Mites!!!! OMG we have mites!!! - Page 2

GyGbeetle · 01-02-17, 10:17 PM

PS, I've been following your retic post too, and it's got some great info in that as well. It makes me feel so much better knowing there are lots of knowledgeable folks here to go to.

riddick07 · 01-03-17, 01:03 AM

Only adults are visible to the eye and you probably killed most of those already on the snake with soaking and spraying the cages. If you caught it early you won't see that many black spots on the ground anymore. You will be mostly killing younger mites that you can't actually see after most of the adults are dead. You keep treating to kill the young that have hatched out or any random adults you missed.

Be careful with just how much chemicals you are using and how often. While safe alone or in small quantities mixing or going crazy with treatments can harm your animals. If the snakes are very young I wouldn't do every 3 or 4 days even with Nix and especially not with PAM. I've heard why too many mistakes happen with PAM that I would not use it myself. Also, if you have hognose do not use PAM or Nix with them they do not react well to these treatments most of the time. I think garters don't either but I'm not sure if I remember that one right.

Nix needs to be mixed correctly be sure to read up on its use if you switch over to that treatment. I use Nix on all my new arrivals

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/gener...ake-mites.html

GyGbeetle · 01-03-17, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by riddick07

Only adults are visible to the eye and you probably killed most of those already on the snake with soaking and spraying the cages. If you caught it early you won't see that many black spots on the ground anymore. You will be mostly killing younger mites that you can't actually see after most of the adults are dead. You keep treating to kill the young that have hatched out or any random adults you missed.

This is really good to know. I'm crossing my fingers that is what we're seeing here.

We were told to treat with PAM every 2 weeks for up to 6 weeks (4 treatments total). No more than that even for the older animals for fear of toxic exposure. The stuff we spray on the babies is an all natural substance, with the active ingredients being clove and cinnamon. If we switch to Nix (I'm not convinced this natural stuff is working) I saw an older post on here that said 3-4 days at a 1 part per 68 parts distilled water dilution. We may just go to once a week instead though, because I don't want to over expose them.

But what about treating the paper towels? Should those be treated too? If so, how do you treat them? Same as treating the snake?

And last, is Nix thand same thing that you get at a drug store, or is it something that you need to get at a pet specialty store?

**Andy_G** · 01-03-17, 08:23 AM

As far as Nix treatment, yes it's the same that you get at the drug store and I believe it comes in a 56 mL bottle. You use 1 of these bottles to 1 gallon of water, preferably distilled. You can spray the snakes, the cages, and the surrounding areas with nix. I would advise doing so twice a week for at least a month. With this kind of dilution, there are only a few species that would be over exposed (hognose snakes and garter snakes come to mind). I won't touch PAM myself because 1. it's more expensive, 2. Much higher change of adverse effects and 3. Nix has always worked for me.

SWDK · 01-03-17, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy_G

As far as Nix treatment, yes it's the same that you get at the drug store and I believe it comes in a 56 mL bottle. You use 1 of these bottles to 1 gallon of water, preferably distilled. You can spray the snakes, the cages, and the surrounding areas with nix. I would advise doing so twice a week for at least a month. With this kind of dilution, there are only a few species that would be over exposed (hognose snakes and garter snakes come to mind). I won't touch PAM myself because 1. it's more expensive, 2. Much higher change of adverse effects and 3. Nix has always worked for me.

So far the Nix is fine for both of my adult garters. I've treated them a few times over the past 2 months and they haven't shown any strange behavior. Just wanted to add my experience with my garters, but it may not be the norm.

**Andy_G** · 01-03-17, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SWDK

So far the Nix is fine for both of my adult garters. I've treated them a few times over the past 2 months and they haven't shown any strange behavior. Just wanted to add my experience with my garters, but it may not be the norm.

Thanks for adding that, Dave.

valkea · 01-11-17, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy_G

As far as Nix treatment, yes it's the same that you get at the drug store and I believe it comes in a 56 mL bottle. You use 1 of these bottles to 1 gallon of water, preferably distilled. You can spray the snakes, the cages, and the surrounding areas with nix. I would advise doing so twice a week for at least a month. With this kind of dilution, there are only a few species that would be over exposed (hognose snakes and garter snakes come to mind). I won't touch PAM myself because 1. it's more expensive, 2. Much higher change of adverse effects and 3. Nix has always worked for me.

Not to hijack but would you avoid using Nix near hognose? Or just avoid spraying the hogs themselves with nix and treat everything else as usual?

I've also recently found myself fighting a mite infestation in my quarantine room. Possibly my main room but so far no signs.

**Andy_G** · 01-11-17, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by valkea

Not to hijack but would you avoid using Nix near hognose? Or just avoid spraying the hogs themselves with nix and treat everything else as usual?

I've also recently found myself fighting a mite infestation in my quarantine room. Possibly my main room but so far no signs.

I would make it slightly weaker, just by adding a couple cups of water over and above the gallon or by spraying it on paper towel and wiping the snake instead of spraying directly.

**Aaron_S** · 01-03-17, 10:58 AM

Too lazy to multi-quote.

1. Nix and PAM work all on their own quite well. Don't worry about using anything else. I spray the animals directly with the Nix solution and everything else. Remove water for a day.

2. Dish soap is pointless if you're using Nix or PAM. The snakes are being stressed with more soaks/baths then necessary.

3. If you're using jurassiMite and it has the active ingredients of clove and cinnamon stop using it. Sounds ridiculous. I have no idea, and I doubt anyone making or selling that product can produce a scientific study where clove and cinnamon gets rid of/kills snake mites.

4. You can alternatively use predator mites if this happens again if you're set on a natural method.

5. I would spray your carpet, the enclosures (inside and outside). Anything else in the room.

6. I am super paranoid of mites. If I attend a show I do not touch anything. When I leave I spray myself, my car, my friends, my daughter, any animal I may have picked up with Nix solution before going home. When home I spray my snake room and change immediately into new clothing and toss the other stuff into the wash.

GyGbeetle · 01-11-17, 11:26 AM

Which Nix are we supposed to use for follow-up? There are 3 different types of Nix: cream, shampoo, conditioner. Which one am I supposed to use? And what is the break-down of distilled water to Nix treatment ratio?

It's been nearly 2 weeks since using PAM, and I really don't think it's necessary to use it for 2 more treatments, so we want to switch to Nix, since it's cheaper and you can use it both on the animal and enclosure. We haven't seen any mites pop back up, so I'm hoping to just use the Nix treatment on the enclosures and call it a day. Please advise to those that have used Nix so I don't put all the animals into toxic shock.

valkea · 01-11-17, 06:43 PM

Okay perfect. Thank you!

GyGbeetle · 01-11-17, 07:12 PM

Do you use the cream, shampoo, or conditioner? Which product, because Nix makes a whole line of stuff.

And you use the whole bottle? Because I thought it was just like 1-2 tablespoons for a gallon of distilled water?

**Andy_G** · 01-12-17, 08:51 AM

The only Nix I have seen up here is the creme rinse. It comes in a 59mL bottle and you use the whole bottle to a gallon of water. 1-2 tablespoons will not do anything, it would be much too diluted to be effective. Hopefully that helps.

GyGbeetle · 01-12-17, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy_G

The only Nix I have seen up here is the creme rinse. It comes in a 59mL bottle and you use the whole bottle to a gallon of water. 1-2 tablespoons will not do anything, it would be much too diluted to be effective. Hopefully that helps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SWDK

Yep, you want to use the cream rinse for sure. I bought mine at rite aid pharmacy. I went with the generic rite aid brand which was 2 bottles of the cream for $19.99. I bought my first treatment of name brand Nix and it was $25.99 for 1 bottle of cream and a bottle of something else.

This helps tremendously! thank you both!!!! I did buy the cream rinse stuff. There was a kit and Nix shampoo for purchase, neither of which seemed correct. So I went to another store that had the cream rinse. Yay!

SWDK · 01-12-17, 12:30 PM

Yep, you want to use the cream rinse for sure. I bought mine at rite aid pharmacy. I went with the generic rite aid brand which was 2 bottles of the cream for $19.99. I bought my first treatment of name brand Nix and it was $25.99 for 1 bottle of cream and a bottle of something else.