Fighting mites with mites????

[HetForHuman]

I just found this site on another forum and thought you guys might want to have a look at it, it is fairly interesting, anyone ever try this?

http://coloherp.org/cb-news/Vol-28/cbn-0101/SnakeMites.html

[sapphire_moon]

I've heard of this......But I don't think I would do it unless pushed to extreme measures......I've never tried it on my snakes though.

[Wuntu Menny]

I've heard of the method too, but I've also heard that it takes an extremely long time and isn't always 100% in the end. I can't imagine how stressful it would be to the animal to have the mite population in it's enclosure double or triple during treatment.

WM

[Katt]

We have tried this method, and it does work. It is better if you keep your snakes on a soil type substrate so the predatory mites can multiple. This is an excellent alternative to mite control for invert keepers who wish to not lose their collection due to noxious fumes. We had purchased our mites from a biological company, WestGro, however, I believe you can order them from garden centres.

[HetForHuman]

Excellent, thanx for the replies.

Katt, how long did it seem to take from the time you introduced the mites to the time where you did'nt actually see anymore at all?

And also what types of snakes were in the enclosure where you were using the mites?

[Katt]

Rubbermaids and tanks. We did not totally eradicat the mites b/c we had newspaper in our enclosures andd thus some of the mites didn't get into some. However, they were pretty effective regardless and I think it took two weeks or so for the mites to disappear.

[mykee]

That was an interesting article. I myself do not own anything that this method would be a primary attack with, but going back to basics seems to work in nature.

[Crotalus75]

I have used predatory mites as biological control in the past with very good success. I use them to control harmful mites on my invertebrates such as tarantulas and scorpions. Pesticides that I use with reptiles would likely kill my invertebrate specimens along with the mites.

[ranmasatome]

Hmm...so these pred. mites just die after the other mites are gone? i mean are they just specialist on eating other mite species? just wondering if it was possible that when these mites escape that they can go onto other animals like hamsters or mice. etc.

[Crotalus75]

These mites are specialists and prey on other mites. Once all of the target mites are gone they will eventually die off too. They are not a harmful species and would not be capable of infecting other organisms.

[MouseKilla]

I say whatever kills the little bastards is a good thing. I hate snake mites!

[Lisa]

sounds pretty cool, though the mite eating mites are not just disappearing, they're slowly starving to death after they've eradicated the mite problem.