maybe mites?

[Freebody]

i just went upstairs and cleaned out all my snake just now, but in my adult jags cage i seen what looked like 20 dead mites in him water tub, i took him out inspected him, pet him for a good 15 min and didnt feel any mite or see anything on my hands, checked his cage whiped it all down like i did all the others didnt see anything ?? should i rub some oil on him or get some mite treatment or just keep checking him a couple time a day to make sure i dont see anything? i didnt see anything in any cage or even his cage for that matter, just what looked like mite in his water tub, could have even been fleas they were rather large for mites, actually to be honest they were rather small flea size vrs a tiny mite, but no fleas in my house either, all hard wood and never seen a flea here before and nothing on my dogs or the ferret. anyone had somthing strange like this happen?

[infernalis]

Little bugs of any kind tend to flip us out...... They do me anyways.

[Freebody]

ya same, as soon as i seen little black things in the water my heart almost skipped a beat, and i went into panic search mode.

[Lankyrob]

I had similar situation not long after switching to repti bark - turned out to be wood mites - what substrate you using?

[Freebody]

i just use old news paper, i had problems with respiritory with the aspen i used up until about 8 months back, i just went and watched him chilling in his cage for like another 15-20 min and didnt see anything crawling on him and hes coiled up, so some of his scales are stretched in places so i got a real good view and didnt see anything. im really thinking its nothing but ill keep watching Very closely.

[Lankyrob]

will keep fingers and toes crossed for you!!

[Freebody]

thanks bro :)

[marvelfreak]

I give it a treatment just to be safe. One way to tell if it's mites is smash one between your fingers. If you see blood it's most likely mites.

[Freebody]

i think it might have been a fruit fly or somthing i noticed a couple upstairs trying to eat my gecko's food, just went back up stair and checked him again and didnt see anything in the water he just came out of and checked him and nothing, i might just be jumping to conclusions. if i see anything i will rip off to the store and grab some treatment on him to be safe. last thing i want is him to spread the mites to the other 18 snakes in my room lol that would be a real situation.

[marvelfreak]

Here's hoping it's nothing.

[infernalis]

Try having mites when you have nearly 100 snakes all in close proximity.

I get yelled at for having tanks in the hallway, but when I spot bugs the tank leaves the room. Period.....

I have found that with my repti bark / coconut mix, I can get it good and wet then put it in my oven at 400 degrees for about half an hour. It comes out steaming hot, but I can guarantee any living organism that was in that substrate it very dead and baked.

[Freebody]

I was going to take them out as well, or would have i mean if i seen any other signs of bug in his cage not just a few dead in his water or any on him or in the room or anything other than what i seen.I dont understand how they were in his water but now i cant find nothing ...not that im complaining tho im very pleased with finding nothing else but puzzled to say the least. I checked a few more time since i last posted and re checked all the other cages and it seems clean and clear. im going to check again before i turn in for the night but im sure all is well. i really should have taken a picture of the bugs that were in the water, if i see them again ill snap off a few pics but so far so good :) knock on wood.

[Jennet]

Here's hoping whatever else it turns out to be, its not mites - or at least not the bad sort that affect your snake!:blink:

[gonesnakee]

Hopefully just fruit flies as they tend to be attracted to the water & usually drown in it.
I have noticed there seems to be a lot of fruit flies towards the end of summer here as well. If you have fruit eaters you likely have FFs.
Inspect the snake in question really close around its head, nose & pits as thats where mites like it best.
See if it starts soaking or any other signs.
If it has mites you will find some on the snake & they will squish red (blood) as has been suggested.
DO NOT I repeat do not use any type oil on your snake.
If you decide it is mites & a treatment is required go with the NIX treatment of Provent A Mite if it is available to you.
NIX of course is readily available everywhere & if you need the proper "care sheet" for use I can send you a link to the TARAS forums if it is not already posted here on site somewhere.
Not likely they are wood mites if you do not use shavings, sometimes there will be little gnats in the summer around that are attracted to the feces & water dishes as well & & also "springtails" which are all harmless of course but anoying & paranoia causing as well LOL Mark

[Freebody]

im sure they were fruit flies in his water tub, everything in my room and his cage is spotless. i just checked his water bowl just now and its clear, they cage is malemine so nothing for a wood mite to get at and anything wil stand out on the easy and their is nothing. i had snake mite on some boas like 10 years ago and it was a nightmare. I heard oil work good for mites? but i would just go and buy the might treatment stuff at the pet store anyways, but why do you say No oil?

[gonesnakee]

Oil damages their scales & can make them fall in in large groups.
Lots of things would kill them if it was smeared on the snake.
Peanut butter, margarine, mayo, vasoline, hand cream you name it would smother mites on the animal itself.
As far as that goes plain old water would do the trick there with no ill effect as all you ar doing is "drowning" the mites, however none of this would kill mites not on the animal itself nor any of the eggs which would be present in or around the enclosures.
NIX & P.A.M. would not only kill all mites on the animals itself, but any in or around the enclosures as well as any eggs.
Smearing the snake up with ________ doesn't solve the problem & depending what is smeared on it cause more issues than it had to begin with & just prolong the mite infestation as well as it does nothing to the other mites or their eggs. Mark

[Freebody]

ya that makes sence, i didnt think of it hurting the scale. thx

[mykee]

"should i rub some oil on him "
You should only ever rub oil on a snake if:
1. It's an SPF 30 or more and you plan on leaving him ouside on a sunny day.
2. you plan of BBQ'ing him up for a feast.
3. his muscles are tight and you plan to give him a good rub down.

[gonesnakee]

You should only ever rub oil on a snake if:
1. It's an SPF 30 or more and you plan on leaving him ouside on a sunny day.
2. you plan of BBQ'ing him up for a feast.
3. his muscles are tight and you plan to give him a good rub down.

What about some of "those" videos you see on the internet? :p LOL NOT! Mark
P.S. also keep in mind that both NIX & P.A.M. can be very dangerous if not used properly or are used excessively rather than just once or twice PROPERLY

[Freebody]

sounds great guys :) to be honest i got some guys at my old job, burmies and veitnamies guys they grew up eating snakes, burms and retics they say are their favorites, everytime they go back home they make sure to eat some before they come back from holidays.... im like your never coming to my house lol i believe it to as they would bring bbq bats,rats,chicken feet,ciclid fish,oscars stuff you see in the pets stores, and stuff that smelt rotten and chow it down and ask me all the time if i wanted to try some lol great guys but I dissagree with their diets lol

[Will0W783]

I would give the snake a 20 minutes in a tub with just enough very slightly warm water and a dash of Dawn (or other mild, unscented) dish detergent to cover his sides but he can still rest in the bottom. Put a lid on the tub and let him soak. When you're done, check the water very carefully. If there are no mites in the water after the soak, the snake probably does not have them.

Personally, whenever I bring home a new snake, it gets a soak to check for mites and to see how bad they are if it does have them. Then it gets Nix if I found anything.

[Freebody]

my jag and my bredle love to chill in their water tubs 75% of the time. hes back in his water now and no sign of mites on his head nothing in his water :) really gave me a scare when i seen what i seen but all signs point to nothing. think i should still get some dawn and try a soak that way? i would need to go buy some as i use a dish washer and dont have anything suitable.

[gonesnakee]

If its soaking & had mites you would see them in the water or on its head area around its pits, nose & eyes avoiding being "drowned" Mark

[citysnakes]

if i saw those little bugs in any one of my snake's water bowls i'd just treat everything with PAM to be safe... no soaking snakes to check for mites just straight treatment for all... then practice proper quarantine and you should be mite free for a long, long time... just an opinion.

[gonesnakee]

if i saw those little bugs in any one of my snake's water bowls i'd just treat everything with PAM to be safe... no soaking snakes to check for mites just straight treatment for all... then practice proper quarantine and you should be mite free for a long, long time... just an opinion.

I wouldn't.
Exposing all your snakes to toxic checmicals for no reason is not a good idea.
Both P.A.M. & NIX are toxic afterall thus why they kill everything & the eggs etc. Something to always take into consideration when using either.
Neither should be used unless actually required.
They should not be used as a prophylactic but rather as a cure.
There are lots of perfectly harmless "bugs" that you may encounter that have zero ill effect to the animals that are nothing to worry about & definitely not worth subjecting your entire collection to potentially harmful chemicals over. Mark
P.S. of course I agree if proper Q is always practiced one never has to treat their entire collection ever, but just the odd new aquisition that arrives with more than what you paid for

[Freebody]

if i had seen other bugs in his cage or anything i would have either taken him and his cage out of that room or have taken the other cages out and treated the entire room for sure. i would never treat unless i was 100% sure that animal needed treatment as i think its bad idea as well to subject an animal to toxic chemicals for no good reason just to be safe. I had just put new snakes in the room but i got all my snakes from great breeders but i guess @#$% happens so i will start putting new snakes in quarentine before they enter the snake room from now on.better safe than sorry if thats what you mean by proer quarentine :) happy to say i have checked and checked and checked again and their is no sign of any bug in that room in any cage and his water is still clean, i dont know why their was the bugs i seen in his water or how they got their but all is good :) im really thankfull for everyones help and sugestions and support :) Cheers

[citysnakes]

Mark, i guess i should have been a bit more clear...

my previous post was not meant to imply that entire established collections should be treated with PAM because of a few fruit flies buzzing around but was advice directed specifically towards the OP's situation.

i concluded, that in this situation, since the OP has to question whether these bugs are snake mites or not and a bunch of his snakes are constantly soaking in their water bowls and also because we are unaware of his quarantine and husbandry practices, which i had previously assumed before reading the post above that they may not be the best, he should treat his entire collection for mites.

i do agree with you that treating established snakes with potentially harmful chemicals as a precaution is unnecessary but i do treat every single quarantine tub with PAM before any new additions arrive as a precaution and i dont see any quarantine method as proper without a prelim PAM treatment (but thats just me...).

[gonesnakee]

I used to NIX all new ones as well in the past, but have since changed & only done so when required for sure.
I too am pretty confident on where I aquire most all of my snakes from now as I am pretty selective compared to say 5 years ago so its not as big of an issue, quarrantine that is.
I used to take NIX to the shows & would spray all my tables & the perimiter prior even setting up back in the day LOL
Where does caution end & paranoia begin eh? LOL
I'd rather be called paranoid then treating an entire collection for mites though as I'm sure is the case with you as well ? Cheers Mark

[citysnakes]

haha ya man im the same way, i may be considered paranoid but youre not going to find a mite in my collection.

im gonna keep that little tip in mind and treat my entire table with PAM next show i do...;)

[shaunyboy]

Hopefully just fruit flies as they tend to be attracted to the water & usually drown in it.
I have noticed there seems to be a lot of fruit flies towards the end of summer here as well. If you have fruit eaters you likely have FFs.
Inspect the snake in question really close around its head, nose & pits as thats where mites like it best.
See if it starts soaking or any other signs.
If it has mites you will find some on the snake & they will squish red (blood) as has been suggested.
DO NOT I repeat do not use any type oil on your snake.
If you decide it is mites & a treatment is required go with the NIX treatment of Provent A Mite if it is available to you.
NIX of course is readily available everywhere & if you need the proper "care sheet" for use I can send you a link to the TARAS forums if it is not already posted here on site somewhere.
Not likely they are wood mites if you do not use shavings, sometimes there will be little gnats in the summer around that are attracted to the feces & water dishes as well & & also "springtails" which are all harmless of course but anoying & paranoia causing as well LOL Mark


have to agree with the above mate

i would never use oil on any of my snakes.it makes me cringe every time someone on a uk forum suggests it.

mites are the size of a full stop in this post...........

as chuck said if you give one a squish with your fingers you'll see blood.

horrible little dudes but easy to kill

provent a mite all the way for me,does exactley what it says on the can

cheers shaun

[Freebody]

ah *%&^ i knew it was mites i seen,but still never found anything after checking several time a day and each snake cage nothing until today. well i clean all my cages 2 time a week and spot clean when ever needed ,and today i finnaly found a victim, i found mites on one of my womas, not many but they are mites. i washed her off and got her in quarentined, i then pulled every snake out, washing my hands after handling each snake, and found 1 mite on 3 other snakes and noticed 1 on the wall of my adult jags cage, just a fresh hatchling, still clear and color and very small.... so the cages are all washed down spotless hides and bowls all cleaned , snakes that where found with a mite are out of the room didnt see any other mites on them just 1 each - the woma she had a few adult stuck under her scales,so now should i treat them all at this point they were not close to each other so im thinking if 3 snakes in diffenent spots of the room had a mite on them then its possible eggs have been layed outside the womas cage already. the woma had black adult mites like i found in the adult jags water that day all the other mites i found today. i dont get how i found adult mites in the water and found nothing on any snake and in any cage and now today doing another check while cleaning just to because im dumbfounded to what i seen the other day with nothing found after or up till today.....now i find like 6 on the little woma barried under a couple scales and only 1 or so on the other 3 .........im off to get treatment now.

[gonesnakee]

Crappy well I can personally guarrantee that they did not come from me anyhow.
Nothing here has mites or has ever had mites & every single customer over the last decade I have ever had can confirm that as well.
Any idea on the source? Don't post it here of course but feel free to email me & if you need a good link for the NIX treatment I can direct you to the caresheet on the TARAS site, Mark

[Freebody]

nono im know it wasnt you im not saying that im just sayingone deffinitly has it and the poor woma is it, the others dont seem to have might like they dont have them barried under their scales but my poor baby girl had them sucker her dry :( sorry bro i didnt mean it came from you :)

[Freebody]

my other woma is clear and my diamonds are also clear :( my bad i read my post i typed rather fast and i could see how you could get that , once again im sorry mark i didnt mean that at all. honest :) im very happy with buy the snakes off you they were deffinitly mite free and perfect health when i got them :) :)

[Freebody]

you think i should spray all my snakes at this point tho? i just got home with the nix and read the into on this site how to do it but being how i seen other smaller mights outside of cage the snake thats most effected is and the other mites i found were on snakes not deirectly near hers im thinking i better spray all of them and the cages and then the 2 foot barrier around their cages in the room ? what do you think. once agian i feel bad i really didnt mean to point the finger at you, i was not my intention at all, i should have taken the extra time to read what i said and made sure to word it in a way that didnt seem to make that impression. I so happy with my snake i got from you and recomend you to anyone hope your not sore with me :(

[gonesnakee]

No worries I did not take it that way, wanted to point out moreso to others in case they did as it is known that the Woma came from me, the mites though did not.
Make sure you kill them all quickly & effectively & may the force be with you, Mark

[Freebody]

sweet sound good :)
as for treating the whole room what do you think?

[gonesnakee]

I would treat all the snakes like they have them for sure yes as well as all their enclosures & the area/room the enclosures are in.
Make sure there are no Scorpions or Tarantulas or any other "bugs" in the area as NIX will kill them dead too.
Not around amphibians or any torts or turtles either, bad news for them. Mark

[Freebody]

kk thx i took all my scorpions out of the room the seconds i noticed their were living mites. i can just remove my geckos from their and not treat them as they have no scales right?

[gonesnakee]

Really check over anything removed very closely as you don't want any to be moved around with them & then moved back in later to reinfest.
Might not hurt to replace all the substrate in both of them (geckos & scorps) as well & give them a good clean just in case. Mark

[Freebody]

sweet thx , im going to clean all scorpion and gecko substrate and keep them out of the room this month.

[Freebody]

oh yeah the post i read here said make sure to spray their heads and then leave them with the nix on them for how many days?

[gonesnakee]

A couple anyhow & be sure to remove the water dishes prior spraying of course & pretty much during the course of the treatment other than to offer them a drink.
Like just place the bowl in & "show" it to the snake by placing its head right to it.
If it is thirsty it will drink.
Don't want them soaking in it & then drinking it, plus it washes it off.
Basically gut the enclosures ditch all substrate & spray everything. Mark

[Freebody]

sweet thank again, i just wanted to be sure. im going upstairs right now to kill all those bugs. i can believe after looking and looking i didnt see anything last week when i seen the few in the water bowl. i honestly keep my room spotless and i clean it all the time. i wonder how i got them so i can avoid what ever it was i did to get them. sorry again mark, its 100% not you i hope every one understands that. i do feel bad, being how i think so highly of your breeding.

[Freebody]

ok well my snakes are all sprayed down head to tail , hides are all sprayed, water is taken out, the cage has been sprayed i put newspaper in and sprayed that, sprayed a 3 foot perimeter around al the cages, so now im waiting, im really scared my snakes might die on me :( i took the 57 ml bottle and mixed it with 4 gallon of distilled water like im supposed to but im still worried. damn i hope this never happens again. 1 or 2 days should i leave them before cleaning all the Nix off of them and everything else? a few?i might not make it that long lol

[Freebody]

4 liters i mean :P

[Lankyrob]

Keeping fingers crossed for you mate, let us know how it goes.

[Freebody]

thx rob, I really hate the idea of using nix on them being so young and never using it before, the idea of poison on my babies kills me. im sure all will work out fine and turn into another chapter of herping but im worried about it. ill let yall know for sure.

[marvelfreak]

My BRB got them from a rock in my back yard. I found it, rinsed it off, and put it in it cage 4 days later i see mites. So i checked all of my snake and my bredli had one. So i treated all of my snakes to be safe as their cages are stackable so they're one right above the other. The rock had a bunch of litte holes and it was the only thing new in it cage. So i threw it in a bucket of bleach water and let it sit over night. 20 or more were in the water the next day, so i pitched the rock. Leason learned the hard way even with rocks soak them to be safe. Also if you have or can get a steam cleaner with a hand tool use it on the cages. It will help kill any mites hideing in small crack. Have you figure out where they might have come from? The not knowing is always the most frustrating 10329 part. Hope all turns out well.

[Freebody]

no i cant figure it out, i had the window open in my snake room LOL maybe thats it, i got it pretty early, i only have a few mites but where theirs mites their eggs theirs a big problem around the corner..... it dont makes sence how got them, maybe a trip to a pet store and got one on my cloths for the ride or somthing,or one of my dogs went out back and ran into the snake room with a hitchhiker or somthing... i dont know, maybe from now on ill have one of those wash tent like in a science lab that deals with hazerdous viruses LOL you know like the movie outbreak, lol wash off put a suit on tape the cuffs......LOL i got the mites real early i only found like 7 tops yeasterday, its the nix im most worried about in the treatment process,sounds stupid but i never used nix,so im checking my snakes all the time and thinking, Oh good the snakes are still alive..couple more days of this will be eventfull :P

[marvelfreak]

It could have easily been a hitchiker.

[gonesnakee]

Always remember for every one you see theres likely 100 you don't.
If they are not adults they are pretty hard to pick out afterall, Mark

[Freebody]

i have my snakes in rubbermaid plastic containers for my babies and the adults are in mallemine cages all corners are sealed with silicone, the floor is hardwood and all my tanks are stacked up, spotting the little mites when they are black is real easy but i have very few of them, its the tiny tiny lilttle clear ones that are so hard to see, i got Great eye site but its like looking at one of those magic eye things, im looking at the floor dont see anything then i see somthing move and i got to watch the erea for a while and then its like AH i though i seen somthing move, and its 1 clear bug the size of half a pin prick. i had mites like 10-12 years ago and i knew nothing about them the vet took me for a ride and gave the snake a shot and didnt tell me anything about how to reall treat them and the snakes almost died after months of this, i already posted the story but mites scare the crap out of me to say the least now.

[Freebody]

ok so its been about 30 hours or so since i sprayed everything, should i take them out today and give each snake a bath to clean them off and whipe and rinse all the cages down today or wait until tomorow morning?

[gonesnakee]

I would do so today & keep a close eye on everything & keep setups to a bare minimum with only papertowles or paper substrate etc.
If a single live mite is spotted repeat the treatment ASAP, Mark
P.S. be sure to have a really good look around their faces in the heatpit & nostril areas & edges of eyes

[Freebody]

sounds good im going to go upstairs right now and clean them all and whipe everything down and check them all real good like you said. im going to spray the floor and a good perimiter again where i put the cleaned cages.