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why me?

L

lady nitro

New member
i cant beleave this is happening...

raven has mites...

i'm off to the store to get some stuff to get rid of them....
she had them when i get her.. never notice since i've never seen them before...

can the kill your snake?
 
yes they can kill your snake but only in very extream conditions. Sounds like you noticed thequit early on. What method are you going to use to get rid of them???

Alex
 
the guy at the pet shop said to use iodine and water it down so it looks like tea, and then put her in a bowl of clean water and the mites will fall right off. so we tried that and i seen two fall off. she has a bounch under her neck...

then i read on this board someone said to give them a bubble bath and then rub olive oil on them...

so we also tried that and she really like the bubble bath but she did like the oil on her..

so my husband put some oil on a paper towel and he was rubbing her neck and they were coming off that way..

can mites live in the mulch?
 
yeah thats how i found out what to do....

i'm going to clean her and the tank again tuesday.
i dont want to stress her out to much...
i dont want her heart to pop like phoebe's did..
 
lady nitro said:
i dont want her heart to pop like phoebe's did..
Click to expand...


Don't worry. Chances are you found them early and that won't happen to her. As long as you TRY to keep your snakes alive you are a wonderful snake owner and they will probably make it. ;)
 
thank you guys for all this information....

silverwind thank you for the reinsurance, i feel alot better now hearing that.

i was reading in the hand book and it said that mites like to live in warm spots.....the questions is can you freeze them....

it's about 20 degress ouy by me and snowing, if i set the viv and everything else out side would that kill the mites to?

off course i whould put raven out there.
 
The easiest most simple way is with NIX IMHO. Which I myself have used in the past, and as recently as last week on a 100% albino ball python (which i say to give you an idea how much I trust using it!)

Use 4 cups of water, and about 1/2-3/4 of a teaspoon of NIX. Mix well in a sprayer.

Fill a rubbermaid or other contianer with this solution, a couple inches should do...just enough so that most of the snake is covered but it can easily hold its head above the water...so half an inch or less is normally enough for small snakes, you can add a paper towel island if you want but make sure this is also covered in NIX. Place the snake in this bath and secure a lid on top (air holes of course)

While your snake is soaking in this mixture, remove substrate, hide spots, and throw away.

Scrub enclosure, water dishes, thermometers and surrounding area with the solutions.

Dry enclosure, use paper towel substrate. Leave water dish out for 12-24 hours. You do this so the snake will not soak the solution off.

Place snake back in enclosure. Replace water dish next day.

Repeat in a week or two/As needed.

bmm
 
I agree about the Nix. Only thing I would consider using as it is extremely effective, safe, and very inexpensive (as you will have way more than you will ever need with one bottle). Can be purchased at drugstores from the pharmacist. Store it out of the light (I keep mine in the closet).

Make sure you also spray the actual cage and everything in it that is permanent (except the water of course, leave that out for a while as bmm said). The first treatment should kill the last mite within a few hours. To be on the safe side, retreat the cage after 7 days. When my snake had mites, I would spray the cage and paper towel substrate everytime I had to change it. Never saw a mite again. You can also spray the snake rather than soaking it again, they don't like this but the mites tend to hide within the scales, especially around the chin and eyes. You can just wipe the solution on them or aim the sprayer up, letting it fall like rain on the animal.

I assume this is your only snake and you do not have to worry about passing on the mites to others. However, be sure to toss all disposable cage furniture and substrate away and out of the house. Mites really are nasty and will find your snake. This is one reason why the Nix is so great. It can be used as a preventative as well as a cure.

Good luck!
 
thanks guys..

i picked up some nix when i was out today....

i took raven out today to see if anything was left in my hand so far so good. she still has a few under her neck and her eyes cleared up alot... she had black circles...so that went away....

so the next couple of days i'm going to do the oil treatment on her becuase she likes her neck rubbed, and then with her viv i'll do the nix treatment.....

i'm so glad that i only have one snake....and that she in a small plastic viv.......what a pain in the butt this would be if she was in the 10 gallon.....

i still have to get that ready for her soon too...

thanks again for all the advice...i love you guys..:D
 
Glad to hear my 8 step program is working for you ;)

PLEASE feel free to e-mail me or PM me with any questions about the process I mentioned in that post.

KEYs to treatment are sticking with papertowel ONLY until mites are gone and well-bleaching the tank.

After a bubble bath and olive oil treatment the mites should be nearly 100% gone by the next morning if the oil is properly and thoroughly applied. You should've seen long smears of oil around your tank with dead mites in them.

If they stick around after doing that entire process just once you probably didn't eliminate the source of the mites.

Good luck
 
I have one more mite prevention technique. You can rub a thin line of vaseline all the way around the top (inside and outside) of your snake's enclosure (Be sure to put it under the ventilation holes, though). This is actually more important for people with multiple snakes, but can benefit you as well. The vaseline keeps mites from entering or leaving the enclosure. They get trapped in it and die. Basically it keeps them from spreading to other snakes/enclosures. Since you only have one snake, it will help any mites that may have gotten in the enviroment from being able to get back into your snake's home.
 
:dancer:


no more unwanted guest......

the black stuff i said that was under her neck came off when she shed her skin....even the circles around her eyes..


thank you for all your advice and support..
it's good to know that theres a group like this out there to help everyone....:cheers:
 
congrats! did you find the source?

If you don't mind, could you reiterate what exactly process you choose to rid your snake of the mites, I'm curious and you too can start helping others sooner than you think by posting tips and tricks that worked for you. In no time you'll realize you're the one helping out around here and it'll feel even better!

Nice job, mites can be an elusive foe...
 
well...... i find them really early even before they became a big problem...

i know phoebe didnt have mites..so they didnt come from her.
i had raven for not even a week when i seen them on her, it had to be from petco. i havnt seen them since i treated her.

the guy at petco said to use iodine. mix the iodine with water so it looks like a dark tea. soak her in that and then soak her in plain water..i did that and two fell off. but i didnt like that idea because iodine dehydrates you skin. not good.
then i read to give her a bubble bath (dish soap one drop) and then rub her in olive oil..she didnt like the bath but she like the oil...so we put some oil on a paper towel and rub under her neck as we did that the mites just stayed on the paper towel. yes we put it all over her body to.her viv we tossed her bedding, i placed her hide and stick in the oven at 200degress for 20mins, washed her viv with the iodine water mix. i still havnt tried the nix yet but i do have it just in cause....

i olny have one snake so she didnt get them that way. but at the pet shop she was in a viv little smaller then what she in now, that had 5 not inculeding raven in this viv..plus other snakes.. just walk in a petco you'll know what i'm talking about. but thats where i think they came from. because if it was something here she still would have them ...
 
Mites don't give up that easily. That's bitter experience talking. :cry:

There are almost certainly some walking around on your floor. Given half a chance, they will reinfest your snake. The vaseline around the top of the cage will help keep them out, but I'd keep the snake on paper towels and repeat the mite treatment once a week for three more times. Good luck.
 
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