to stick during summer rain storms as the wood expands and contracts. Every now and then you have to rehang a hardwood door but the things have continued to sit in those doorways for generations. Most external siding has been replaced by other materials though. I've seen pictures and video of how the outside of houses with just wood and paint breaks down in areas that stay warm and wet year round instead of having our dry winters for part of the year. I don't think you could ever get an area that humid with regular indoor humidifiers starting from desert conditions.

This is great info. You're making me feel a lot more confident! I think we may be able to take number 13 home in a month, or feel confident enough to do so. If she's a girl, I told my hubby I was going to name her Princess Unicorn because she's a rainbow boa. I don't think he likes the name.

[akane]

While some disorders have issues in high humidity the minimum suggested for human health in normal conditions is about 35-45% to avoid irritating the respiratory tract and being more sensitive to colds and flus. Getting an entire room to 60% is the controversial point where you start to risk mold growth, you need to be more careful to sterilize your humidifier, and increasing respiratory problems from the other extreme. I ran into major breathing problems and sore throat this past winter so we were checking what we should get the humidity up to for ourselves. At 15% the lack of moisture actually damages wood and can make other items brittle so they are more easily damaged.

[GyGbeetle]

I have asthma, and don't have a humidifier yet. I'll have to ask my doctor, who thinks I have MS right now (looooooong story), so higher temps are bad for me. Which is why we're trying to figure out long term where the snakes will be going (build a tiny house outside, punch out a wall in our bedroom, convert our second garage to a snake room), because the snakes are housed in our bedroom. I love it, but at the same time it's difficult for me. That, and some of our nocturnals literally wait until we turn off the lights and start to fall asleep before they become active and make TONS of noise (blowing bubbles in their water, splashing in the water, trying to find a way out, slithering back and forth endlessly to the point where you can hear them, etc). If they were cats they'd be meowing all night.

and then we have that one feral inside cat that meows all night. Loud, booming meows to no one in particular, for no apparent reason other than she's slept all day and is ready to go. At 4am.

[akane]

I slept in a room with a dozen gerbils that had 4 wheels followed by 7 guinea pigs and 2 fish tanks. I don't notice snakes lol I actually have 3 cockatiels and a pair of diamond doves in my room with 3 small baby snakes in 10s that I'm going to rearrange to stack so I can put a 90g with my bull or sumatran python, a dekay's brown snake, and 4 anole lizards. They don't even compare to the 4 dogs with the smallest by a lot being 30lbs. I do occasionally have to wake up and yell at the malamute puppy to stop barking at everyone in an attempt to play at 4am.

[GyGbeetle]

I slept in a room with a dozen gerbils that had 4 wheels followed by 7 guinea pigs and 2 fish tanks. I don't notice snakes lol I actually have 3 cockatiels and a pair of diamond doves in my room with 3 small baby snakes in 10s that I'm going to rearrange to stack so I can put a 90g with my bull or sumatran python, a dekay's brown snake, and 4 anole lizards. They don't even compare to the 4 dogs with the smallest by a lot being 30lbs. I do occasionally have to wake up and yell at the malamute puppy to stop barking at everyone in an attempt to play at 4am.

Hahaha! I shouldn't laugh but that's funny! I don't feel so bad then for having most of the snakes in my room. We want to venture into reptiles, and eventually get a dog (I love malamutes and huskies so much!). You have a full zoo. That's so awesome!

[akane]

I am used to living in one room besides a kitchen and bathroom and growing up my bathroom was connected to my room so when I had back issues and we both hadn't felt like putting much money into squishy furniture in our lives I asked myself why we should conform to everyone else. We turned the huge "dining room" into the bedroom so I could lay on the bed as necessary without being locked away in a small room and it has large sliding pocket doors that open up nearly the entire end to the livingroom where my husband has his computer. Then we just lined down the walls with book shelves and our animals. My fish tanks are at the end of the livingroom, the reptiles down one side, the birds and chinchillas to one side... Then we just turned one bedroom into a cat area since we are both mildly allergic so we confine them part of the time and the former master bedroom has my bigger snakes and aquariums with the gerbils and rats because we are also mildly allergic to some rodents. Can't keep mice at all. The chinchillas are good and the gerbils aren't bad except for the number I have working on 2 separate color groups when you can only keep gerbils in single pairs for breeding. Every female needs a male and their own cage. I had them in the entryway but curious cats collapsed my stand system so it was safer and more efficient to put them all up in a bedroom with a closed door most of the time.

[GyGbeetle]

Ok, what if I got an Animal Plastics terrestrial cage? They look like they hold in moisture much better than the aquariums with the netted tops, and they provide built in belly heat at an additional cost? We were thinking about switching the big guys to AP as their needs got bigger anyways.

One of my cats decided to walk across our low boy tank, and collapsed the mesh on the top. We had to rebuild the mesh, and the frame is all bent now. Cats are evil.

[SnoopySnake]

Ok, what if I got an Animal Plastics terrestrial cage? They look like they hold in moisture much better than the aquariums with the netted tops, and they provide built in belly heat at an additional cost? We were thinking about switching the big guys to AP as their needs got bigger anyways.

One of my cats decided to walk across our low boy tank, and collapsed the mesh on the top. We had to rebuild the mesh, and the frame is all bent now. Cats are evil.

AP cages would be perfectly fine-much better for a CRB or BRB than an aquarium. I've made screen lids work for my rainbow boas but it's a massive pain. Personally I'd go with a T5 at the least, my colombians do a fair bit of climbing so the height would be a bonus BUT that being said, the T10's are on sale for cheaper and would be even better

[GyGbeetle]

AP cages would be perfectly fine-much better for a CRB or BRB than an aquarium. I've made screen lids work for my rainbow boas but it's a massive pain. Personally I'd go with a T5 at the least, my colombians do a fair bit of climbing so the height would be a bonus BUT that being said, the T10's are on sale for cheaper and would be even better

Can they handle larger cages? Should I get an arboreal cage instead?

Dumb question, but how big can these babies get? I can probably google it, but I like hearing from keepers instead. Google searches are all over the place when I search up snake stuff for anything

[SnoopySnake]

Sure they could handle larger, although I wouldn't go for an arboreal cage. They tend to climb if they can but they do still spend most of their time on the ground. If the snake is a baby you will just have to provide A LOT of cover (fake plants, hides, branches ect). They stay pretty small, 4-5 ft typically. My pair will be 4 in June and are only just over 4 ft, my female is somewhere around 1000 grams and my male is between 800-900.

I'll try to get some photos today with something for size reference as they just ate...don't want to bother them too much lol

[GyGbeetle]

Sure they could handle larger, although I wouldn't go for an arboreal cage. They tend to climb if they can but they do still spend most of their time on the ground. If the snake is a baby you will just have to provide A LOT of cover (fake plants, hides, branches ect). They stay pretty small, 4-5 ft typically. My pair will be 4 in June and are only just over 4 ft, my female is somewhere around 1000 grams and my male is between 800-900.

I'll try to get some photos today with something for size reference as they just ate...don't want to bother them too much lol

Sounds good. She's not a baby. She's been in this shop since June of last year at a minimum, because we started going in there since June of last year and there she was. Was told that they are nippy, and when I held her, she wrapped around my neck, and then went into my purse. When I bought the Woma from them back in November, and not her, I felt so guilty.... she's not the mainstream snake, which is why I think people are so put off. She's not all colourful like some others. She's really healthy (I'm assuming it's a she; it could be a he), so that's not the reason.

I'm going to talk to the owner hopefully this week and see if I can buy her and keep her there until I get her enclosure and everything setup, and we pull Hope out of quarantine. Hope's been in quarantine now for a week less than 2 months.

[SnoopySnake]

Oh ok. Colombians aren't very colorful, they are much more vibrant as babies and tend to turn a more solid brown color as they age. Brazilians are much more colorful and tend to get a bit bigger also. As far as being nippy.....I've only been bitten by my pair maybe 3 times total in the time I've had them, all of the bites being 100% my fault, I have heard of other people's being a bit grumpy but typically it's the younger ones who are nippy

[SnoopySnake]

Ok, here are my two. Index card is 3"x5", the male wasn't wanting to cooperate. They will be 4 years old around May

Female
http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/ac317/SnoopySnake/DSC08328_1_zpsdnzzorjw.png

Male
http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/ac317/SnoopySnake/DSC08334_zpszhmu6hba.png

[GyGbeetle]

Hahhaha! Your male was having none of it! They are so pretty.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to wait. Our little mite infestation isn't going away. And I don't feel comfortable bringing in another baby by choice until we have a good handle on it. I'm still going to talk to the owner and see if he'll give her 2 weeks at his store so I can eradicate the mites. No one is getting pulled out of quarantine until the mites are GONE!

[SnoopySnake]

Thanks, they hold a special place in my heart :) not the prettiest but they're so calm and tolerant.

How are you treating the mites? Sorry you're dealing with that, hope to never go through that again

[GyGbeetle]

Started with PAM for the tank and JurassiMite on the animals. Switched to Nix for everything. Now going back to PAM for the one tank and Nix for all other tanks and on all the animals. It's been 2 months. We've brought in 2 rescues during that time, both are in quarantine, both without mites (thankfully), but I can't in good conscious bring in another snake into quarantine right now. Unless I quarantine at a friend's house, which isn't fair. So I'll wait and pray the mites are gone soon.

[SnoopySnake]

Started with PAM for the tank and JurassiMite on the animals. Switched to Nix for everything. Now going back to PAM for the one tank and Nix for all other tanks and on all the animals. It's been 2 months. We've brought in 2 rescues during that time, both are in quarantine, both without mites (thankfully), but I can't in good conscious bring in another snake into quarantine right now. Unless I quarantine at a friend's house, which isn't fair. So I'll wait and pray the mites are gone soon.

How long do you go in between treatments? I found I had to treat about every 5 days and I would also spray around the cages and the floor of the room. Mites creep me out

[GyGbeetle]

How long do you go in between treatments? I found I had to treat about every 5 days and I would also spray around the cages and the floor of the room. Mites creep me out

For the PAM, we treat the tanks every 2 weeks. For Nix, we were treating once a week, but we treated the infected tank yesterday, which was 3 days after our last treatment.

JurassiMite is relatively safe for snakes, so we treat the affected snakes daily, or as frequently as we can. With Nix, we will only spray the snakes once a week; I'm worried, even with the dilution, about over-exposing them to the pesticide in Nix.

We're going to buy PAM again this weekend (our pet store is like an hour away, so suffering through traffic during the week with 3 kids isn't my idea of a good time. We'll wait for the weekend), and only plan to treat the affected tank with PAM. Everyone else will continue with Nix.

I just don't know how much longer I can keep this up. We're going on our second true full month of treatments. I want the CRB, so I'm going to see what can be done. I've already resolved to picking her up. Now I just need to make this a mite-free home first.

[GyGbeetle]

We spray around the cages, on the cats, the windows, the plastic containers the tanks are sitting on, the carpet, anything we can think of. It's just this one tank. It's seriously frustrating to have it just be one tank, and we don't even see a lot like I'd expect. If we had an infestation, why aren't they in all the tanks, or why don't we see a lot? Where the heck are these suckers living while we're trying to kill them?????

[Aaron_S]

We spray around the cages, on the cats, the windows, the plastic containers the tanks are sitting on, the carpet, anything we can think of. It's just this one tank. It's seriously frustrating to have it just be one tank, and we don't even see a lot like I'd expect. If we had an infestation, why aren't they in all the tanks, or why don't we see a lot? Where the heck are these suckers living while we're trying to kill them?????

What is inside that tank? You may want to just replace the tank and all the furnishings inside it.

[SnoopySnake]

What is inside that tank? You may want to just replace the tank and all the furnishings inside it.

^^^^ yeah, I'm curious what might be causing that, do you have photos of the tank and everything that stays in it?

[Scubadiver59]

Did anyone think about closing the tank inside a LARGE plastic bag, or just seal it up with some kind of saranwrap-like wrapping, and then fogging the inside of the bag and sealing it up with tape and letting it sit for a while.

Just a thought...

[GyGbeetle]

Please don't laugh at my horrible picture taking, and the horrible tank setup. They are all on plastic bins with the tops left off, since we have UTH, and found if we sat the tanks on plastic bins with the lids on, the heating element overheated.

So this tank typically has a plastic hide, and a plastic water bowl, and that's pretty much it. We've been wanting to change up EVERYONE'S setup since Christmas, but with mites, we're not doing anything. So they have been on paper towels now since January. It's all glass, with the mesh tops. Standard aquarium type tank. It came with our first snake, Fang. Fang is in an 80 gallon tank now, and we switched the baby boa (almost a year old now) to this tank.

There was paper on half of the lid, to help insulate humidity until we transitioned to new tanks (we're looking at animal plastics to convert over the next year), which I pulled off last night, and sprayed the heck out of everything with Nix.

Those plastic bins get treated along with the tanks. It's a 2-3 hour process to do the entire room and all the snakes, but it definitely gets done.

[Andy_G]

Are you treating the bottom of the tanks as well?

[GyGbeetle]

Are you treating the bottom of the tanks as well?

everything gets sprayed. to the point where I'm now worried the UTH units will need to be replaced.

the only thing we haven't done is remove the UTH, spray, and then put the units back on.

My husband is now considering getting a hot strip and placing it in the tank, which will guarantee to eliminate mites and their eggs within 3 days. I'm against it; it's an industrial pesticide that will kill a snake within an hour of contact, and can only be handled wearing gloves. Even putting the strip in a plastic container is no guarantee that the animal won't become exposed to the pesticide carried on the strip.

[Skipper7]

I have no experience with mites or snakes really, so take my advice for what its worth.

It seems to me like Nix just isn't strong enough to do the job for you. Perhaps you should try something else? Something stronger? Even if just something stronger in the room or around the tanks.

I know F10 has a mite product. I don't know much about it, but their products are generally good.

[GyGbeetle]

I have no experience with mites or snakes really, so take my advice for what its worth.

It seems to me like Nix just isn't strong enough to do the job for you. Perhaps you should try something else? Something stronger? Even if just something stronger in the room or around the tanks.

I know F10 has a mite product. I don't know much about it, but their products are generally good.

This is also my thought. Provent-a-mite is hella strong, and toxic to snakes. We are going to blast the tank this weekend and treat the snakes with JurassiMite. PAM should only be used every 2 weeks, which is what we're going to do. And pray. Lots and lots of prayer

[GyGbeetle]

Did anyone think about closing the tank inside a LARGE plastic bag, or just seal it up with some kind of saranwrap-like wrapping, and then fogging the inside of the bag and sealing it up with tape and letting it sit for a while.

Just a thought...

Mites get up under the scales of the snakes and lay eggs. They also deposit eggs in corners of the tanks. I'd have to wrap the snakes up too, which isn't going to help. Plus, to get any kind of effect, would probably have to tie up the enclosures for a minimum of 24 hours; where would the snakes go?

[Andy_G]

everything gets sprayed. to the point where I'm now worried the UTH units will need to be replaced.

the only thing we haven't done is remove the UTH, spray, and then put the units back on.

My husband is now considering getting a hot strip and placing it in the tank, which will guarantee to eliminate mites and their eggs within 3 days. I'm against it; it's an industrial pesticide that will kill a snake within an hour of contact, and can only be handled wearing gloves. Even putting the strip in a plastic container is no guarantee that the animal won't become exposed to the pesticide carried on the strip.

That sounds like the vapona (no pest strip) I was talking about previously...which covers everything with a pesticide vapour. Dichlorvos is the active ingredient. If you're going to use that, don't be surprised if some snakes or even non-reptiles show signs of toxicity due to exposure. Snakes can and do die from this stuff.

[GyGbeetle]

That sounds like the vapona (no pest strip) I was talking about previously...which covers everything with a pesticide vapour. Dichlorvos is the active ingredient. If you're going to use that, don't be surprised if some snakes or even non-reptiles show signs of toxicity due to exposure. Snakes can and do die from this stuff.

After what I went through with our Woma, I am going to veto this. I cannot emotionally afford to have another snake get sick or pass away. I'd rather just keep doing the mite treatments for the rest of their lives than go through that again. And here was only a small amount of toxicity

[Scubadiver59]

Rather obvious you can't put the snakes in there...you'd have to put them in something else, like a large container, i.e. rubbermaid, and then fog the old viv. With the rubbermaid container there are fewer nooks and crannies for the mites to hide while you treat the snake and it's easily disinfected; and, a rubbermaid container is a heck of a light lighter than any glass or PVC viv. In fact, you could even dispose of it due to the low cost when your done.

Just trying to stimulate an alternative idea or two to your problem, not kill your pets! :rolleyes:

Mites get up under the scales of the snakes and lay eggs. They also deposit eggs in corners of the tanks. I'd have to wrap the snakes up too, which isn't going to help. Plus, to get any kind of effect, would probably have to tie up the enclosures for a minimum of 24 hours; where would the snakes go?

[GyGbeetle]

Rather obvious you can't put the snakes in there...you'd have to put them in something else, like a large container, i.e. rubbermaid, and then fog the old viv. With the rubbermaid container there are fewer nooks and crannies for the mites to hide while you treat the snake and it's easily disinfected; and, a rubbermaid container is a heck of a light lighter than any glass or PVC viv. In fact, you could even dispose of it due to the low cost when your done.

Just trying to stimulate an alternative idea or two to your problem, not kill your pets! :rolleyes:

They're my babies! Not pets! hahaha. It was a good thought; it's something that I was bouncing around some time ago as well. But I spoke with some folks with more experience, and they said PAM is my best option. And then here, Nix was the alternative

[SnoopySnake]

I would keep up with the NIX every 4-5 days and keep treating with PAM as directed. When I was treating for mites I would spray the snakes down with the NIX, just not enough for then to be able to drink any. It is weird that the problem is still there...

[GyGbeetle]

I would keep up with the NIX every 4-5 days and keep treating with PAM as directed. When I was treating for mites I would spray the snakes down with the NIX, just not enough for then to be able to drink any. It is weird that the problem is still there...

Weird is an understatement.

Well I spoke with the owner of "our" pet shop and the CRB is mine. He's gonna hang on to her while we eradicate the mites. He's lending us bins and mentoring us on what to do to get rid of them. I'm excited. Not about the mites, and snake #13. I need to come up with an ultra awesome name that isn't Princess Unicorn or Queen Fluffypants. I don't know why no one likes those names

[afsgr88]

Queen Fluffypants ftw! xD

[GyGbeetle]

Queen Fluffypants ftw! xD

My husband said absolutely not, under any circumstance. :( but it's such a cute name. The kids all said they'd disown me. I think everyone is still upset about the Edward and Bella names (Twilight movies)

[afsgr88]

My husband said absolutely not, under any circumstance. :( but it's such a cute name. The kids all said they'd disown me. I think everyone is still upset about the Edward and Bella names (Twilight movies)

Well....I will agree with everyone when it comes to those Twilight movies... :rolleyes: But I love Queen Fluffypants, so I am rooting for that :D

[SnoopySnake]

Glad they will hold onto it for you :) hope your mite problem is sorted soon. As far as names go....can't really help you there lol. I have a snake named Albert and my geckos are new gecko, little gecko and big gecko lol

[GyGbeetle]

Glad they will hold onto it for you :) hope your mite problem is sorted soon. As far as names go....can't really help you there lol. I have a snake named Albert and my geckos are new gecko, little gecko and big gecko lol

Hahahaha! That's cute though. "And this is New Snake. This is Jerk Snake. She over there is Psycho Snake, aka Cray Cray"

[Aaron_S]

Please don't laugh at my horrible picture taking, and the horrible tank setup. They are all on plastic bins with the tops left off, since we have UTH, and found if we sat the tanks on plastic bins with the lids on, the heating element overheated.

So this tank typically has a plastic hide, and a plastic water bowl, and that's pretty much it. We've been wanting to change up EVERYONE'S setup since Christmas, but with mites, we're not doing anything. So they have been on paper towels now since January. It's all glass, with the mesh tops. Standard aquarium type tank. It came with our first snake, Fang. Fang is in an 80 gallon tank now, and we switched the baby boa (almost a year old now) to this tank.

There was paper on half of the lid, to help insulate humidity until we transitioned to new tanks (we're looking at animal plastics to convert over the next year), which I pulled off last night, and sprayed the heck out of everything with Nix.

Those plastic bins get treated along with the tanks. It's a 2-3 hour process to do the entire room and all the snakes, but it definitely gets done.

It looks like there's a towel in the tank to the left. Do you wash/treat those as well?

This is also my thought. Provent-a-mite is hella strong, and toxic to snakes. We are going to blast the tank this weekend and treat the snakes with JurassiMite. PAM should only be used every 2 weeks, which is what we're going to do. And pray. Lots and lots of prayer

PAM and Nix have the same active ingredient (Permethrin). One isn't stronger than the other unless you're using more of the same active ingredient (Which will likely cause toxicity issues in your animals). There's a reason why nix gets diluted.

Your tanks look fine, your bins underneath look fine and easy to spray. I am at a loss on why you still have mites.

I'd spray my animals with nix, the enclosures including the clean paper towel, everything and leave it. I never wipe anything down or wipe it off. I replace the water dishes 24 hours later (after washing them in the sink/drying. I use stainless steel bowls.)

I then would do it again 7 days later and then again 7 days after that. It should have killed everything at that point.

[GyGbeetle]

It looks like there's a towel in the tank to the left. Do you wash/treat those as well?



PAM and Nix have the same active ingredient (Permethrin). One isn't stronger than the other unless you're using more of the same active ingredient (Which will likely cause toxicity issues in your animals). There's a reason why nix gets diluted.

Your tanks look fine, your bins underneath look fine and easy to spray. I am at a loss on why you still have mites.

I'd spray my animals with nix, the enclosures including the clean paper towel, everything and leave it. I never wipe anything down or wipe it off. I replace the water dishes 24 hours later (after washing them in the sink/drying. I use stainless steel bowls.)

I then would do it again 7 days later and then again 7 days after that. It should have killed everything at that point.

The towel gets cleaned about every 2 days. 2 of our snakes had some issues with paper towels (they tore the towels to shreds and refused to sit on top of it).

We have NOT been treating the paper towels, though. So we will be doing that moving forward. But everything else; I just don't get it.

And we will only see ONE bug every 2-3 weeks. ONE. Like what the hell Mother Nature? Only 1 in only 1 tank. We check several times daily in ALL tanks and see no mites. And just out of randomness one will drop out of thin air into this one tank. Just when we think we've picked it. It's like they are purposefully messing with us. "Oh, you thought you were done? Hahahaha just kidding!!!"

[Aaron_S]

Are you sure that 1 mite is a snake mite at that time then?

[GyGbeetle]

Are you sure that 1 mite is a snake mite at that time then?

No. But I'm not an entomologist, and have no way of "seeing" these things, even with a magnifying glass. What else could they be? They smoosh like mites.

[SnoopySnake]

Can you try to get photos next time you see one? It seems really odd that there would only be one or two every so often, doesn't make much sense.

[SnoopySnake]

Can you check all of the other snakes? Check for lifted scales ect. They may be really hard to see in the retics and burm if they're a good size, even the boas too.

[GyGbeetle]

Can you check all of the other snakes? Check for lifted scales ect. They may be really hard to see in the retics and burm if they're a good size, even the boas too.

My husband checks every day. No lifted scales. The boas are hard because they have freckles. But he knows how to look for those lifted scales, and we check the vents and eyes/nose. We have an albino burm and albino lavendar retic, so those are easy to see. And the paper towels. We've had them on paper towels for nearly 2 months. Nothing in the water, nothing on the towels. Nothing. I will do my best to take a pic if we see one again. My picture taking skills suck. Admitedly we found 2 last time; one mysteriously showed up in the affected tank, and another in the water while soaking her.

So here's another thing. We soaked her again last night. She pooped and urated in the water, we cleaned it all out, soaked her in fresh water, and found a bug. In the water. With her. It was not a mite. I asked my husband if he's sure what he saw was a mite. The one he found in the water the other day looked different than what was in the tank; it had a white swirly pattern on its back.

I do feel like Mother Nature is messing with me

[GyGbeetle]

Put a deposit down today. The store has no problem keeping her while we kill the mites; in fact the store owner is offering us supplies and mentoring us on eradicating the pests. Got to hold her and interact with her today at the store for a solid 2 hours. She tried to make me a thief today by climbing into my purse ��

Now for the name. I am really liking Queen Fluffypants. I have no idea why. My husband rolls his eyes at me, and the kids look away in disgust still. She's such a sweet snake, has such a good temperament .... I guess I have another 2 weeks (hope to all that is good in this world that in 2 weeks the mites are finally gone) to decide on a name

[GyGbeetle]

Picked her up tonight. Her name is Gaia, which is the Greek goddess of earth. I feel like it's fitting given her temperament and her beautiful colouring. I will post pics as soon as I can

[Andy_G]

Glad you got rid of the mites finally.

[GyGbeetle]

Glad you got rid of the mites finally.

For now. I'm not confident they won't come back. And we're going to be working some trade shows coming up. So I'm terrified they'll come back.

Looking forward to seeing everyone back on substrate again though

[whistlepig]

Glad you finally got rid of them (mites). Sounded like a huge pain, hope you can keep them from coming back.