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We have Mites! :(

B

broken_20_2

New member
Ashley called me yesterday and told me that there was a black bug crawling on her Snow. It was kind of ironic, because I was just looking through the forum and reading about mites. I told her to look around Gia's eyes and chin for black spots. She found a mite on her eye, and black specs in the scales on her chin. We went out last night and bough some mite spray (for snake and cage) and mite powder (for cage). We are going to begin the cleaning process tonight, and I just wanted to make sure I did it right.

We are going to take everything out of the viv and bake it at 300 for about 15 mintues. Throwing away the Aspen, cleaning the viv with bleach water (what proportions? 50/50?) and rinse it VERY WELL! Then I'll put the powder on the bottom and corners of the tank, put the new Aspen in, then the stuff we baked. Then spray down the snakes, wait 15 minutes and rinse them? Just want to make sure we do this right. Her Snow is already getting a sore on her check from rubbing at the mites, and I don't want anymore damage to happen to these snakes.
 
I really cannot help you all with the mite problem, but the chlorine mix should be 3% solution. Which would be 4 fluid ounces of chlorine to a gallon of water. Rinse real well and dry real well. There are several threads about mites on the forum. Search for them and I am sure your questions will be answered. It sure seems like you have had more than your share of problems getting started. Hang in there and good luck!! :cheers:
 
If you scroll down to the bottom of this page there are some of the mite posts listed under "Similar Threads".
 
I would leave the aspen out and just put in paper towel so that you can see if there are more mites.
 
Our snakes have a new home in a 20 gallon viv (yes, they are together for right now, I've gotten the lectures
Click to expand...

How about another lecture? :)

Perusing through your threads, I have come the conclusion that you currently own 2 aquariums: a 20 gallon and a 10 gallon. Therefore the snakes have the capability to be separated. Both tanks have their own heat supply, the 20 gallon the UTH, the 10 gallon the side-mounted something I've never heard of. So why aren't these unsexed and now mite infested snakes separated?

Instead of having just one snake to treat for mites, you now have two. So if you get one cleared up and the other still has a gravid mite remaining somewhere, its going to re-infest the whole lot. This is one of the main reasons for housing separately, disease and parasite transmission.

If money was the issue, you wouldn't have been able to go out and buy a whole new complete set-up for them, nor the mite treatment, nor the snakes in the perfect world. Because they "look pretty together" or "because they seem to like each other" aren't really a valid excuses. Frankly, I can't think of a single excuse to validate keeping animals together that don't really like to be together in the first place, other than selfishness and laziness.

The added stress from having to harass your snakes by continual cleaning, de-miting their bodies and already seeming to be fussy eaters might just compound the issue into a whole other monster. Please separate them before its too late.

After reading everything, I also didn't know that getting the heat-cold ratio in a tank was THAT hard. I like a cold house, and generally I use only a UTH or a lamp, but not both on the same tank (unless its my BP tank who needs higher temps). I think you're just making a mountain out of a mole-hill. These are temperate climate snakes, not something that needs exact temps. General and slightly above normal room temps make them happy.

Then again I'm not particularly picky about it either. So long as the general overal temp stays above 75, I don't worry. During the day the light or UTH is on, at night its turned off and voila, daytime high and nightime low. Most of my snakes now are in a room that's kept a constant 83 degrees. No stress from it being too hot or too cold, no regurges, everything as normal.

The wattage on your bulb sounds a bit much. I don't use anything above a 40 if I can get away with it, especially if its a black or red bulb that's on at night. So that may be why you can't get your temps to drop at night. Besides, snakes can see the black/blue lights, they really can't see red so it doesn't disturb them at night. If you must have a light for display purposes, use fluorescent lights. They put out virtually no heat at all.

Steps I think you should take:

1: Get your snakes sexed by a qualified person
2: Separate, Separate, Separate
3: Treat them for the mites
4: Keep their enclosures super clean till the mites are gone
5: Don't become anal about tempreture gradients, that's the perfect world and most of us are happy so long as they stay within 75-82.

Since I'm certain that we will be getting atleast one more corn, I was going to go out tonight and buy a 20 gallon,
Click to expand...
I hope that is still not a goal for you under the current situations. And if it is...

I'm starting to sound like a broken record, and wonder if I should even own snakes...
Click to expand...
Then I'd be inclined to agree with you..


Sorry if it sounds snotty, but this just really annoys me when people KNOW the dangers and ignore them anyway. You seem to genuinely care about the snakes' health and well-being, but yet you put them into known dangers.
 
Taceas,

I wouldn't say that you came off as snotty. It was more of a self-righteous and arrogant tone, with an underlying concern for the snakes.

Thanks for the advice everyone, as always, you were very helpful. :)
 
*sigh* I'm going through the same thing right now. A boa I purchased at a show developed mites (more then likely she had mites, was treated once to get rid of the adults and sold off quickly before the eggs hatched).

Anyway, here's what you need to do...

1) Soak the snake(s) in luke warm water for about an hour. Mites drown fairly easily.
2) While the snake(s) is soaking, use a 15% bleach solution on EVERYTHING in the cage. Rinse very well with HOT water.
3) Use a reptile safe mite killer on the snake and the cage...I use "Mite Off" by ZooMed...It's all natural, no pesticides and has been effective.
4) Place the snakes individually in plastic containers with paper towels and a plastic hide. That's it. The simplier the better, easier to clean and monitor.
5) Repeat process every 3-4 days for at least a month

I also spray around the cage incase their are any escapees...
 
I wouldn't say that you came off as snotty. It was more of a self-righteous and arrogant tone, with an underlying concern for the snakes.
Click to expand...

Not to drag this all out...but I do care for the snakes. Yours, mine, and everyone elses. It just really gets under my skin to see a new owner who seems to have bought two unsexed snakes on a whim wholly unprepared and uneducated, and then not really listening to the advice that's been given from anyone on here. Have you even bought Kathy Love's book? That right there should be your next impulse buy.

I am not a self-righteous person, anyone who knows me personally on here can vouch for that. I have your snakes' best intentions in mind when I spoke. I don't think I was being particularly arrogant either. I don't know everything about keeping snakes. But I know enough to know that you're headed for trouble ahead if something isn't done in the short term.

In very rare cases, sometimes coddling people and being sweet and nice while giving life-saving information doesn't ever sink-in mentally. It takes getting inflamed in posts before people ever really 'see' the issues at hand.

I just don't understand why you don't think housing together is a problem. If you would research the problems associated from it, you might change your mind. Or to hear the horror stories some fellow members experienced when they first got snakes and didn't think it was a big deal at the time either.

You have the means to do it, but yet stubbornly refuse. Nothing may happen, or the worst can happen. Your choices can turn that chance to 0%. Its like not wearing your seatbelt in a car. You may not die if you don't wear it and get into a wreck, but the risk is that much higher if you don't wear it. You're overly concerned about the proper proportion of heating the viv or yellow patches, rather than the chance that one might eat the other one, or have contracted a disease and spread it to the other, or get one gravid before she's physically ready and then dies a slow death from egg-binding.

Several people have mentioned it, and you just shrug it off like water off a duck's back and go on ranting about your heating issues. Which to me is being overly anal about the wrong problem. Its almost like you're doing it in spite of everyone's comments, just to seemingly say "Well I'll house them together and when nothing happens, I can say 'see, told ya so!' " or "People in Europe do it, so why can't an Illinois person?" which coming from SW Indiana and seeing your fellow statemates everyday doesn't surprise me in the least. :grin01:

Since you're reluctant to research the issue, I thought I might save you the time of clicking on the Search button and typing in "cannibalism":

Link #1

Link #2

Link #3


Hopefully now that you're forcefully armed with the information you can make an "informed decision" about the fate of your snakes.

:cheers:
 
I am sorry, I usually keep my nose in my own business, until a certain point.

There are a lot of us out here, that yes, we bought snakes, whether it was based on a whim, lack of education, misguided information from the pet store, whatever. We may not think we know as much about the subject, but we feel we are trying to learn, albeit, maybe a little late, but learn anyway.

The best way for us to learn, since there is so much conflicting information out there (do a search on multiple sites, and you will see all sorts of posts such as "I have kept my corns together for 8+ years without problems) is to keep researching till we can decide for ourselves what the overwhelming majority of the "experts" really think on the subject.

I have only been reading this site a few days, and I have seen a lot of new people post questions, and the response is, "do a search idiot", "what is wrong with you", "how could you be so stupid as to ask that". I may be wrong, but it seems that these forums truly only are successful when there is activity. If that activity is discouraged, then people will not check back to see what is going on. In other words, if you keep berating the newbies for their ignorance, they are not going to feel comfortable posting questions. If they don't post questions, then what will all the so called "experts" come to this site for, so they can discuss that which they already KNOW amongst themselves?

If the purpose of this site is only for those that already have the knowledge, then I will have to go back to asking my questions of the stupid high school kid at the pet store.

Sorry for my rambling, I will crawl back into my hole now.
 
If you have been around for a few days reading I hope you have read entire threads. Yes, people will suggest that you do a search. That is the best way to find a variety of information about questions that have been asked many times.
If you were to do these searches you would find what the "experts" have to say on the subject- DON'T.
You would also see that many people reply to these questions trying to help, even if it is only to tell someone where the search button is-some people don't know about it until told.
I belong to several snake forums, but this by far the best out there. Both because of the willingness people have to help, but also because of the quality of information you receive.
The particular response received in this post was due to someone asking for help and then not willing to accept the information they were given.
Everyone here was once, or still is, a newbie. That is over 6000 members! You have to get past the idea that everyone is going to be what you consider polite and listen to the information you are being given. Isn't that why you are here?
This is not a chat room, it is a forum. People do have fun and joke around, but they are also serious about their hobby, or for some, their business. They want to give you the best possible information to help you ensure the health and enjoyment of your snakes.
I think we all get a slap on the wrist at least once-right of passage maybe (at least I got mine :) ).Everyone is welcome here, but if someone takes the time to try and help you the least you can do is listen.
If you really want to learn, there is no better place or teachers.

Well, this turned out a longer rant than intended so I will stop here.
Peace
 
I might also point out that the fact that both snakes now having mites, is the perfect example of why housing together is a problem. If this had been a bad case of R.I. instead of mites, there would have been the potential possibility of not one, but two fatalities. How can you justify that? It makes no sense to me.....
 
:-offtopic well kind of.

I want to thank you Taceas/Misty for posting those links. My daughters have asked about why we can't keep the snakes together. I have of course given them the whole lecture, but tonight I showed them all of the pics in that first link. Their response, "Never mind, my snake is always going to be alone!" Out of the mouths of babes :).
 
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