confused

[cristine]

A pet shop owner is now telling me that the little black bugs on my snake could not be mites because the bugs are too big and mites are hard to see. I am about ready to say the heck with all their ideas and take my snake to the vet. I do not want to mess with his life. :bugged:

[cheech]

vets will know more than a petstore worker.Chances are your local petshop worker has'nt gone to school for animal care.

[Ben_Renick]

Mites can come in all different sizes, in most cases it is mites. Some mites can be small enough you barely even see them and some can be large enough that you could pop them in between your fingers... Just letting you know :)
~Ben

[sc00t]

yea sounds like mites for sure you just have to make sure ur cages are cleaned out totally and clean ur snake u can noramlly get good mite cleaners at petstores

[gonesnakee]

First determine if they are mites. are they attached to the snake, especially in the eye & face area? when you squish them is it red like blood? Mites are parasites & feed off of your snakes blood. Run a search of this site for Nix Snake Treatment for Mites. NIX is a creme rinse for head lice in people & when mixed with a gallon of distilled water & used in a spray bottle works very effectively not only killing all the mites, but all their eggs as well. The crap they sell at the petstore is well... crap, look who is selling it to you for starters & how educated they are. After all the snake with the mites probably came from them right? NIX all the way for mites & as a preventative measure for all new specimens along with proper quarantine. Mark

[BOA68]

I dont like using anything that you have to put directly on the snake. For starters chemicals are chemicals and they arent good when applied directly. On top of that Nix is made for people not snakes. Would u take your dogs medication for a cold? No. just like Nix isnt made for snakes. Prevent-A-Mite is a great mite remedy that contains chemicals but is not applied directly to the snake. Clean the enclosure out very good and then spray the substrate extremely lightly with Prevent-A-Mite. Let it dry until all fumes are gone. The residue from the spray works for weeks to kill any mites that crawl off the snake or any eggs that are layed in the substrate. A bath or two in plain luke warm water will kill off the mites on the snake itself. Any leftovers will die within a week or two because thats there lifespan and they wont be able to reproduce because of the prevent-a-mite. My vet recommended it and said that it is perfectly safe.(he is a top reptile specialist in my area). just my 2cents

[gonesnakee]

NIX's active ingredient kills arachnoids & their eggs irreguardless of if they are parasitic or not or what their host is or isn't. Hate to break it to ya but anything that Kills mites & their eggs has an active ingredient (ie:chemical) what do you think kills them LOL. The residue left behind from them is a chemical, the fumes it puts off are chemical fumes. Prevent a mite etc. don't work worth crap anyway. Plus the snake has to be treated in order to relieve it of its parasitic pests you can't just treat the cage & expect them to go away LOL. You especially want all the little bloodsuckers off of your snake ASAP not leave them to have their fill & die of old age LOL. Many "chemicals" as you put it are used for a wide variety of both human & animal applications depending on their active ingredient or "chemical". As far as it goes a flea collar would work too, but the fumes from it would probably make your snake sick. Nix when used properly is 1000% effective & safe. The crap they overcharge you for at the petstore may be safe (?) but is far from effective, might as well use water. Futhermore the substrate is to be thrown out (I hope thats what you meant?) & papertowel should be used not substrate, you do not keep substrate in the cage & treat it LOL you toss it out & fully sanitize the cage & then spray it down with NIX & put in "uninfested substrate" IE: papertowel not a bunch of shavings. A bath in water will drown some mites yes, but all the mites in the nose & pit areas of Boids & under their scales will survive as they are usually in air pockets. NIX treatment immediately kills all the mites on the specimen as well as all of them in the cage & their eggs. If you are serious about getting rid of them right away & permenantly NIX is the only way to go. I have tried other methods in the past such as the petstore remedies & in the end it was NIX that worked, the others were a waste of time & $. Save your 2 cents & put it towards a bottle of NIX. :) Mark
P.S. I use it on all new aquistions as part of a effective quarantine as do all the other top breeders I know. When dealing with large expensive collections one doesn't mess around with Mickey Mouse remedies they use one that works. :thumbsup:

[BOA68]

Well first off if u read the post i said chemicals that are applied directly to the animal. The residue from provent a mite is perfectly safe and cannot be ingested by the snake as nix can be when sprayed in the snakes face or when dumb people soak them in a nix/water cocktail. And the fumes from provent a mite are gone when it dries, hence me saying wait till the fumes r gone. Second paper towels are a substrate. Substrate would be anything used to line the bottom of an enclosure, not just shavings. On top of that i wouldnt recommend using anything other than papertowels as a substate all the time even if ur snake doesn't have mites. Also soaking a snake is a perfectly fine way to get rid of mites on the snakes body and the most natural.

[gonesnakee]

All sounds good, I always keep all mine except the larger enclosures with shop towels. In reguards to applying directly to the animal NIX is safe enough to do so (in the diluted solution), Prevent-a-mite is not ;) Must note that yes NIX can be harmfull if not used PROPERLY just like every other treatment (thats why I made sure to metion the gallon of H2O for dilution in case they didn't seek all the info first). We are not talking long term exposure to it here. Thats why I was stressing substrate or lack of as most folks think substrate as shavings etc. not everyones like us using towels. As most folks with larger Boids that get mites & don't go hardcore & just be done with them, are always dealing with outbreaks. How many times ya hear "got mites again" or "mites are back" thats why I recommend a proven 1 time solution, end story. Use for new aquistions as well & never get mites again. NIX still rules! Cheers Mark

[rrrrr]

Nix and PAM are both the same thing...permethrin. You guys are arguing over nothing. It's safe to apply (diluted) to humans and snakes. It's effective if used correctly. Many treatments for animals are found in human treatments as well.

Mix well 1 bottle of Nix creme rinse in a gallon of distilled water.
Fill a spray bottle.
Remove snake from cage.
Discard substrate
Spray all surfaces of cage,
Spray all surfaces of cage furniture
spray everything within a few feet of cage (walls floors etc)
Allow all to dry
Replace substrate (paper is best while treating for mites)
Replace all cage furniture EXCEPT water dish
Spray snake well
Replace snake in cage
24 hours later, rinse water dish well, refill and put in cage

After 10 days or so if you see any mites, repeat.

This cleared up my mite infestation in one treatment.
Put snake

[djc3674]

About 2 yrs ago my Hog Island boa had mites and at first I was reluctant to use Nix because of what I heard can happen. If diluted properly it will not have any ill affects. You can buy it in a Pharmacy (CVS, Eckerds etc). I have not had any mites on any of my snakes since.

[gonesnakee]

Exactly rrrrr, except I would not wait 10 days & repeat if I see them. I would go 7 & assume they are still there & do it all again just to be 100% sure. Most folks biggest mistake is to quit the treatment early only to find another major outbreak a few weeks later. Cheers Mark
P.S. must also note that during the period of the treatment replace the water daily, especially if the snake has soaked in it. Some people don't even keep water at all during treatment, but just offer it daily. I didn't realize that the same active ingredient is in PAM LOL (maybe it will work good then afterall) Also light breaks it down so be sure to keep your NIX MIX in a dark place & it will extend its shelf life. $12 for NIX makes 1 gallon & it lasts a long time if stored properly. I usually only mix around 1 L or quart at a time so a $12 bottle lasts even farther. What do they stick ya for a can of PAM? I'm sure NIX is cheaper in the long run. Cheers

[BOA68]

I think the PAM cost me like 19.99. But i only had to use it twice and that second application was precautionary. There is probably 20-30 uses per bottle of PAM depending on enclosure size. I think it is probably more cost effective to spend the extra few dollars on the PAM. Active permithin in PAM is .50% and NIX is 1.00% so when u dilute the nix it probably ends up being about the same % as PAM. The only thing that concerns me is that the PAM has a huge warning that says not to apply it directly to the snake and if its the same active ingredient as NIX i would assume it shouldn't be applied directly either, but to each his own. Whatever gets the job done when it comes to mites i guess.