And the count keeps rising.....

[Snakemanswife]

These two lovely ladies are rescues from someone my husband and I know. I thought I would be facing a divorce even asking him, but he said ok. The guy that had them only fed them a "big rat" once every 5 months. (Not the way we feed our snakes.) He has had them for two years. Their light went out "a few days ago". They were ice cold when I picked them up. Imagine the thoughts of everyone who saw me riding home with snakes all over my car. LOL:Wow: These two ladies make 10.

Medusa

http://i.imgur.com/VpPYThq.jpg

Athena

http://i.imgur.com/n7gBQxc.jpg

[Scubadiver59]

Good on you for taking them in...bravo!! :)

[dannybgoode]

Nice looking snakes. I'm not convinced they were only fed every 5 months as they look in good shape and don't forget that whilst every 5 months is too long between feeds pythons and boids don't do well on frequent feeding either (although as point of interest the larger constricting snakes have been documented eating just 1 or 2 very large meals a year. Snakes in the wild do abide by the 15% of body weight or just a but bigger that the snakes girth rule when it comes to prey size :) ).

Rule one though when introducing new snakes of questionable background into your collection is quarantine and a precautionary treatment for mites. They must be kept in a room that is separate from your other snakes for between 30 and 90 days with a thorough hand wash inbetween giving them and touching your other animals.

Treat for mites even if they doing show any signs as they may be carrying eggs.

[Albert Clark]

Grats, they do look pretty healthy from the pics. Quarantine is a very important procedure to follow to reduce the possibility of illnesses to your existing collection. And to identify any health issues with the new additions. Can't wait to see how they adjust.

[Snakemanswife]

Sorry it took so long to reply. 3 days of 13 hour days sucks. How do I treat for mites?

[Scubadiver59]

I haven't had them yet, but from all I've read...predatory mites is the answer. Personally, I will stay from sprays, etc. and rely on nature.

Sorry it took so long to reply. 3 days of 13 hour days sucks. How do I treat for mites?

[dannybgoode]

In quarantine I blast them with spray as a precautionary measure whether the show signs of them or not. I use Habistat Callingtons- don't know if you can get it over there but you'll have an equivalent. Treat once, wait a week and then treat again.

If I do get an outbreak in my vivs then it'll be predatory mites as all my vivs are at least somewhat bioactive and anything else would kill the cuc.

[TRD]

In quarantine I blast them with spray as a precautionary measure whether the show signs of them or not. I use Habistat Callingtons- don't know if you can get it over there but you'll have an equivalent. Treat once, wait a week and then treat again.

If I do get an outbreak in my vivs then it'll be predatory mites as all my vivs are at least somewhat bioactive and anything else would kill the cuc.

I use Frontline for that... using the spray with which I make a paper towel damp and rub over the full length of the snake, using a little piece of cotton-stick for the facial parts, let it dry for a few minutes, then just put the snake in a tub for 24 hours after treatment without access to water. Won't kill off your cuc (at least not beyond repair) and kills off snake mites in rapid fashion. Besides, 1 treatment is enough. The good thing is that it's one of the only products that can go on the animals and is actually effective and works for 45-90 days, enough to break the snake mite cycle.

[dannybgoode]

I use Frontline for that... using the spray with which I make a paper towel damp and rub over the full length of the snake, using a little piece of cotton-stick for the facial parts, let it dry for a few minutes, then just put the snake in a tub for 24 hours after treatment without access to water. Won't kill off your cuc (at least not beyond repair) and kills off snake mites in rapid fashion. Besides, 1 treatment is enough. The good thing is that it's one of the only products that can go on the animals and is actually effective and works for 45-90 days, enough to break the snake mite cycle..

My favourite snake store uses exactly this method...

[TRD]

Can understand, it's really cheap and effective. A bottle with 100 ml Frontline costs about € 20, you can use it for many many years and it's enough to treat a whole lot of snakes. Now just pray to god they won't change the formula so that it becomes unsuitable for reptiles :)

[Snakemanswife]

Which type of Frontline? All I have ever seen is for dogs/cats.

[dannybgoode]

Yes the cat one. Spray on to sponge and wipe the length of the snake and as trd has mentioned remove the water for at least 24 hours (I personally remove for the 48 hrs).

[TRD]

Yes exactly, the normal Frontline you have for dogs and cats...

http://www.perrosgatosymas.es/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/f/r/frontline_spray_100ml.jpg

Only need to take care you do not put it on the eyes or in the mouth, and let it dry out before putting the animal back (fumes are toxic, you can clearly smell it on the animal if it's not dry yet). And of course you need a thin layer of it... do not overdo it/soak the animal. I use about 1 pump from that bottle for each 30cm/foot of snake, depending of course on the girth of the animal, using a sponge or other medium (paper towel or the rubber glove itself) to put it on the snake far less than 1 pump/30cm is effectively put on the animal.. I don't dilute it. DO NOT SPRAY DIRECTLY ON THE SNAKE -- it gets on too thick and there's a risk you hit the mouth/eyes or the animal breathes that stuff in!! Use common sense. I've used it on adults and 2 months old colubrids with no ill effects.

Of course wear rubber gloves when you work with that stuff. Once it's dry you can't wash it off with water, so you don't want to get that stuff on your hands and eat. For the same reason you don't place a water bowl with the snake right after applying it. Snakes that have mites will soak, and drink a lot of water. If they soak and Frontline gets into the water because it hasn't 100% dried out yet, and they drink it, it's not good.

[Scubadiver59]

Too many negatives, gotchas, warnings, etc. that can either kill me or the snake...I'll stick with predatory mites when the time comes.

Yes exactly, the normal Frontline you have for dogs and cats...

Only need to take care you do not put it on the eyes or in the mouth, and let it dry out before putting the animal back (fumes are toxic, you can clearly smell it on the animal if it's not dry yet). And of course you need a thin layer of it... do not overdo it/soak the animal. I use about 1 pump from that bottle for each 30cm/foot of snake, depending of course on the girth of the animal, using a sponge or other medium (paper towel or the rubber glove itself) to put it on the snake far less than 1 pump/30cm is effectively put on the animal.. I don't dilute it. DO NOT SPRAY DIRECTLY ON THE SNAKE -- it gets on too thick and there's a risk you hit the mouth/eyes or the animal breathes that stuff in!! Use common sense. I've used it on adults and 2 months old colubrids with no ill effects.

Of course wear rubber gloves when you work with that stuff. Once it's dry you can't wash it off with water, so you don't want to get that stuff on your hands and eat. For the same reason you don't place a water bowl with the snake right after applying it. Snakes that have mites will soak, and drink a lot of water. If they soak and Frontline gets into the water because it hasn't 100% dried out yet, and they drink it, it's not good.

[dannybgoode]

It's perfectly safe if you do it properly. I'd use predatory mites every time to take out and infestation but as a standard precaution on any incoming snake it's this or Callingtons for me as it'd rather not deal eurgh an outbreak if I can at all avoid it.

[TRD]

It won't kill you or the snake. Mites aren't the end of the world, it's pretty normal treatment with humans, cats, dogs, rodents, reptiles, birds, etc, etc. It's normal precaution that if you deal with something that kills something else, you wear gloves, eye protection, skin protection, and you don't drink the stuff. You won't get anything from taking in some Frontline into your mouth, just it should be avoided as a normal precaution. You deal with manufacturers here that have liability, so they have to give you those instructions as if they don't, and you drink it, and you get sick - they have a lawsuit. It's simple as that.

People do it all the time, just think about cleaning your toilet with some good old chlorine, or dealing with other chemicals. Read a bottle on what you should do to work with toilet cleaner to kill off those 'nasty nasty germs' ... man you almost have to wear a full body suit according to the bottle ;)

There's a difference between normal precautions, and dealing with something that can really harm your animal. The most used anti mite chemical used for reptiles, Provent-a-mite, will right out kill your animal if not used properly. That stuff is like nuking a country to kill a fly. Way over the top. Frontline is infinitely safer for the animal, and you.

Predatory mites are nice, but they don't always succeed to kill off a mite infestation. Mites lay eggs and have quite a long life cycle (21-28 days). Predatory mites don't always survive that long or at all in the environment you keep your snake in. It's a good biological weapon, but once you have mites in 5+ enclosures with snakes, you'll certainly will feel the drawback of that approach. Besides, predatory mites will also attack your CUC when used in a bio-active tank (especially soil mites and springtails)

Those anti-mite things that you can buy at the petshop, which are made for reptiles, are sooo light and ineffective, you could just as well drop your money out of the window. It even says quite well politically worded on the bottle (f.e. Zoomed Mite-Off) that it will 'control the mite infestation' ... yep, it controls it, it doesn't get any worse, but it doesn't go away either. Useless.

I'm not trying to scare you off. But it is what it is. Mites should be dealt with appropriately as they can be a real pain in the behind once they establish en masse. I treat all snakes before they go into a quarantine with Frontline, regardless where they come from or whether or not I see mites on them. I've been there once having a mite infestation from a single snake that came from a respectable breeder (which -and that's my fault- I didn't properly quarantine). Never again. 1 treatment with that stuff so far guaranteed me a mite-free existence.