mites

[JasonL]

Ok. they are only small (male 6mo/female 7mo) will they be to young? I eard tod can kill them if there small or something..

Ok, how big are they?? you will have to be careful about treating them if they are small. Remember that all treatments are a poison and have the potential to harm your snakes. TOD is pretty safe though, if your worried best check in with the vet.

 

[FAY]

Dave, be careful how you use TOD. Take out all water bowls and food (with the dragons) and only fog (do not spray the animal). Don't drown them in TOD esp them being young. and use cautiously and you should be fine.
Not sure if you only need to fog for a couple of minutes and then air out the room thoroughly, someone else may be able to tell you how long.They are easy to eradicate so don't worry too much.

 

[Dave]

ok thanks. I will put them in tubs while doing thet I suppose? should I leave them in tubs overnight or something? I hope the vet has some TOD.. Hopefully he won't spray the snakes though if its bad for them :?

Dave, be careful how you use TOD. Take out all water bowls and food (with the dragons) and only fog (do not spray the animal). Don't drown them in TOD esp them being young. and use cautiously and you should be fine.
Not sure if you only need to fog for a couple of minutes and then air out the room thoroughly, someone else may be able to tell you how long.They are easy to eradicate so don't worry too much.

 

[blackthorn]

oh ok.. will they be to small to use tod with though?

Best to ask your vet about the treatment, I know there's several ways to treat for mites, but I've never had to treat any of my snakes for mites, so I can't say from personal experience.

 

[=bECS=]

If they are only in tubs it should be easy to treat.

 

[Dave]

If they are only in tubs it should be easy to treat.

Bredli are both in 10L tubs, I was actually about to up the females tub size... will wait to do that now.. The dragon was about to be upped to her adult tank too and that will have to wait aswell..

 

[JasonL]

Mites prefer scaled reptiles, ie snakes and skinks, they will infect your Bearded Dragons, but usually only when there is a major infestation, they attack beardies around their eyes, vent, neck folds and armpits. The key to having mite issues is substrates and lazyness. Enclosures with heavy clumping substrates like bark and cat litter will offer them barrier againt any treatment and thus will never be out of your collection. As you only have a few animals you will have no problem ridding them, those of us who have large collections, esp when you have small species of skinks ect, that won't handle treatment very well, can get justifiably paranoid about them.

 

[Dave]

Mites prefer scaled reptiles, ie snakes and skinks, they will infect your Bearded Dragons, but usually only when there is a major infestation, they attack beardies around their eyes, vent, neck folds and armpits. The key to having mite issues is substrates and lazyness. Enclosures with heavy clumping substrates like bark and cat litter will offer them barrier againt any treatment and thus will never be out of your collection. As you only have a few animals you will have no problem ridding them, those of us who have large collections, esp when you have small species of skinks ect, that won't handle treatment very well, can get justifiably paranoid about them.

Ok, thanks Jason. Lucky My collection is still small

 

[SlothHead]

Mites are an absolute pain, not something that I would consider a major issue, obviously if not treated it can be, but it is something that is quite easy to remedy.

The simplest and least problematic (in terms of risk to animal) is to have a few standard 44ltr tubs, and a few heat mats.

Move all animals from the room that the snake with mites was in, place them into the tubs. Think of it like a little holiday for them away from everyone.

The tubs will need to be as far as possible from the tanks, and obviously somewhere out of the way.

Don’t remove anything from the enclosures, just get some TOD, and give each a good spray (fog), shut the doors, and leave them. Repeat this on weekly basis for a month.

The animals that you have moved to the other part of the house will essentially stay in those tubs for at least the month. The one that was infected with the mites, it is best to get a bucket and make it have a soak for as long as possible, i.e. half hour to an hour until it starts getting annoyed.

The reasoning behind this process is to simply break the mite cycle. Any mites that are on the animals will have to get off the animal to lay eggs and then die. So by soaking you will remove a good amount of the mites, and any remaining will get off in there own time. By having the animals in a bare plastic tub with a piece of paper in it, you will see as the other mites are coming off. You will want to give each tub a solid wipe out every 2-3 days for the period that the animals are in there, and spray TOD in the room that you are keeping the animals in.

Mites will look for cracks and other “safe” places to lay there eggs, so considering that you are wiping out the tub every few days, and considering it is plastic, you wont have problems with mites laying eggs in the plastic tubs leaving the only other place being in the room where the tubs are situated. So the TOD in the room will take care of that,

Mites can travel a few meters per night so it is likely that if you have a bit of an outbreak in one enclosure that the other enclosures will also have mites or the mite cycle about to start.

Again, don’t stress about it, it is really just a bit of a hassle, due to all the moving around. There are other methods that you can use, like leaving the animal in the enclosure etc, but personally for the sake of moving the animals totally away from the enclosure, and having a couple of tubs with mats under them for a month in a room, then I would prefer to do this than subject the animals to fogging.

Its totally up to you and all the best with it.
Cheers
Dustin

 

[Dave]

Ok thanks, the only thing that has been removed was the males water bowl which is in another room where he is.. I have a few 20L and 10L tubs will that be ok instead of 44L? I have moved him and his tub into a spare room aswell, should I just leave him in that or still swap for another tub?

Mites are an absolute pain, not something that I would consider a major issue, obviously if not treated it can be, but it is something that is quite easy to remedy.

The simplest and least problematic (in terms of risk to animal) is to have a few standard 44ltr tubs, and a few heat mats.

Move all animals from the room that the snake with mites was in, place them into the tubs. Think of it like a little holiday for them away from everyone.

The tubs will need to be as far as possible from the tanks, and obviously somewhere out of the way.

Don’t remove anything from the enclosures, just get some TOD, and give each a good spray (fog), shut the doors, and leave them. Repeat this on weekly basis for a month.

The animals that you have moved to the other part of the house will essentially stay in those tubs for at least the month. The one that was infected with the mites, it is best to get a bucket and make it have a soak for as long as possible, i.e. half hour to an hour until it starts getting annoyed.

The reasoning behind this process is to simply break the mite cycle. Any mites that are on the animals will have to get off the animal to lay eggs and then die. So by soaking you will remove a good amount of the mites, and any remaining will get off in there own time. By having the animals in a bare plastic tub with a piece of paper in it, you will see as the other mites are coming off. You will want to give each tub a solid wipe out every 2-3 days for the period that the animals are in there, and spray TOD in the room that you are keeping the animals in.

Mites will look for cracks and other “safe” places to lay there eggs, so considering that you are wiping out the tub every few days, and considering it is plastic, you wont have problems with mites laying eggs in the plastic tubs leaving the only other place being in the room where the tubs are situated. So the TOD in the room will take care of that,

Mites can travel a few meters per night so it is likely that if you have a bit of an outbreak in one enclosure that the other enclosures will also have mites or the mite cycle about to start.

Again, don’t stress about it, it is really just a bit of a hassle, due to all the moving around. There are other methods that you can use, like leaving the animal in the enclosure etc, but personally for the sake of moving the animals totally away from the enclosure, and having a couple of tubs with mats under them for a month in a room, then I would prefer to do this than subject the animals to fogging.

Its totally up to you and all the best with it.
Cheers
Dustin

 

[No-two]

I've used TOD as a prevention of mites with juvienile snakes (come to think of it a 8month old stimmie just last night). I've never had a problem with it in the past few years. The one time i got mites they only got to two cages and didn't have a chance to spread anymore (allthough I did treat every animal in that room in and around enclosures).

 

[beeman]

If you have handled both of you snakes in one session the is a big chance you female will already have mites as well

 

[Dave]

If you have handled both of you snakes in one session the is a big chance you female will already have mites as well

I don't hold them.. if I do I clean my hands first with repti-hand and then I wash them to make sure.. I'm trying to find a place to buy f10.. I've checked the female and there's no black things anywhere..

 

[beeman]

Keep a close eye on her, Mites only turn black as the mature into adults
so may be to early to spot

 

[Dave]

Keep a close eye on her, Mites only turn black as the mature into adults
so may be to early to spot

oh, I thought they were always black.. If I picked the male up and counted the black 'mites' (if they are.. it seems like they are mites) there would be less then 15 all up I'd say.. so maybe they just started breeding or something?

 

[SlothHead]

Yeah, whatever size tub appropriate for the size of the animal.

Just to qualify, the reason why i dont take anything out of the enclosure is to eliminate any chance of moving an egg deposited area into a new enclosure. However, if you were going to use TOD in an enclosure where the animals were going to be put back in you would need to remove food/water for at least 6 hours.

 

[Dave]

Yeah, whatever size tub appropriate for the size of the animal.

Just to qualify, the reason why i dont take anything out of the enclosure is to eliminate any chance of moving an egg deposited area into a new enclosure. However, if you were going to use TOD in an enclosure where the animals were going to be put back in you would need to remove food/water for at least 6 hours.

OK. Thanks Sloth.. how long do I wait till I put the animal back in?

 

[SlothHead]

OK. Thanks Sloth.. how long do I wait till I put the animal back in?

As per my first post, i wait at least a month.

The reason for this is due to the mites breeding cycle.

Cheers

 

[Dave]

As per my first post, i wait at least a month.

The reason for this is due to the mites breeding cycle.

Cheers

Ok. Thanks Sloth.

 

[mysnakesau]

I haven't read all your replies so my apologies if I have repeated anything already said.

Empty out the enclosure and fog it with the TOD. That means give it a very genreous spraying & close the doors and leave it for a few days. Water bowls, hides and branches can be submerged in boiling water then left out in the full sun. the sun is beautiful and scorching right now so good time of year to kill anything.

Meanwhile, let your snake soak in warm water, for about 4 hours, more is fine, just put a heatmat under half the container to help keep the water warm. There are mixed opinions as to whether you need to add anything to the water or not. But water alone will drown mites. If you want to add extra, try and find a headlice conditioner called 'orange medic'. If you can find the older solutions they are preferred. The ones available at the chemist these days have tea tree added to it which is not known whether its any good for reptiles or not. I have used the tea tree one on my pythons for ticks without problems but I don't know if longterm use has worse effect, and at that time I didn't know better about the newer product. So you might be able to find some older solution on the net, friends that have been in it for years might have some, or use a mild hair conditioner or fabric softner. Put your snake in a pillow case in the water if using solutions.

Repeat it every 2 to 3 weeks until you are certain they are gone.

Good thing you have isolated him. What your own movements between your reptiles to avoid spreading it. Mites can get on your clothing and drop off into other enclosures. Just like nits and kids, it spreads very easy. But if you tend to your healthy animals first, and worry about the mites last, and either change your clothes, shower or not go back to your animals once you have tended to the mite fella, you should be able to minimise spread.

Mites happen. It isn't really anybody's fault, unless someone is selling animals and well aware of their mite infestation and still sell the animals without warning buyers. All you can do is treat it. Hope it makes you more aware for future purchases to take extra good look at animals you are buying or quarantining them when you get them until you are certain they are clear of such nasties.