A MITEY big problem.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

It has finally happened. The snake mite has somehow finally made it's way to my snakeroom. I am very upset!!! I always treat for and check for mites on new additions!!! I found them last night in one of my tubs that is house two baby checkered's and my baby florida blue. I spotted them because the checkered are albino. I freaked. I checked all of my other snakes, tore through everyone's bedding, and sure enough... I found some in a few other cages and on a couple of random snakes. Not heavily, but there is at least one instance on every side of the snake room which means that without a doubt there could be a mite anywhere in that room. I have put together a plan of action to eradicate these horrible, evil, vile, no-good, pointless existance explode when you smoosh them little wretches!!! And I wanted to know if this is going to be an effective and safe treatment. I own almost 70 snakes, so I have to overkill and be extremely thorough because I have to rid them for good!

1) I have ordered BK-II snake mite spray from pro-exotics. This is a pesticide that is formulated specifically to kill snake mites and is used by spraying inside a clean enclosure with no water bowl and placing the snake in for an hour or so. All mites on the snake should be dead at that point.

2) I am going to remove every living snake and egg from the snake room. I am going to take all water bowls and leave them to soak in a bleach solution. I will empty all cages of their substrate, vacuum every inch of every cage and part of the room I can. I will them wipe all cages down with a bleach solution, and set all of my rack's tubs out onto the floor, leaving them with their lids off. All cages will be open also.

3) At this point, I am going to bomb the room with a "flea bomb". This emits a mist/fog that will fill the entire room and kill any creepy crawly within it.

4) After the bomb is done... I'll wash and wipe down all the cages to remove any unseen residue from the bomb. after that I will put down newspaper as a temporary substrate. The snakes will each first get a washing under the faucet with a toothbrush to manually rid any mites I may spot. Then I will place the snakes back into their enclosures (with no water bowls) and treat them all with the BK-II snake mite killer. After that, they get their water bowls back and a secondary precautionary treatment within a few days.


is this a good strategy to remove the pimples of my snake room?!?!

[jitami]

Yikes Shannon! Yeah, I'd go with the overkill route, too. While you've got the snakes near the sink for a scrubbing, rub them down with olive oil(or any other harmless oil). The oil suffocates the mites, too. As I was reading I was going to suggest further treatments as mite eggs hatch, but you've got that covered. Good luck!!! Any friends or family willing to help?

[Snake lover 3-25]

wow that's exterme... i've only had them once... and it SUCKED!!!! :(:(:( GOOD LUCK!!!!!!

[anji1971]

Hoo boy! I do NOT envy you, Shannon. What a job!!:eek:
Good luck ridding your room of the little devils.

[Zephyr]

Whoa whoa whoa. Why ya looking at the extremes?
Being a somewhat invertebrate expert, I have experienced this before with my roaches; and there's a simple solution. A few of my friends know where to get cultures of predatory mites; they prey on the mites that prey on your herps. So all you have to do is let a culture of these guys go in the snake room, let them explode in number thus killing off your snake mites, then they themselves will starve to death with no food. ;D

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Um... thats awesome and all, but the thing is I need to be rid of these as fast as possible... and my mom would FREAK if i released mites lol

[Zephyr]

You'd be surprised how much work, time and money these things can save.

[adamanteus]

Mites are a bitch, Shannon, but it sounds like you have it covered. I don't envy you all that work though!:eek:

[drache]

with that amount of thoroughness you'll wipe them out
you must have a lot more time and energy than I do
I'm exhausted just reading about it
but I've had mites and I remember the work it took to get rid of them
I've never used BK-II, but I imagine it's not too different from provent-a mite
what a pain though

[infernalis]

Shanon - you got it covered, the pro-exotics spray is awesome stuff.

The instructions on BK-II scare me, here is why. Snakes breath the air in that enclosure, they are in contact with that enclosure, they EAT in there too. applied as directed, it is inevitable that the snake will inhale pesticides.

Do you really want poisonous pesticide residues in there with your snakes?

Mites feed on our pets, they climb under the scales and bite like a flea. (these bites can become infected and my Puget is undergoing treatment right now, vet bills, medicines = $$$$$$) #**@ MITES!!!

Mites hide in eye cavities, nostrils, under belly plates and vents, I hate them as much as anyone, AND we have dogs/cats/rats/mice so I am not too fond of fleas and ticks either:mad:

BK-II is impressive stuff, and pro-exotics an awesome reptile dealer.

Apply your BK-II as instructed, however, when you "Bomb" the snake room, I would remove the enclosures, Exterminator "bombs" have a "fallout" pesticides and residues will settle all over your enclosures.

"Effective for 6 weeks" simply translates to "poison remains deadly for six weeks":eek:

And since you are cleaning them anyways, why gamble that some of that pesticide may have remained behind to haunt you later?

To treat the snake directly, there are a bunch of "home brew" ideas, my preference is Zoo Med "Mite Off" it is mild and safe as shampoo, and only about $6 a bottle (less on line)

So out on the battlefield, Big guns all the way, "NUKE EM", for the insurgent gorillas hiding out on our pets, be gentle.

My little Puget was a WC, the guy in Washington just grabbed em up and ran a classified on kingsnake:mad: "Adult male Puget very pretty" so I bought it, when I put a picture on KS several respectable garter fans immediately scolded me for giving this creep money. SKY brought mites into my home.


Sounds like you got your plan of attack sound and well thought out, sorry to give you more to think about.

Those little buggers can be tenacious, keep your eyes open for a "second assault" they have a long history of returning.....

Don't forget the ceiling fans, lights, wall switch, window frames, door jams, etc. Have I mentioned how much I hate mites yet?

70 snakes? you got the fever BAD:D

Wayne

http://www.reformedsniper.net/1/badWEEDER.gif

[gregmonsta]

I fought my outbreak with Provent-A-Mite ... all I did was treat the substrate ... within a day I couldn't see any ... re-applied it after a month (even though there was no sign of the little buggers) ... haven't seen a mite since :D ... and, like I said, I only had to treat the substrate :D

[Zephyr]

Evergreen Growers Supply Mite Predators (http://store.evergreengrowers.com/prostores/servlet/Categories?category=Mite+Predators&searchpath=2137245&start=1&total=9)
Ahem...
Simple solution to a simple problem. No need to overkill.

[adamanteus]

I don't know if I'm keen on the idea, Kyle... you could end up with most of the animal kingdom in there!
Just 'zap 'em'!

[Zephyr]

I don't know if I'm keen on the idea, Kyle... you could end up with most of the animal kingdom in there!
Just 'zap 'em'!But the predatory mites won't feed on the snakes, there won't be the possible chance of intoxication of the snakes, and the mite predators themselves will die off when all their food is gone, signifying that there are no reptile mites left. Clean cut and easy.

[beaniesmommy]

A lot of harm and pain could be caused to your snakes waiting for "mite-eaters" (shipping, putting them in a huge amount of cages, time they take to eat all the mites, waiting, hoping & praying they will work for all of her snakes) That is alot of irritant for a long time. I would spray the suckers.

I like the idea of bugs that eat parasites, I think that would be great if you have a couple snakes to deal with but she has a reptile zoo!

:) Andrea

[Zephyr]

A lot of harm and pain could be caused to your snakes waiting for "mite-eaters" (shipping, putting them in a huge amount of cages, time they take to eat all the mites, waiting, hoping & praying they will work for all of her snakes) That is alot of irritant for a long time. I would spray the suckers.

I like the idea of bugs that eat parasites, I think that would be great if you have a couple snakes to deal with but she has a reptile zoo!

:) AndreaAh, but that's the thing; I think it would be more stressful on the snakes to take them out of their cages, and all the exposure to pesticides will definitely take it's toll eventually, no matter how good she tries to rid the room of residue it will still be there. With predatory mites, you simply divide up the colony and release them into the substrate and within a few days the problem is solved.

[gregmonsta]

Evergreen Growers Supply Mite Predators (http://store.evergreengrowers.com/prostores/servlet/Categories?category=Mite+Predators&searchpath=2137245&start=1&total=9)
Ahem...
Simple solution to a simple problem. No need to overkill.

I've seen plenty of post of people using these and they can take several applications to make an impact ... better off stopping them in their tracks with something like Provent-A-Mite.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Okay so do you guys think prevent a mite or BK-II will be a better choice? I have to go this route... I don't have time to wait for predatory mites to take over my entier room... more damage will be done to my small snakes while waiting... snake mites can kill a small snake simply by taking too much blood!

My enclosures can't just be taken out of the room, they are huge and that would require several grown men to do!

There are so many grooves and cracks for them to hide in in the snake room (not to mention in the carpet) that unless I bomb i will not be sure they are gone. What if those predatory mites happen to miss one somewhere in that gigantic room!! All it takes is one mite to survive somehow... and bam they will be back.

Zoo med Mite off, I have this product and i also have DeFlea reptile relief spray... Mite off is a mild pesticide while DeFlea is a natural remedy that is supposed to work by chemically breaking down the mite's outer shell and turning him into a soft mess of organs and killing him that way.

Neither of them are working well for me, as I have used them and the mites still come back, or dont die at all!

I took a big fat mite and smothered in him zoomed mite off, and then semi-dried him to make sure he didnt drown.... an hour later that little sucker was still alive! Same with the DeFlea.

[drache]

can't tell you what's better, since I've not used BK-II
but I am exceedingly happy with provent-a-mite
like Greg, I just spray the substrate - in a tub out on the sun porch, so I don't have to move my roaches which are in the same room as most of my snakes
I've also taken grape vines and branches from my yard, put them in a bucket and sprayed them
I let that stuff sit and air for a few minutes

[gregmonsta]

I aired my stuff for about an hour to be sure ;) works a treat.

[EdgyExoticReptiles]

id use natural habitat mite stuff