I belive there called hypoaspis mites

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it goes to the mite eating mites.....lol

what a way of getting rid of mites, set some canibals onto them...

i believe they are actual for the removal of a scariad fly or something...

10'000 of them for 12.50 or there abouts.

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I would really appreciate it if anyone does have pictures as I am still a bit unsure if my Royal has mites.

Thanks.

Just a thought.

Im not a big fan of using any chemicals on my snakes if i can help it, however

i got one infestation a few years ago that got my entire collection, i got some mite "stuff" from a reptile shop and applied it to the snake with catering gloves, you know the white cotton gloves, i sprayed the stuff on the gloves then let the snake feed through my hands, then i used the same method with water to clean it off.

Catering gloves are also hand for handling smaller nippy snakes!

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dont know if its been sugested but wouldnt a steam cleaner be good to clean the viv out as it would kill any mites and destroy any eggs left around.

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anyone used ardap or is this the same has proventamite

i used proventamite but can seem to find it to buy anymore

so i ordered ardap 2 tins and god them spray tins are big

not used it yet but has anyone else

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Im sooooo pleased I read this yesterday (one of the reasons I decided to join the site).

My boa, who Ive had for about 3 weeks has them. So I removed everything from the viv, washed all the decor in hot soapy water, then sprayed with reptile disinfectant, then did the same with the viv and changed back to newspaper as my substrate...bathed my boa in luke warm water, in a washing up bowl, with a little baby bath in it....you could see them in the bottom when we got him out! Dried him off, then rubbed him down with olive oil, then rubbed him down again with a dry towel. Ive ordered some Zoo Med Mite-Off which hopefully will be here very soon.

Just by doing this, he already seems more comfy and happy in himself. But, Im still gunna use the mite off when it gets here to make sure the horrid little things have all gone lol

Thank you for doing this thread!!!

Bloody sod's law,
i started reading this thread about a week ago (a very interesting read)
after reading all the info about how to get rid of mites i decided to get some zoo med mite off just incase.
Now the kicker just been up to feed my snakes and the royal is bloody covered in mites i aint got a clue where he has got them from because he's in a near sterile viv and i clean all the viv's out every 2 months with ark-klens disinfectant so i aint sure how they got in there,

so i'll just have to wait till the mite off comes and go through all the viv's and kill the little buggers off.

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People seem to have their own personal favourites when it comes to treating mites. Before I pass comment maybe I should quickly state that I have been keeping snakes for close on 40 years, I spent 14 years at a Zoo (senior reptile keeper) and the last 16 years managing the largest venomous collection it the UK.

Over the years I have used many different treatments, some so toxic that they have long since been banned.

We are fortunate in that the majority of or snakes come direct from the wild and so do not carry mites. We also have a separate quarantine room where we keep new arrivals for at least 6 weeks. Mites only ever seem to come from dealers, zoos or safari parks so when such snakes arrive they are treated immediately as a pro-active preventive measure.

My standard treatment for new (suspect) arrivals is submersion in cooking (sunflower/ olive) oil. It works really well, it is cheap and I can nip across the road and buy some from the supermarket.
The last time I found mites in the collection was 2003.... we had a shipment of mambas from a dealer. The snakes looked Ok and where not treated. I went off to the African Rainforest for a month and upon my return discovered that they were covered in mites. In this instance I used Frontline spray, soaked onto cotton wool and wiped it down the dorsal surface of each mamba and then placed them into fresh vivariums and sterilized the vivs they had been in.

Frontline seems to work well but it does need repeated applications, it is expensive and I have to make a 12 mile trip to collect it from a vet.

The secrete to dealing with mites is treating new snakes upon arrival, not waiting for an outbreak. For me cooking oil is #1, safe, non-toxic, easy to use, readily available 24- hours and cheap. And if you get yourself organised with spare containers, old rags/newspapers it need to be a messy affair. Also don’t forget, I am successfully treating highly venomous snakes this way, harmless little pet snakes are much simpler.

Hi Paul.

Nice to know you are faring well.

Just so that others understand your method fully when using cooking/sunflower/olive oil, do you leave the oil on the snake and if so how long for please? or do you wash it off again straight away.

Thanks,

Maureen/Mo.

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