How I Got Rid of Mites on My Royal..!!!

[intravenous]

Originally Posted by Nerys

a few things to remember:

mites have a 2-3 week lifecycle. adult->egg->baby mite->adult mite

there are several stages of mite life cycle

an adult female snake mite will not lay eggs on the snake

an adult female snake mite will leave the snake to find an egg laying site, she can walk a long way to find one, adult mites have been known to cover over 48ft in an hour.

a hatchling snake mite.. can "sniff" out a snake from some distance.

so.. the mite leaves the snake, leaves the viv, walks out of the frontroom, up the stairs.. maybe lays eggs in the skirting board crack. 2 weeks later the eggs hatch. and about 2 weeks after that, you will start to notice mites on your snakes again.

mites WILL go out of doors, even shut ones... also up stairs, down stairs, etc.. if you have mites in one tank in your room, you will 99% likely have them in all the tanks within a month.

if you find an infestation, your source is normally somewhere you were about a fortnight ago, or someone who has been to you within the last fortnight, if you clear a snake, and place it back in an untreated viv, you will get them back within 2-4 weeks or so. (2 weeks if your eyes are good enough to see baby ones.. 4 weeks if you have to wait to see adult ones). by the time you can see adult snake mites.. they will already have been laying again.. reported number of eggs layed by each female varies from 60-150 or so..

its common to see people cycling through mite treatments, with the mites never fully being eradicated.. its the eggs that do it, people always forget the eggs, and when an adult can walk 48ft in an hour, just sticking it in the room next door does not always help.

N

*shudders* thats horrible to think about...mites crawling all over your house. I haven't had any yet, but when/if I do then I'll be even more creeped out now .

[talltom69]

I've recently changed to newspaper because I saw a few mites on a rat (f/t that was left in the left overnight)

After speaking to a friend of mine that breeds Royals he said that 9/10 times they come from the wood chippings, bit of a bugger as I had a new 70 ltr bag of chippings.

Now that they are on the newspapers, there are no signs of them.

[Nerys]

they come in anything tbh.. if its been in a reptile shop or wholesalers.. it could carry mites..

you can bake or freeze chips to make them ok tho..

N

[Dexter]

Originally Posted by Nerys

a few things to remember:

mites have a 2-3 week lifecycle. adult->egg->baby mite->adult mite

there are several stages of mite life cycle

an adult female snake mite will not lay eggs on the snake

an adult female snake mite will leave the snake to find an egg laying site, she can walk a long way to find one, adult mites have been known to cover over 48ft in an hour.

a hatchling snake mite.. can "sniff" out a snake from some distance.

so.. the mite leaves the snake, leaves the viv, walks out of the frontroom, up the stairs.. maybe lays eggs in the skirting board crack. 2 weeks later the eggs hatch. and about 2 weeks after that, you will start to notice mites on your snakes again.

mites WILL go out of doors, even shut ones... also up stairs, down stairs, etc.. if you have mites in one tank in your room, you will 99% likely have them in all the tanks within a month.

if you find an infestation, your source is normally somewhere you were about a fortnight ago, or someone who has been to you within the last fortnight, if you clear a snake, and place it back in an untreated viv, you will get them back within 2-4 weeks or so. (2 weeks if your eyes are good enough to see baby ones.. 4 weeks if you have to wait to see adult ones). by the time you can see adult snake mites.. they will already have been laying again.. reported number of eggs layed by each female varies from 60-150 or so..

its common to see people cycling through mite treatments, with the mites never fully being eradicated.. its the eggs that do it, people always forget the eggs, and when an adult can walk 48ft in an hour, just sticking it in the room next door does not always help.

N

Thanks N, I'll save this post in my folders. I've been have recurring problems with mites, and probably that explains why.

Last time my snakes had mites was about over 2 months ago. Today I noticed 2 of my boas soaking, went to check and found 1 mite in the water. I checked him thoroughly and could not find any mite waliking on him. So I'm hoping to get all the snakes and vivs treated now and hopefully get rid of them before they are infested.

My wife will wash the carpet with desinfectant as well

[bjherp]

Originally Posted by Nerys

a few things to remember:

mites have a 2-3 week lifecycle. adult->egg->baby mite->adult mite

there are several stages of mite life cycle

an adult female snake mite will not lay eggs on the snake
N

Nerys to the point and spot on the money as usual?

This is the issue with most people that get mites within their collections, the intention is good, get straight on it and treat.

This will kill the first or live set of mites, but as Nerys says there is the life cycle you have to kill, most treatments only make the mite infertile or kill live mites.

Most treatments will not kill eggs, or make babies mites infertile, so the treatment you provided needs to be done every 3 - 5 days for a period of 30 days, the life cycle being approx 21 days. Always better to be safe than sorry.

If i had a £ for every time i have had to say, "don't treat just the once do it every 5 days for 30 days", i would have retired years ago.

Be aware mites can rest on clothing, carpets, literally anywhere for weeks.

Don't just treat the once and think you have got rid of the problem, because you will only wished you had spent more time treating when they return after a few weeks.

jerry
reptilekeeping.com - Home

[HABU]

they're as bad as bed bugs. you got to stay on them. no prisoners!

[Angi]

Originally Posted by Cali2304

My royals just had a case of mites 2. Took her back to the pet shop n they sprayed her for me. Another thing they suggested was getting an empty match box and using some of that insect paper you get from B and Q. The sticky yellow 1 and lay it inside the match box. Then pierce the top of the match box with a pencil and put the match box in the tank. Works a treat. Found bout 4 or 5 mites stuck in there since sunday. They royals luking loads better 2!

hi
Ive heard that some insect papers contain an ingredient called pyrethium ( not sure on spelling) which can be dangerous to reptiles. It may be worth checking which product you are using.

[HABU]

we used to use no-pest strips back in the old days. it worked but might harm snakes. ours never had a problem. we just laid a piece on top of the screen top. no reptile stuff in the shops...

[Nerys]

permetherin (?) yes...

like it or not, it has been shown to be toxic to reptiles...

i won't use most household flea sprays for that reason either..

If i had a £ for every time i have had to say, "don't treat just the once do it every 5 days for 30 days", i would have retired years ago

you know jerry, you have 25 year and more in the business than i do, and i think even i would be half way to retiring on a £ a time saying that!

have you found anything that does kill the eggs by the way?

i normally advise people to split the snake from the viv for at least 3 weeks and treat both seperately, to really get to grips with breaking the cycle.

the good news is, i have had them come in riddled, and had them clear within 2 weeks, BUT only by being super agressive and keeping them literally in a plastic tub with no hide & water offered daily. i do not feed whilst treating.. a 3 week fast is nothing to a snake in good health. and i do not handle bar treating in this time.

nother question jerry.. have you any stats for how long an egg can "last" before hatching... and also, how long a snake mite lasts without feeding.. both juvenile life stages and mature one?

N

[bjherp]

Hi Nerys,

God no, if i had found a successful treatment, i would have been selling bottles of it, luckily not had to think about mites for years, as very strict with my collection as you know.

Never discovered anything that will kill all stages of the mite, the best thing that i used to used were the Vapona strips.

From what i know though they were banned some time ago in the UK, but can still be purchased in Europe.

The eggs take up to 21 days to hatch, but from memory can lay dormant for several weeks as long as the temps are not too extreme.

And again from memory most mites will die within 7 days without food / host.

There are several other treatments like the Provent - a - mite, but the more toxic for the mite, normally means more toxic for the snake.

I'd always used the Vapona, again it can be toxic, but as long as it is used as described shouldn't cause undue harm.

JC