Thanks for nothing (or: new snake had mites)

[channa]

Got home today from work,after looking in on my snake for while i noticed it had mites... It's the first real look ive had at it as it's the first time ive seen it out. I called the shop to ask them what can be done to which they said it didn't have mites when they sold it! So they must have come from from the brand new setup i bought with it!!

On getting it out to check under the chin and around the cloaca i also noticed it was very thin. Now i realize why i wasn't allowed to handle it. They got it out the tank and straight into a travel pot. Ive kept snakes a long time and been that excited i didn't press to handle it to check it over. Never give it a thought untill now... Hopefully it will pull through and grow to a nice big girl and have lot's of healthy babies. (When i find a male).

Regards Tim

[Stefan-A]

I edited the title a bit to make it a bit more descriptive of the topic. If you have a better suggestion, let me know.

[chris-uk]

Sounds like the shop are a bunch of <insert appropriate descriptive or use my chosen term: "shysters">.
It's amazing how frequently shops do stuff like this. I guess lesson learn if they don't let you handle the snake it's time to walk away. Anyway, now you're on the forum you can pick up contacts with decent breeders.

And if you don't mind, can you pm me the name of the shop so I can be sure to avoid them?

[Ruth]

I bought a corn with mites. I treated all my snakes at the same time and got rid of all mites very quickly. I took out each snake and slathered them in mineral oil, i then allowed them to slide through a paper towel I was holding the mites would come off at this stage. I then placed the snake in a warm bowl of water for several minutes and repeated the towel step. Each snake was placed into a rub that had been sterilized with steam and given paper toweling and a couple of toilet tubes. Each tub had a pot with enough water for them to submerge in . I repeated this everyday for a week. I also ran vasaline(petroleum jelly) around the edge of the vents on the rubs as the mites can't travel through it. After a week I noticed no more mites. I then kept sterilizing the rubs every third day. I never saw any mites after doing this and have yet to face this problem again. We did once have mites with chickens and it left it's mark on me lol and I didn't hold off when I found them on my snake.

I hope all turns out well and am glad the snake went to someone who cares and noticed

[guidofatherof5]

Tim,

How are you treating the mites? If I may suggest.

http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/husb...ite-usage.html

[gregmonsta]

Got home today from work,after looking in on my snake for while i noticed it had mites... It's the first real look ive had at it as it's the first time ive seen it out. I called the shop to ask them what can be done to which they said it didn't have mites when they sold it! So they must have come from from the brand new setup i bought with it!!

On getting it out to check under the chin and around the cloaca i also noticed it was very thin. Now i realize why i wasn't allowed to handle it. They got it out the tank and straight into a travel pot. Ive kept snakes a long time and been that excited i didn't press to handle it to check it over. Never give it a thought untill now... Hopefully it will pull through and grow to a nice big girl and have lot's of healthy babies. (When i find a male).

Regards Tim

Whatever you decide to treat it with - make sure it's not this - My Experience with Callingtons. - Reptile Forums

[mike_panic]

Sounds like the shop are a bunch of <insert appropriate descriptive or use my chosen term: "shysters">.
It's amazing how frequently shops do stuff like this. I guess lesson learn if they don't let you handle the snake it's time to walk away. Anyway, now you're on the forum you can pick up contacts with decent breeders.

And if you don't mind, can you pm me the name of the shop so I can be sure to avoid them?

Unfortunatley, its not just shops that do it. I purchased some Garters from Jason Stoots which had mites. To my surprise, this was his response and I quote "Damn man, I am truly sorry about that. I treated them a few weeks ago, and I had not seen any since. I feel very bad about that, it was not my intention to send her if I thought she still had any. Out of the snakes you bought she was the only one in the rack that had an outbreak. Again, I am very sorry, if it helps at all, I'll send you $20 or a can of provent a mite from work?? I just feel really bad.
Just let me know." After spending several hundreds dollars, THAT ANSWER IS AN ABSOLUTE JOKE. Anyway, you really have to be careful my friends. Reputation, not a big name or a big fancy website but REPUTATION is everything in this hobby. Mike Panichi

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Well that sounds like a good answer too me! He didn't know the snake still had mites and apologised for it and was nice enough to offer to send you some provent a mite. I know how much of a pain mites are, but everybody knows if you are in this business long enough you will run across mites a few times and that's one reason why it is a very good idea to quarantine. I got some snakes from jason while he was having this same outbreak before the mites were cleared and i told him to ship mine anyway so i kept them in a seperate room until i got the problem resolved. I picked up 15 snakes from him and other than the mites they were all very healthy except for one little baby runt which we knew (and was prewarned) only had a very small chance to make it so i still have 14 healthy snakes from jason and he had very good pricing on everything so i would buy more snakes from him in the future! Jason is a great person and has been very good to me!

unfortunatley, its not just shops that do it. I purchased some garters from jason stoots which had mites. To my surprise, this was his response and i quote "damn man, i am truly sorry about that. I treated them a few weeks ago, and i had not seen any since. I feel very bad about that, it was not my intention to send her if i thought she still had any. Out of the snakes you bought she was the only one in the rack that had an outbreak. Again, i am very sorry, if it helps at all, i'll send you $20 or a can of provent a mite from work?? I just feel really bad.
Just let me know." after spending several hundreds dollars, that answer is an absolute joke. Anyway, you really have to be careful my friends. Reputation, not a big name or a big fancy website but reputation is everything in this hobby. Mike panichi

[twgrosmick]

Well that sounds like a good answer too me! He didn't know the snake still had mites and apologised for it and was nice enough to offer to send you some provent a mite. I know how much of a pain mites are, but everybody knows if you are in this business long enough you will run across mites a few times and that's one reason why it is a very good idea to quarantine. I got some snakes from jason while he was having this same outbreak before the mites were cleared and i told him to ship mine anyway so i kept them in a seperate room until i got the problem resolved. I picked up 15 snakes from him and other than the mites they were all very healthy except for one little baby runt which we knew (and was prewarned) only had a very small chance to make it so i still have 14 healthy snakes from jason and he had very good pricing on everything so i would buy more snakes from him in the future! Jason is a great person and has been very good to me!

I'm sorry but this is no excuse. I also got snakes in from Jason with mites and was told the mite situation was taken care of. It is unacceptable to send snakes with mites under any circumstance. I have had lots of good dealings with Jason too but all it takes is one bad one and a few lies to screw all that up.....

[mike_panic]

Well buddy if that sounds like a good answer to you....remind me to never ever ever buy a snakes from you!!!! Lol. I have been breeding snakes longer than many of the forum members have been alive probably and I can proudly say....I have never ever ever had a mite. Not once. If you think that mites are simply part of the hobby my friend you and guys like Jason need to clean your acts up. What I took out of his response was that he new he had mites and sent them anyway. And my friend, for the record, the snake was covered in mites and there is no way in hell he didn't know it before he put money ahead of what's right and shipped that disgusting animal. So in closing, at least in my world, there is never a valid excuse for mites or disease. I'm actually shocked that you would admit to thinking mites are a part of our hobby. It says a lot about how you keep your collection.