Are These MITES??

[Aundrea]

Ok from my other thread I said that my snakie might have mites. Well I went over to check up on him and I found this at the bottom of his mouth. I took some pics. Not super clear. I have a 2 year old and a 4 year old right next to me saying WHAT IS IT?? CAN I SEE??? UGH LOL

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/100_1256.jpg

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/100_1259.jpg

[Snake lover 3-25]

kind of looks like scale rot.... try to get closer pics....:D

[Aundrea]

Ok I can do that.. Its black inside his scales in that area and at the corner of his mouth there is this little area I think its grey.. ill take closer pics with the spawns at my feet bugging me LOL

[Snake lover 3-25]

it may be a few mites burried under the scales........ but if you soak him in water they should just come right out.... may take a while though..... just check all over him to make sure there are no more....... but if it is scale rot soaking him in water for any length of time will just make it worse..... so be sure first:D

[Aundrea]

ok... What does scale rot look like?

[Snake lover 3-25]

kind of rusty in color and the scales will look like they are damaged or rotting lol
mites should look olmost the opposite sticking out in small black bumps rather than sinking in....... if it's sclae rot you can put bacitracin on if it's mites just soak him in water..... if it's mites it's not too bad bc there looks to be just a few.....

[Garter_Gertie]

It gives a brownish tinge to the 'unattached' end of the scale, like the bottom part - the part facing towards the tail.

And it will be ragged, like something chewed on the scale.

Discoloration and 'chewing' looking.

[Garter_Gertie]

Best bet is to give a weak bacitracin solution bath... I don't know the mixture, but I can find out. Dry sniglette well with towel, then using like a Q-tip (r) use full-strength bacitracin on just the individual scales.

The baths should be daily for two weeks.

[olive oil]

Poor little guy!!! I hope you get him all fixed up.

[Aundrea]

Thank you guys sooooo much!!! I hope its not scale rot. It these little back thingys in his scales. UGH. Poor guy. Where do i get bacitracin at?

[Lulu Bennett]

My snakes have suffered with both but with the pics that you have posted its very hard to tell. try and get a closer pic. if it helps pop him in a small clear plastic container and take some pics that way.

I got a small bottle of mite spray from the pet store cleaned out the tank thoroughly, soaked the snakes in warm water. spray the snakes and the tank with mite spray. best putting news paper or plain paper for substrate. keep cleaning and spraying with mitespray.

If it is scale rot then i cleaned out the tank, wiped the snake down with a slightly damp cloth to make sure it is clean and i wipes it down with inodine wipes from the hospital.

just post clearer pics up so we can let you know which it is.

Lulu xxx

[Garter_Gertie]

Drug store. It's just an antispetic. It's the stuff they 'paint' you with - that's orange? - before they do surgery, or maybe stitch up a cut finger or something.

[infernalis]

The pharmacy section of any store...

Who is that Aundrea??

Keep away from other snakies until we know what you are dealing with.

[GartersRock]

If it's mites all the other snakes in that tank will have it too. ;)

[infernalis]

I just saw the other thread...

Treat them all Aundrea:eek:

[Snake lover 3-25]

The pharmacy section of any store...

Who is that Aundrea??

Keep away from other snakies until we know what you are dealing with.

lol look at x-mas present thread lol:D

[adamanteus]

There appears to be some dorsal 'spotting' on the picture in your other thread (unless it's just dirt). This might indicate scale rot.

[infernalis]

lol look at x-mas present thread lol:D


look up the list one post Shanley:D


I just saw the other thread...

Treat them all Aundrea:eek:

[Snake lover 3-25]

o lol missed that lol

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

I am going to go ahead and say yes.. those are mites. I found out that is their favorite place to hide on a snake when I had them. Every snake that had mites had them in that fold of skin under their chin.

Aundrea, take out your snake, gently but firlmy grip his head and use your fingernail to move that flap of skin under his chin and look for small black dots. If you see small black dots... these are mites. Usually you can take your fingernail and gently scrape at the and you will see them move or fall off. Also look in around his eyeball.. that is their other favorite place to hide.
I dealt with many a mites at one point and that definitely looks like them using their favorite hiding place!!!

[Hornets23]

I thought my snake had mites...but when i actually look on her, I dont see any. The reason I thought she had them was becuase there was this little white speck moving in her water bowl..which is black. Are all mites black? Maybe I just need to look harder for the mites but i figured they would be fairly easy to see if they are there. It is a dark snake though...Does anyone have any opinions on this?

[Snake lover 3-25]

yeah i had those too.... they are just little wood bugs.... they do no harm to the snakes:D just change out the substrate and bake the other wooden things if you want them gone:D

[Aundrea]

Yep they are mites. I have him soaking now in some warm water. Poor guy. I saw one crawling all over his eye!!!!!!! :eek::eek: Im gonna go get some stuff at petsmart tomorrow. I didnt get to go tonight. Ill keep him away from the others but I also will treat the others. UGH I HATE MITES LOL :mad:

[Hornets23]

Ahhh sweet. Thats good new shanley...Thanks! I'm still going to keep an eye on her but that a relief to hear.


yeah i had those too.... they are just little wood bugs.... they do no harm to the snakes:D just change out the substrate and bake the other wooden things if you want them gone:D

[reptile3]

Yep they are mites. I have him soaking now in some warm water. Poor guy. I saw one crawling all over his eye!!!!!!! :eek::eek: Im gonna go get some stuff at petsmart tomorrow. I didnt get to go tonight. Ill keep him away from the others but I also will treat the others. UGH I HATE MITES LOL :mad:


That's a bummer.. Make sure you let that guy know, OK!!! water suffocates the mites, they little black looking ticks.

[drache]

you can also rub him down with some vegetable oil - the mites don't like it and it'sll protect him until you can treat him - in fact it used to be the treatment people used

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

The best time to nip mites in the bud is when the snake is ready to shed. You have to be able to catch it and you have to know when it's time, though. Right after the blue phase, a snake's cloudiness all but dissapears and while the snake looks duller than usual, the skin itself is clear again. That is the time when the snake will slough and if you are able to slough the skin for the snake very carefully and in one peice (it literally will slide right off and once started the snake will even help you) ALL the mites come off WITH the old skin and are stuck inside of it since the skin forms a compelte barrier and turns inside out upon being shed. Basically you end up with a mite free snake and an old nasty bag full of mites.. you can see them crawling insde the skin freaking out!!

I have used that to my advantage to successfuly eradicate mites. I just take one fingernail and gently slide it over the snakes nose and start the shed. It is important that the now mite free snake does NOT come into contact with his old skin, or his enclosure again until it has been COMPELTELY torn apart, sterilized, and cleaned. Anything pourous should be discarded and anything non porous should be HARDCORE washed.

and don't try it unless you are fully comfortable and capable of doing so :), you don't want to hurt your snake!

[Aundrea]

Shannon I wish we lived by each other LOL :eek::D

[infernalis]

I helped Carmella and Snowflake shed last night, just to be helpful.

Carmella was coming off in hunks, so I sprayed her with the zoo med stuff, and the rest peeled off nice.

Snowflake was rubbing the water bowl, I caught her, and zip-peeled right off.

[Aundrea]

I wish i could do that. I dont know if they would let me help them peel. Well I think Bennie would but the others dunno. I need to get some of that Zoo Meds shed stuff. That would help them better.

[Snake lover 3-25]

i've helped sooty shed..... she seemed to really appreciate the help....... she just moved carefully through my hands while I held it and let her pull it off :D

[anji1971]

I've never assisted with a whole shed, but I spend lots of time getting the last smidge of tail tips off them!

[Aundrea]

Well the mites are still there but not as bad. Today I cleaned out the tank really well and soaked 2 snakies. Bennie and Swiper would not have it at all but they were in the water for a few. Max and the new guy soaked for 20 mins. None of the others has mites but i sprayed them with that Jurassi mite spray and the new guy also. I found 3 mites in the water he was soaking in and when I went to check up on them a few hours ago i saw 2 mites on the new guy and he let me pick them off. Hes so calm :D And i found 2 dead ones in the container hes in. His chin is looking alot better now. There used to be 2 black rows of mites on him now there is very few. :D. I will soak them again tomorrow and spray them.. I hope these damn mites will die soon..

[Hornets23]

So aundrea...just curious....are the mites really easy to see? It would be pretty hard to miss them right?

[reptile3]

So aundrea...just curious....are the mites really easy to see? It would be pretty hard to miss them right?

not really hard, since her snake is albino... they are small, tiny mites or ticks.
sometimes are crawling on or around snake.

You can pick them off, & soak your snake in water. Water suffocates them.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

they are pretty easy to spot, IMO. As long as you have always payed close attention to your snakes you can tell when one has mites. Especially by the presence of mite poop! Mite poop comes in the form of tiny white dots that will be on the snake's scales. You can spot mites on an albino snake intantly, and you can spot their poop on a not-albino snake with a quick inspection if you don't find the mites themselves first when holding the snake and seeing the little bastards on your hand!!! baby mites are REALLY tiny and I noticed many times are a reddish brown color.

[Lori P]

I found that it was not as traumatic as I first though to treat for mites. I kept the tank bare but for a couple of hides and paper towels for substrate, and treated until I no longer saw any mites at all, which took about 3 weeks. Then I re-assembled the tank and used Provent A Mite before adding the snakes back. I noticed that the Florida Blues have them.... grrrrr..... so will be stripping their tank this weekend.

[Aundrea]

So aundrea...just curious....are the mites really easy to see? It would be pretty hard to miss them right?

On my albino no. You can see them very well. You can see them crawling all over him also. But my others I cant see them. I saw 2 on Swipers chin and hes a Red Sided. I checked them yesterday and soaked them and didnt see any on them. Just the albino one but I still sprayed them and soaked the ones that would let me soak them LOL. I didnt know their poop is white. Ill look for that on my others. You can spot the big ones they kinda hang off the scales and you can wipe them off or use your nail to get them. Im gonna soak them again and spray them in a few hours when my 2 year old takes a nap. Makes it easier when shes sleeping lol