He's got mites again!

sattva · 04-25-17, 04:11 PM

You'd think I'd learn! This is like the third time I have been surprised that George has had mites after soaking for three days... I look, and look, and look, and see nothing; and then there they are, dead in his water... What are they, invisible the first three days?... George is going to end up hating me... I have been so busy trying to get his new cage done that I haven't had time to really hold any of my guys... The last two times I have handled George "outside of moving him from one cage to another" he has gotten a Nix bath... I hold him right by his head with one hand and spray him down with the other... He hates it... This morning when I was doing this I was think wait until he is full grown and try this

... My biggest worry now, is whether or not I cleaned his old cage good enough, because that's where Fred is now... Fred has never had mites and I hate to start now... I pulled the two manzanita branch I have in there, and cooked them in the oven at 300 degrees for an hour... everything else got Nixed... And the battle continues...

SWDK · 04-25-17, 04:57 PM

Follow the protocol to treat all your snakes and enclosures with the Nix and it will work. You have to treat them every 3-4 days. I'd do the treatment for a month at least.

When my retic came in with mites I made the mistake of not treating long enough and they came back again. Lucky for me it was isolated to only the retic. I started treatment again and did it for 3 months and have been mite free since.

I still treat every snake in my collection with Nix when I clean their enclosures. I do it as a preventative measure because I go to shows, pet shops and other people houses with reptiles. For me it's easy to keep up and better than dealing with mites.

Good luck and please be diligent with your treatment. You'll see positive results in the end.

Jim Smith · 04-25-17, 05:22 PM

I went through a very similar experience with mites with a couple of my snakes. Just when I thought I had them licked, they'd show up again. I resorted to the predator mites and they did the trick. It's certainly worth giving them a try.

pet_snake_78 · 04-25-17, 05:49 PM

Treat all your snakes on schedule to get rid of em

dannybgoode · 04-25-17, 11:37 PM

Where are the mites coming from? They can only still be present in one of your enclosures or on one of your other snakes as snake mites are a tropical species and non-native to the US.

dannybgoode · 04-25-17, 11:37 PM

Oh and look into predatory mites as an alternative way of clearing them up. Very safe and very effective.

jjhill001 · 04-28-17, 01:19 PM

When you think you have them eradicated keep quarantining for another 2 weeks.

Big_V · 04-28-17, 01:41 PM

Mites can come back up to 6 weeks later. I believe about a 40 day life span from egg to adult. Anytime I bring anything in straight from indo, they all get really simple setups and get first treatment right away. Another in 10 days. Then two more treatments spread out 2 weeks later and then another 2 weeks later. I have a larger collection and brought in multiple animals but its pretty common for them to come back. I used a spray bottle and actually wiped the walls, floor and all utensils to ensure they were gone.

Paper towels, disposable water dishes, disposable hides. When I do a treatment the whole lot goes in the garbage and the enclosure and animal get nix again. The towels, dishes and hide are replaces with new fresh ones.

I thought I had them beat once, then the 6 weeks schedule got rid of any stragglers. My boelens has never soaked again. Usually never see one in water unless the mites are that bad.