Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[emma_fyfe]

Hi, sorry for asking so many questions!

i have now found out that the reason my royal is in her water bowl all the time is because she has mites. I have seen one crawling over her nose, and a few dead ones in the botton of her water bowl.

I have never had a snake before, and definitely never had to deal with mites! What is the best way to get rid of them?

She is a lot more jumpy than usual when i try to pick her up and refused her feed yesterday so im guessing the mites are irritating her. I have no idea how she got them as i havent added anything to her viv for over a month, and she has only been acting like this for around 2 weeks.

If someone could give me step by step instructions on how to get rid of them then that would be great!

Thanks,

Emma

[Scott W]

I always used the 'low tech' approach, that was to clean the viv thoroughly with dettox or something similar (washing away residue), this was twice a week. I also provide a large water bowl so that the snake could completely soak. This always eliminated mites from my collection.

I'm sure others can tell you how to use the 'off shelf' products.
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Please DO NOT pm orders for reptiles, send email instead scott@captivebred.co.uk

[mike h]

It can depend on how you keep the animal. And how much money you are willing to spend.
1: GOTO http://www.junglephase.com/ and phone Glenn chandler.
2: buy tin of provent a mite off him £28 including p&p
3: Follow instructions to the letter. ( I spray newspaper in a different room to animals and leave over night.) then put paper in tank as substrate. wait a couple of days then mite free. When paper needs changing just use sprayed paper to keep mite free.
4: I must stress follow instructions as this stuff is powerful when wet and vapory. But when left foe a while is completely harmless even if eaten by snakes.
Alternative
1: GOTO http://www.vivbuilder.co.uk/ and phone and purchase DIEMITE £9ish including postage
2: Completely cover the animal following instructions(you can leave stuff on snake) Carefully clean tank and surrounding area
3: repeat every few days to break mite breeding cycle, eventually you should be rid.
both the above people are brill.

also have a good read of http://www.kingsnake.com/ballpythonguide/index.html
better still bye "the complete ball python by kevin McCurly" and the "ball python manual by Philippe DE vosjoli" best place if in stock for these is
Jerry Cole at http://www.reptilekeeping.net/
In the meantime give it a bath with a tiny bit of soap/washing up liquid to kill as many as possible. Nasty little things!!!
let us know how you get on.

[peaches]

I used an invertmectin solution supplied by my vet (0.5ml to 1L water) lightly sprayed around a clean empty viv, snake treated with frontline, then keep the viv in quarantine conditions for a while until sure the problem has gone.

[Jackie]

We had an outbreak of mites with some of our collection a couple of years ago (which affected some of our hatchling JCPs and an adult Brazilian Rainbow boa). We've used Frontline with great success on the snakes (hatchlings and adults) with mites.

This is what we did:

Frontline can be used neat or diluted with equal parts water. We used it neat on the adults and diluted on the hatchlings. Although it comes as a spray, it should not be sprayed at all.
Wear latex or rubber gloves to protect your hands.
Put a small amount of Frontline (or the diluted Frontline) on a cloth or tissue and wipe down the whole body of the snake except the head, leaving a coating of the Frontline. It soon dries out and is lethal to any mite which comes into contact with it.
Put the treated snake in a safe place and strip out and clean the viv to bare walls. Wipe the walls, floor and ceiling with the Frontline and leave to dry out. When the smell has virtually gone, the viv can be set up again with uncontaminated furnishings, anything carried over from the viv before stripping being sterilised in some way.
The snake can then be put back, preferably without water for a short time as this absorbs any fumes still left.
The mites on the snake will be killed and any in the viv nooks and crevices will be killed when they emerge. The Frontline has a lasting effect and will probably still be effective when the next generation of mites hatch from hidden eggs. One treatment cleared the mites for us. However, keep a sharp lookout for the second generation mites and retreat if you see any. If you do this quickly, no eggs will be laid and that will be the end of the mites.
The layer of Frontline on the snake can be left on, to be got rid of at the next shed.
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Best wishes, Jackie

3:4 Eublepharis macularius
1:0 Gekko gecko
3:4:1 R. auriculatus
1:3 R. ciliatus
1:1 R. chahoua
1:1 R. leachianus henkeli

[JohnC]

I have to agree with Jackie's post
I used the same procedure and it was the end of mites.
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John
Oldest member, been keeping reptiles for 36 years.
Carpets, royals, rainbow boas, corns, milks, ackies and leos.

[emma_fyfe]

thanks everyone for your replies, they were very helpful!

As it's a bank holiday today i cannot get any frontline, i will go and get some tomorrow. Can this be bought from pet shops and is it specifically for snakes or another animal?

i will give her a bath today and clear out the wood chips in her viv and replace with kitchen roll for now.

Emma

[JohnC]

The snag with Frontline is that you can only get it from a vet or from America via Ebay.
Sometimes you can get it over the counter at a vets, but you may have to get and pay for a consultation, it can get expensive.
Vets vary a lot in how they handle this sort of thing, it will be worth ringing a near one to you and ask for it.

The other two products mentioned earlier may be easier to get and cheaper.
_________________
John
Oldest member, been keeping reptiles for 36 years.
Carpets, royals, rainbow boas, corns, milks, ackies and leos.

[JohnC]

Frontline is intended for cats and dogs to kill fleas and it's use for reptiles is not officially recognised. But it is a good remedy for snake mites
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John
Oldest member, been keeping reptiles for 36 years.
Carpets, royals, rainbow boas, corns, milks, ackies and leos.

[markchristopherscott]

Where do the mites come from? Mark