The troublesome beasties ....

[gregmonsta]

Oh well ... I was looking at our ratsnake today and found a mixture of mitey thingies seeking to establish themselves little buggers. So, of course I checked my garters and luckily there's no signs of invasion ... this leads us to the origin of the beasties as the only thing that differs from the garter and ratsnake set-ups is that the ratsnake has been kept on Orchid bark.
From now on I'll be freezing the orchid bark prior to placing it in the viv and the big clean will begin tomorrow.
Penelope will be forced to swim in our bathtub for a good 20mins or so, all the viv furnishings will get the bleach treatment and the viv will get the ultimate scrub/disinfect of it's existence.
Thought I'd share this 'mite'y tale

[adamanteus]

Greg, if these are indeed snake mites, they haven't come in with the orchid bark, they have come with one of your snakes. Most likely the Rat as that's the one that's got them.

[gregmonsta]

They don't look like normal snake mites .... they're not black ... most of these are white/transluscent and there seemed to be some larger brownish beasties too ...

[adamanteus]

They're probably just some soil-munching bug then... nothing to worry about!

[gregmonsta]

Groovy ... probably still clean the stuff anyway just to be sure ... don't like the idea of beasty colonies near our snacks.

[adamanteus]

... probably still clean the stuff anyway just to be sure ....

Of course, but at least it's nothing 'nasty'.

[anji1971]

I've seen those little white bug-things in Toadie's tank a few times. They really are harmless, but they still make me feel all yucky inside! So by all means, clean the little monsters up!!

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

lol I have seen these creepy little things too.... at one point i had them in my brazilian rainbow boa's cage and a whole bunch of them had made their way into the water dish and were floating on it in a HUGE colony of little water-proof buggies... all microscopically crawling all over one another on the waters surface trying to figure out how to get away...

[drache]

the mites I got on my snakes are sort of colourless in their younger state

please be careful
the reason I've been semi-absent the past three days, is because I've been depressed and ashamed over the loss of my baby king as a result of complications from mites
the thing is - I checked
I had a recurrence in a few tanks and I've been checking and I fricking didn't catch it
my eyesight is poor and I've just not gotten around to get new glasses
so when I suspect mites, I show the snake to Mikhaila
in this case, she didn't catch it either

please be careful
it just sucks when it's too late

[anji1971]

Oh, Rhea, that's so crappy!
But you don't need to feel ashamed -- you are only human, and mites are tiny and devious.
You checked, Mikhaila checked.......sounds to me like you did your very best, and it was just one of those sad, unfortunate events.
Sending hugs your way..........