Fed ball first rat and I am worried

[Karma]

Well, I checked the water again and we have mites. Uh, I am so mad! I wonder how she got them.

Right now I am going to do a search for mites.

Anyone got any advice?

[BoidKeeper]

Nix, it's like making home made provent-a-mite. Run a search on Nix and you'll get the recipe. It's the easiest sollution I've ever heard of.
Good luck,
Trevor

[Karma]

Well I just tried the Listerine method.

Now I am using paper towels.

I disinfected everything.

If that doesn't work I will try the Nix method. Thanks!

[BoidKeeper]

It won't. Nix is too easy and you can't miss with Nix. You take out the snake place it in an empty rubbermaid and spray it down and leave it in there over night. Next take everything out of the cage and spray it down. Put in some newspaper and spray it down put in two washable plastic hides and put the snake back in in the morning. Some people spray the snake and then put it back in the cage right away after spraying the cage down with nix too. If you do that leave the water bowl out for at least 24 hours. Repeat the whole process in two weeks. Also treat all other snakes and cages whether you see mites or not.
Trying to disinfect is so much work and often does not get all the eggs and then in two weeks their back. With Nix you don't miss a thing.
Where did you read about the Listerine method? That's a new one to me.
Cheers,
Trevor

[BoidKeeper]

Oh and as far as how you got the mites, how long have you had the snake? They could have been there all along. You could have also taken them home from a pet shop. Personally I never touch anything in a pet shop anymore.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Karma]

BoidKeeper,

This may sound rude but I do not mean it that way at all. I would like to know how you know the Listerine method won't work when you have never heard of it. That does sound mean, huh? But I promise I don't mean it that way!

This is the link for the Listerine method:
http://www.icomm.ca/dragon/mitetick.htm#listerine

To answer your other questions, I have had her for 3 weeks and 3 days. Actually, I did not purchase her from a pet shop. I adopted her from a foster home.

The lady I got her from said she had been checked by a vet for internal & external parasites. If she was being truthful, the only other way (I can think of) she could have got them is when I let her play in the grass for a few minutes at my mom's house.
Do you think she could have got them from outside?

One other thing, I don't know if it is related to the mites but a just now she defecated. It had been quite a while since the last time she pooped. She looked pretty bloated before. I wonder if cleaning her and the tank up had anything with her finally "going".

Now since I'm using paper towels I could really see the mess. Hope I am not being too graphic but there was a wet spot, about 5" in diameter with poop in the middle along with a small amount of urates. Is it normal for it to be wet? I thought they never actually "peed" but just passed the hard white urates.

[BoidKeeper]

I would like to know how you know the Listerine method won't work when you have never heard of it.

Well I made the assumption that it involved treating the snake in some way. Any method that does not involve treating the cage at the same time often does not work because eggs left behind in the cage hatch and start the infestation all over again.

I have had her for 3 weeks and 3 days.

She could have came with the mites. This is the most probable explanation.

Do you think she could have got them from outside?

Not likely. Snake mites are specific to snakes only so unless a snake was in that area and left behind a ton of mites in that spot than I can't see how it could have gotten them from outside. Also I'm not sure if the snake mites that affect out exotic stuff is the same mite that affects out native stuff.

As for the deffication, it sounds normal to me. A lot of liquid is normal I've found any way.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Karma]

Thanks for all the info. I never knew that snakes can only get mites from where another snake has been. And I didn't know they were "snake mites". That's interesting.

Glad to hear that the liquid is normal.

So did you get a chance to go over the Listerine method.

I completed all the steps except for the pest strip.

I did fill her tank full of water and added a lot of bleach and let it soak for 10 minutes. Hopefully that killed all the eggs. I guess I will find out in a couple of weeks.

To add, I haven't seen her soaking yet. And I haven't seen any specks in her water bowl.

[TryToForget]

I heard that if there is liquid along with the poop and pee that it means that they have a good source of water. The reason that they have solid pee is because they are trying to conserve their water. I don't know if that's right. It's just what I heard.

-Jamie

[BoidKeeper]

I would stay away from pest tripes if not used right you can kill your snake. I went over the listerine method and it's too much work if you ask me. What's easier than mixing up some nix and spraying the snake, cage, furnishings and all around the cage. That is the other important thing you have to do is spray around where the cage is sitting too. And if I haven't already said it, treat all your other snakes too.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Karma]

TryToForget,

I hope that is the reason for all the liquid! I just have never heard of a snake having all that liquid. Come to think of it I have never heard of snakes emitting any liquid at all.

BoidKeeper,

I will use the Nix if I see more mites. It might be better to do it just in case anyway.

I don't have any other snakes to treat. I would like more though!

Can mites come from cypress mulch that has been bought at the pet store? I bought a bag and used it for the first time and that is right around the time she started soaking.

[BoidKeeper]

It might be better to do it just in case anyway.

For the little bit of effort it takes I would.

Can mites come from cypress mulch that has been bought at the pet store?

There can be mites in there but not snake mites. The mites in there would not be the same ones that your snake was trying to drown in it's water bowl. Souds to me like you had snake mites and not wood mites, I think that's what they're called.
Cheers,
Trevor