Mites!!!

[Laughingman868]

Hey triplehp, I just registered and haven't even posted in the intro board yet but seen your thread about mites and decided to come here first. I'm dealing with the same thing unfortunately after only having the snake for a week, Im a new snake owner after only having my rainbow boa for about 3 months then getting this one so I really didn't look it over when I got it as I just trusted the guy which was a mistake. either way they are in his eyes, under his chin and a few on his body. This is what I'm doing so far, its going to be long and not answer your question completely but maybe helpful to you or someone.


I am awaiting on a bottle of prevent a mite but in the mean time I did what I could. I picked up a bottle of reptile relief but before using that I let him soak for about thirty minutes with just enough space for him to poke out the top of his head to breath, that took a bunch of mites off which drowned. I then used the reptile relief which took more off, I sprayed it on a rag then ran it down his entire body for awhile. By this point there were only the ones in his eyes left and two under his chin trapped in the scales. Now I did not want to do this next step but I heard it was ok as long as one has steady hands, I just felt so bad for him because I could see them in his eye sockets. I used the same rag that had the reptile relief on it and held his head still right at the back then used the non pointy side of a sewing needle (the oval shaped side to put the yarn through) and I VERY...I repeat, VERY carefully scraped out the mites. It was really easy and I'm glad I did it because most of the ones I pulled out were still alive even after using the reptile relief which is supposed to kill on contact. This jungle carpet is a wild one but he was surprisingly calm during this process, he did try to escape but he wasn't biting which he usually bites non stop. Also in the process of his wiggling around the two that were under his chin worked themselves out. I looked him over and he is almost completely mite free but Im still going to treat the cage with the spray when it arrives.

Now i understand that you can spray the cage with the decor and substrate still in it, and I am, as I said, a novice keeper but I highly recommend taking every single thing out and soaking what you can in bleach then rinsing it thoroughly and let it sit for a week or so. Right now the only thing in my terrarium is a water bowl, a small cave that I cleaned and paper towel for substrate. I have already found dead and live mites which were easy to see on the paper towel. Clean the snake as best you can then clean the cage and put the bare minimum back in to easily monitor everything for a few days. Maybe my way is over kill but I'm scared that my rainbow boa will get them so I'm taking absolutely no chances with these things.