BP adoption with mites included

[peeps4183]

I am about to take in two new ball pythons, one has mites. I have never dealt with these before. i am willing to take on the task because the current owner isn't. I do not want any of my snakes to get these. what is my best approach other then, not taking it in.

[Lankyrob]

Quarantine WELL away from your current snakes and treat the enclosure with Provent a mite before putting the snake into it :)

[GUITARZAN509]

Rub any type of cooking oil on snakes to kill mites

[SSSSnakes]

Quarantine WELL away from your current snakes and treat the enclosure with Provent a mite before putting the snake into it :)

Great advise. The only thing I would add is to soak the snake in water for about an hour and dry it off from head to tail with a white towel to remove any mites that may be on the snake.

[Lankyrob]

Rub any type of cooking oil on snakes to kill mites

We are trying to cure it not cook it :) there are plenty of treatments that are proven to work and are not expensive at all :)

[Aaron_S]

Great advise. The only thing I would add is to soak the snake in water for about an hour and dry it off from head to tail with a white towel to remove any mites that may be on the snake.

Easier method. Nix everything (minus the water bowl). Simply Place the snake in it's new home...Spray down the Nix solution. 1 tablespoon to a liter.

[peeps4183]

I will try one of these, from low to high in price. Then move on if it is unsuccessful. I just found the the other adopted has a severe RI.... Will it never end with people who try to take the easy way out. "Oh hey I'll get a snake their cool, How hard could it be?". She is a possible 12+ y/o BP, norm pattern, horrible enclosure, no heat, nasty bedding, no humidity, no water etc. I hope I can find the funds to help this one (I was just laid off and it's Christmas I must need some brownie points). I would put it to a rescue but there aren't any in my area. How about some advice on this one?

[peeps4183]

Oh, almost forgot. Thanks for the advice. I am sure one of these will work great. All things i have heard before, just never had to use it. I am definitely all about the quarantine.

[Terranaut]

Rub any type of cooking oil on snakes to kill mites

This is not a good approach. Imho a water bath like above is way better. Let them soak and drown them. While the snake is bathing treat the enclosure with pam or nix treatments. Search this site for these 2 products for instructions and why to use them. Not treatung the enclosure and the snake will result in new mites a few weeks later. Putting any oils on your snake leaves them covered in something that will end up in their water and all over their enclosure. Not that its harmful but its messy and I doubt its very nice for the snake. Water is a normal part of the snakes environment.

[shaunyboy]

Quarantine WELL away from your current snakes and treat the enclosure with Provent a mite before putting the snake into it :)

^^^^^
this

or you could also treat all your other tanks at the same time,this would stop anything mite wise transfering to your collection,i would still quarantine the new snake,as you should with all new comers,with mites or not

cheers shaun

[dinosaurdammit]

i have heard that soaking them in warm water with fresh rosemary sprigs can drive off mites as rosemary is a natural insect repellent.

[jarich]

Normal water will do just as well, without the rosemary. However, water will not deal with eggs that may be laid already. So while it would kill the mites on the body at that time, without the Nix or Prevent - A - Mite (the PAM people refer to is this, not the oil spray ;) ) the eggs will hatch a day or two later and you are back where you started.

[dinosaurdammit]

Normal water will do just as well, without the rosemary. However, water will not deal with eggs that may be laid already. So while it would kill the mites on the body at that time, without the Nix or Prevent - A - Mite (the PAM people refer to is this, not the oil spray ;) ) the eggs will hatch a day or two later and you are back where you started.

If you have aspen bedding would it be wise to nix/pam, then stir the bedding and spray what was underneath without over spraying?

[jarich]

Change the bedding out and put in completely new bedding. Then you dont have to worry about it