mites.

[brandon0133]

well my garters have them now,,,my boa had them before and now the garters,,, my corns and new python dont have them so ive been lucky so far,,trying to wash my hands alot when touching them,,all the way up to my shoulders,,,going to get some more mite stuff today,,,these mites are tiny and white,,i dont see any adults

[adamanteus]

that's what I thought as well
it just seemed odd at the time
perhaps they have a preference - something like the kind of snake they grew up on

To be honest, Rhea, I think you were just plain lucky!

[brandon0133]

i just got done treating my 175 gallon tank,,boy that was a few hours of work,,,,i had to take all the dirt out and i removed the turtle tank also,,,which required moveing all the water out first,,then the wood chips,,which i got rid of it all,,,everything was removed,,then i sprayed mite spray all in the tank then new bedding,,,i removed the snakes first of course and sprayed them with mite spray and ran warm water in the bath tub,,u should have seen them swimming around,,it was awsome,,anyways,,cleaned them up and put them in the cleaned up tank,,will continue to spray the tank untill no more are seen,,which i dont see any right now,,took about 14....10 gallon bags of dirt and wood chips out,,there big rock and all other things in the tank,,took atleast 3 hrs of work,,lol,,all the fake greens were scalded in hot water for about 1 hr then sprayed off with hot water then put back in the tank

[Sid]

i just got done treating my 175 gallon tank,,boy that was a few hours of work,,,,i had to take all the dirt out and i removed the turtle tank also,,,which required moveing all the water out first,,then the wood chips,,which i got rid of it all,,,everything was removed,,then i sprayed mite spray all in the tank then new bedding,,,i removed the snakes first of course and sprayed them with mite spray and ran warm water in the bath tub,,u should have seen them swimming around,,it was awsome,,anyways,,cleaned them up and put them in the cleaned up tank,,will continue to spray the tank untill no more are seen,,which i dont see any right now,,took about 14....10 gallon bags of dirt and wood chips out,,there big rock and all other things in the tank,,took atleast 3 hrs of work,,lol,,all the fake greens were scalded in hot water for about 1 hr then sprayed off with hot water then put back in the tank

Best of luck. The main thing is to followup as you are already planning. I'm having a minor problem with two of my enclosures, but looking like it's now under control.

[brandon0133]

looks at the size of my tank,,lol


my garters

[drache]

To be honest, Rhea, I think you were just plain lucky!

I think you're right
I forget sometimes what a lucky person I am
I should be more appreciativei

[Lulu Bennett]

i thought i would be safe rather than sorry yesterday.
I bathed and treated all four of my garters.
(the marcys loved the bath lol but the tetras hated it and kept propping themselves in the corners of the bath just out of the water, then the marcys would swim over and knock them in lol it was soooo funny.)
anyway i cleaned both vivs and now they have their hide and a bowl of water in there. i feel so crule doing this to them but i would never forgive myself if i did pass them the mites.

[drache]

I've been going the totally non-toxic route with my little mite outbreak here and it seems to be working
I haven't seen any fully grown mites for a while in any case
since the treatment doesn't tox the snakes and some of them seem to enjoy it, I'll just be continuing with the treatment twice a week for a month or so
it just involves very thorough tank cleaning, bathing the snakes and slathering them with oil
it feels a bit like running a snake spa
btw - I got this little bottle of snake oil and it's so nice, I've started using it on myself

[CrazyHedgehog]

mites look black & pop when you pinch them

I saw a tiny white dot running around on one of my snakes heads, I have seen white things before on the glass of another tank a while ago...
In both cases, I have cleaned the tanks thoroughly, sprayed with household flea spray, and then cleaned again.
The snakes, I have used frontline, dotted onto a cotton cloth and then wiped the snakes before putting them backin. seems to get rid of anything moving.

But my question is...everyone keepstalking about red or black moving objects... these are tiny, only just visible, and quite distinctively white! Are they mites? are mites colour co-ordinated?

[drache]

when they're little, they're white
then they grown via brown to black
and when you pop them they're red inside (blood)