Just had a battle with mites, hope it did the trick and I was victorious

Kiljosh · 07-26-11, 11:51 AM

Past 2 days Stubbs was soaking in his dish, when I went to change his water last night I discovered black specks. I popped one on a paper towel and it was full of red also managed to find one or two on my hand after rubbing it down his side.

So today I got up early and went and got new aspen bedding and to search for Nix. Unfortunately I could not find it but I did find a bottle of "Mite Off" produced by Zoo Med. The active ingredient in it is Sodium Laurel Sulfate.

Got my stuff home, took Stubbs out and got rid of all the old bedding. He kept watching me from the towel I had folded over him, pretty funny to look back and see him poking his head out staring at me.

I cleaned the whole tank with Bleach/Water, dunked all his hides and his water bowl then thoroughly washed everything with plain water till I could not smell bleach anymore. I then put new bedding in, and sprayed the Mite Off on everything as I put it back in.

Then I had to spray him, thought he would freak out. But he seemed to know what it was or what I was doing because he was crawling around in my hands happily and even let me roll him over to spray his belly and hold his head to spray his nose/those little holes on his face(whats their name anyway).

I followed the directions to a T and washed my hands after every step to be sure I didn't transmit anything. So you think he'll be ok? Lets hope. Im completely attached to him already..

Matt216 · 07-26-11, 02:25 PM

hey man i just got id of my mite war with my ball python haha mite off didnt eally do the trick as i noticed they were back on my bp a couple of hours later. so i went out and bought this stuff called "De Flea Reptile Relief". it kills mites on contact and i havent seen any on him since as i spay him every 3 days as directed.

Kayla90 · 07-26-11, 02:30 PM

Awe poor little guy. Hope the mites don't come back, let us know what happens.
Good luck

whoaxmary · 07-26-11, 03:49 PM

Were you looking in the pet stores for Nix? Because you won't find it in the same spot you'll of found mite off - you need to go to a human pharmacy or wallymart or whereever.
Best of luck!

Lankyrob · 07-26-11, 03:56 PM

Thhe little holes in his face are heat pits, they use them to hunt in darkness as they "see" the heat.

shaunyboy · 07-26-11, 06:23 PM

PROVENT A MITE

use once mites dead,its that easy

its made in the usa and designed for reptiles

cheers shaun

stephanbakir · 07-26-11, 06:55 PM

Good luck!

Kiljosh · 07-26-11, 11:22 PM

Haha so I come home from work and the little guy is going round and round in his hide, he's finally shedding.

Yea I did some searching around when I made that post earlier and saw that Nix is basically lice medication, which I didn't know! But I think I did give him some relief with all the attention/Mite Off. I have all day off tomorrow and have some errands to run but one is to grab Nix and spray his tank down again and give him a nice bath once he finishes his shed.

By the way, the lady who I bought the new Aspen bedding from recommended I not use the Reptile Bark so many of you speak about. She claimed 15 years experience in a reptile shelter and personally owned 5 snakes. She told me every time she got mites or talked to someone with mites that they were using that stuff. So I stuck with the Aspen since my humidity is fine(live in a finished basement set into a mountain).

Anywho thanks guys I'll keep you all updated and get some good pics of Stubbers when he's all shiny and new looking!

Kiljosh · 07-26-11, 11:25 PM

Btw, heat pits. I kinda knew what they were for I was just curious if they had a technical term for them?

stephanbakir · 07-27-11, 07:26 AM

Infrared sensing in snakes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Freebody · 07-27-11, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiljosh

Haha so I come home from work and the little guy is going round and round in his hide, he's finally shedding.

Yea I did some searching around when I made that post earlier and saw that Nix is basically lice medication, which I didn't know! But I think I did give him some relief with all the attention/Mite Off. I have all day off tomorrow and have some errands to run but one is to grab Nix and spray his tank down again and give him a nice bath once he finishes his shed.

By the way, the lady who I bought the new Aspen bedding from recommended I not use the Reptile Bark so many of you speak about. She claimed 15 years experience in a reptile shelter and personally owned 5 snakes. She told me every time she got mites or talked to someone with mites that they were using that stuff. So I stuck with the Aspen since my humidity is fine(live in a finished basement set into a mountain).

Anywho thanks guys I'll keep you all updated and get some good pics of Stubbers when he's all shiny and new looking!

ah mites dont care where they live, i have had mites on all of them lol Mites..... here in BC its illegal to sell mite anything, so my only option was nix, its not a do one time and it gone thing imho, everytime i have had them i had to do it 2 times back to back, I pray them and their enclosures, in and out, spray the perimiter around their cages, wait 2 days, give them water, the next morning, do it all over again and wait 2 days and after that i dont see anything, everytime i did just the one spray, a few weeks later i would find a mite or 2, which means their probly 100 000 000 of the........

i was almost scared to read the post just in case one of my snakes catches one through the internet LOL GL

Kiljosh · 07-27-11, 04:33 PM

Well Stubbs was mite free today, I pulled him out and he was very friendly. Gave me a couple snake kisses. Not head shy anymore I think I finally gained his trust.

I'm gonna keep checking and spraying him/his cage with the mite off daily for the next week or so to catch any lingerers. If I do find they came back I'll use the Nix.

He had a pretty good shed, I didn't expect perfection since I did handle him while cleaning his cage and the night before to check him for the mites after finding his dish peppered with them.

Anyone have any hints on how to get some scales still stuck to him off? I'm pretty sure the top of his head hasn't shed as it's still got an off color to it but the rest of him, wow. The colors are so much brighter now his tans are like golds!

Lankyrob · 07-27-11, 06:22 PM

We use a flannel (facecloth), make it damp with warm water, lay it flat on your hand, put snake on top then wrap it arounnd the snake applying gentle pressure and let snakey slither through your grasp, the rough cloth, moisture and pressure should clear any stuck shed.

forkedtongue · 07-29-11, 10:33 AM

One thing that will help with telling how the mites are coming is not putting bedding back into his enclosure while you are treating. Use paper towel, it will make spotting dead mites coming off you snake much easier and help you judge when the infestation is over a little better since its likely that for every one mite you see there are a dozen you can't....

Kiljosh · 08-16-11, 07:56 PM

Well thought I'd post an update. Mite Off worked really well, for almost 3 weeks he was mite free with just regular spraying every 4 or 5 days. As soon as I finished the bottle he was chillin in his water bowl again 3 days later. Sure enough there they were, drowned little external parasites. Supports the claims I've read about not killing all mites and leaves the eggs.

So I got him out tonight and got rid of all the bark I put in 3 weeks ago. I cleaned his cage with just warm water this time. Mixed 1 tube of Nix in 1 gallon of water. As I was doing this I gave Stubbs a visual inspection and let the tank drip dry.

Found no mites on him, well no obvious big black ones. So I sprayed his whole inside of the cage, all the corners, the screen lid. I even tried to get under the plastic bezel that goes around the top. After I sprayed the inside I then sprayed each hide thoroughly and put them back in on top of 3 layers of nice paper towel for substrate.

Then I sprayed all the thermo probes reattached them, sprayed the entire outside of the cage, the wall behind it, the cabinet next to it, the inside and outside of the stand it sits on as well as the floor in about a 3ft radius all around the cage. I was tempted to spray my whole room but it smells like pet shampoo, nasty.

Then I had to spray him, instead of spraying it on his face I had some in my hand and let him slide through it, he still got pissed. He was trying to escape my hands which was hard to keep from happening since the saying "Slippery as a snake" really applies here.

Anywho, no water for atleast 24 hours. After that though, do I need to clean him/the tank right away? I am going away tomorrow until Saturday.