my rats have mites!!

[gazman]

good morning 2 all! all my rats 4 my snakes have mites! i have about 30, n all my females r pregnant.. ive been spraying them with aristopet mite n mange spray once a week, n cleaning their containers twice a week, but their still itchin! its jus seems 2b slowing the problem... im hoping somebody who's had this problem b4 knows a sure way of getting rid of them!!? once n 4all..........

 

[reptilefan95]

I would go the vet for advice, get him to presrcibe you some medication, but im not sure it would be "snake safe"...

 

[Fireflyshuffle]

orange medic.
If its what your explaining though id be culling the lot as they can sit in the grooves of your tubs and can take you ages to completely rid.. if you have spare tubs for all of them(that dont have mites of course) you can swap each time you spray them. But if you dont want to cull the lot, use orange medic

 

[gazman]

hmm... i think thats probably my best bet.. cheers charlie.

 

[reptilefan95]

Thats alright mate!

 

[gazman]

orange medic... where would u get that from.. just a pet shop...? and ive been using boiling water in my containers. thanx shnakey

 

[j.kcustoms]

are you sure there mites google 'rat louse' and have a look at the pic if they do you can do it 2 ways get a couple off Lts off baby oil and dip them into it as it will kill all off them takes about a week for them to get the oil off but you will have to do it twice as it wont kill the 'eggs' 2nd way is use permoxin as per instuctions put 40ml in a tub with 2Lts off water dip them into it .. both ways will not harm your snakes as permoxin you treat snakes with for mites hope this helps

 

[Fireflyshuffle]

no...orange medic comes from the chemist, its used for humans when they have head lice etc.
It contains tea tree oil, which is toxic to most snakes.
If you use it, you must dilute it and not feed them to your snakes for approx 4 weeks. its a big job to do.
Hot water wont do anything.. there will be hundreds, if not thousands of eggs sitting in the grooves, which dont drown untill they hatch so the eggs will keep sitting there.
There life cycle is 4 weeks(correct me someone if im wrong) so will have to be done again 4 weeks later to kill the next egg cycle that hatches.
Honestly, id cull down to a low minimum to controll as its a big job for you.
But O medic is the way to go when used correctly

 

[j.kcustoms]

and you can get permoxin at any produce store about $20

 

[wokka]

Any chemist. Its used for head lice in children. About $15 a bottle.

 

[James_Scott]

website link

Health Guide: Ecto-Parasites

Came across this that may help.

 

[cris]

I had them once and used the stuff your using, it worked well and killed them all and i only needed to treat once. Treat the rats and put them into a clean parasite free enclosure and that should solve the problem.

 

[gazman]

thanx heaps everybody!! 4 all of your advice! im jus a bit slow at typing so i cant respond 2 every1 as quick as u respond 2 me... im not very good with computers...

 

[snakecharma]

hey hey

its a common problem so dont stress although you do have to do something about it, if they not too far gone then there is no need to cull them all, go to the vet and ask for something, the stuff they gave me was ivomectin i think dont quote me though, i'll check when i get home. You dose each rat orally with 1 drop and then re do them in 10 days kinda like worming. But you still need to get the tubs sorted..... i used a product for plants called miterid used at 2 x strength basicly cleaned all tubs out and sat them in the sun on a hot day and sprayed them all twice then washed them out, and worked a treat for me and still got some left over incase the nasty buggers ever come back lol

oh and i also flea bombed the entire garage twice.... not 100% sure if that did much but it was more a piece of mind thing really lol

 

[gazman]

thanks snakecharma. ive got so many options, i do like the sound of not having 2 cull them, and jus giving them drops,i;ll keep u posted on how i go.

 

[reptilefan95]

Even if you didnt cull them i would be nervous if you were to feed them to the snake

 

[geckodan]

The safest and most effective option is Revolution (active ingredient Selamectin). Purchase the small cat/kitten one from your vet (no prescription needed) and apply 1 drop per rat. This will kill all mites for the next month.
If these are truly rat mites then there is no need to clean the enclosure beyond normal cleaning.

BUT

IF you are seeing crawling mites then these are a different thing. These will be fodder mites. They are a non parasitic mite living in your bedding and enclosures. They don't suck blood and won't transfer to your snakes (neither will rat mites) but can be annoying and will cause hair loss from scratching. Revolution will work on those that crawl on your rat but the rat enclosures will need to be sprayed with a product like permoxin once a week for 6 weeks. Be wary of the mite spray from the petshop. There have recently been numerous fatalities recorded with it.

 

[snakelady-viper]

Top of descent works well but there i a 4 week with-hold period after spraying.

 

[nocturnal_pulse]

just a quick question if the rats have mites and you cull them instead of treating them and then you freeze the rats for snake food ....does it cause any problems to the snakes or does the freezing kill the mites and then the rats become fine for feeding?

 

[Noongato]

How does Ivermectin go with feeding to snakes? Anybody know?
Its recommended for de-bugging and de-worming in pet rats, also cattle etc. And since it has such a wide range of animals it treats would it hurt reptiles?
Id like to know for my pet rats sake, but i also want to treat the mice and theyre snake food.
Some of the big rodent breeders dont bother controlling mites, ive seen them all over the rats still when i defrost one.