Oh My God Mites!

Solid Snake · 12-12-03, 06:39 PM

damnit! i never thought it would happen to me but today my beautiful IJ carpet has mites!

i noticed it today when my IJ was in its water boal for 2 straight days. He just finished a shed and i was really curious so i went and fed him and he went into his hide. When i went to reach over to check his dish, small black things were in it. I thought he pooped but the water was too clean. I took one of those small black things and squished them and it kinda had brownish red stuff.

What do i do!!!????

Bartman · 12-12-03, 06:50 PM

Im not 100 percent sure on that but theres omething you can buy called miteaway..try looking for that maybe..good luck!

gonesnakee · 12-12-03, 06:54 PM

Run a search & look for Nix treatment for mites. You can assume that your whole room & all the animals in it are infested also. You have alot of cleaning in front of you. After this is over you will also seriously need to look at your quarantine steps & treatment of new animals to prevent getting them ever again. Mark I.

Wildkingdom · 12-12-03, 06:59 PM

Nix is the best remedy I've found you can buy it over the counter at Walmart and most pharmacy's. It is a treatment for headlice so it kills the mite eggs 2. One bottle makes 4 liters of solution and if stored in a dark cool place will last up to a year.

Tim

~Suntiger~ · 12-12-03, 07:13 PM

I'd have to say Nix as well, the one time that a few of my babies had them it got rid of it like magic!

lolaophidia · 12-12-03, 07:23 PM

If you're looking for an alternative to Nix, check out the VPI web site the war on mites. http://www.vpi.com/
After reading this site, I decided to go with Black Knight. Ordered it on-line and after the first treatment- no mites. Treated twice more just to be safe and still no mites. I now have a can that will hopefully last the rest of my reptile keeping career if I'm careful. It's more expensive that mixing up our own Nix solution, but I wanted something easy. The main thing to keep in mind is that you can't just treat the snake, you have to treat everything (cage, shelves, furniture in the room, carpet, you name it). Until you begin your chemical treatment you can soak the snake regularly to reduce irritation from the mite bites (and drown some of those little suckers!) and keep totally cleaning the cage daily to reduce the numbers in the cage.
Good luck!

Bartman · 12-12-03, 07:55 PM

how big are mites..would you be able to tell right away? or just from sign the reptile is giving you?

chas*e · 12-12-03, 08:23 PM

Get some Nix it works great ...and don't freak out ...mites are not that bad or dangerous to the health of your reptile...mostly a nuisance.

BoidKeeper · 12-12-03, 08:42 PM

I've used both Nix and vapona. I'm 100% sold on nix. It's way too easy and much safer. Faster too. Take a 1L spray bottle squirt in about a loonie size amount of nix into the bottom of the bottle. Add warm water and shake.
Place the snake inside a rubbermaid and spray it down, face, vent every where. Let is swim in there for a while.
Truf every thing in the cage. Spray the cage and all around, under, on top, behind, everywhere. Put in some newspaper and plastic hide boxes. Place the snake back into the cage. Do not rinse off the nix. Keep the water bowl out for 24hrs too.
In 7 days repeate. If you have other snakes and cages just assum they are infested too and treat them all.
Good luck,
Trevor

Solid Snake · 12-12-03, 10:33 PM

damn i have 3 other snakes

ok is this wat i do i get a water and put a loonie size full of nix and spray everything down?

stupid to ask but what about my snake? can i use nix on it, like wipe him down?

i have all my snakes in rubber maid and my Nile monitor wont co-operate... i need to buy a bigger one for him tommorrow.

i dont understand how i got them in the first place...

and yea i know how mites look like, i read a few care sheet. They look like black peppers

BoidKeeper · 12-12-03, 11:13 PM

stupid to ask but what about my snake? can i use nix on it, like wipe him down?
The only stupid question is the unasked one. That's is exactly what you do. Spray the snake while it's inside an empty rubbermaid. No wiping or touching. Just make make sure you spray the vent area too.

i dont understand how i got them in the first place...

They are very easy to take home from pet shops. Also treat everything that comes into your collection as if it does have mites and you'll probably never get them again.
Cheers,
Trevor
i have all my snakes in rubber maid and my Nile monitor wont co-operate... i need to buy a bigger one for him tommorrow.

Snake mites are specific to snakes so as long as that's what you have don't worry about you monitor. Just spray in and around his cage to kill any eggs.

gonesnakee · 12-12-03, 11:28 PM

Never use Nix in full strength, but diluted as mentioned above. Another main thing with Nix is that it will kill all your spiders, crickets etc. also so they must be removed from the area if you have any that is. Mark I.

Lisa · 12-14-03, 10:31 AM

Personally I prefer provent a mite. works wonders, don't spray it on the snake, rather you spray it in the eclosure.

Oliverian · 12-14-03, 02:52 PM

Is the nix solution all right to use in a room that has aquariums? I've never had a mite infection, but I want to know in case it happens in the future.
-TammyR

Wildkingdom · 12-14-03, 10:13 PM

I'm assuming that your aquariums contain fish? I think it would be fine as long as you are not spryaing towards the tanks. I don't think the air born particles would do too much. I had two aquarium in my snake room and I got mites once and I didn't lose any fish etc...

Tim