[Ms.P]

my poor little doodle! I have a very strong feeling they've come from sausages substrate! I'm putting him on kitchen roll from now on, taking him to the vet early next week, Mr happy too! I havent spotted any on mr happy, but obviously i'll get em both treated! my doodles! I squished one today...it made me feel good!


Can I keep my royal on kitchen roll all the time, or would it not do well for humidity?

danke chickens!
xxxx

 

[Dan]

2 things:

Firstly, please do not waste your money on a vet visit - it is not needed in anyway. There is no special solution that a vet can give you that you can not get yourself elsewhere.

Secondly, snake mites do not come from substrate - this is an urban legend. So no need to change your substrate for this reason.

Of course if you wish to change it anyway then you can, many royal keepers use newspaper.

 

[Anthony]

snake mites do not come from substrate - this is an urban legend. So no need to change your substrate for this reason.

Where do they come from then :hmm:?

 

[Dan]

Contact, either by people touching one infected animal and unwittingly transporting a mite back to their own collection or as the mite walks to other animals.

Interestingly enough you will not find snake mites in the wild, they have developed within captive collections.

 

[captaincaveman]

ive always been under the impression that mites are usually brought into a collection from wc of cf animals, or am i thinking of ticks:lol2:

 

[Dan]

You do often get WC and CF with mites on, this is because of the holding pens though, not because they are caught with them on.

Ticks will likely be on freshly caught animals.

 

[captaincaveman]

yeah makes sense, its why i avoid wc/cf animals. luckily been mite/tick free by sticking to it

 

[Dan]

You could just put them in a bucket of soapy water for an hour or so when they arrive - would solve the mite problem and ticks are easy enough to remove

 

[ratboy]

Did the soapy water thing with a snake I got from Houten last year. Hundreds of the little buggers came off.

 

[Miranda]

i have an idea!:idea: if only thye could devolope mite repellant, but think about it they made flea collars if they make a mite collar that was safe fro snakes, yiou could hang it just outside the tanks to repelt them!

 

[Penny]

You can use frontline fle stuff that you get from the vets for dogs and cats ive used it in the past on Royal python's, get some cotton wool balls soak a bit of frontline on it and wipe all over the snake but avoid the face, let it dry then put back in the viv

most snake keepers use news paper in there vivs but i dont think it looks al that nice, i went to my local chip shop and asked if i could buy some of there plain white paper they wrap there chips up in and they gave me loads for nothing, and it looks better to

 

[Ms.P]

ho hum- i did reply but then it didnt appear! I was thinking it sounds a bit odd that mites could come from substrate! given that they survive on blood, and there isnt any of that in bags of wood!!
anyways, I'm taking them to the vet so I can register him at the same time, and just for a general check up! I'm going to use Frontline, just wondering how much I should expect to pay- just so i dont get ripped off!
Also, I'm curious about the Olive oil thing! some people swear by it, others say it damages your snake, lots of mixed opinions!
thanks for all your advise!
xx

 

[twistedclown]

I ve heard of the olive oil thing too but personally id go for the frontline as its something thats definatley gonna work, i have my mexi on newspaper but he is not a well bunny still but hopefully with some help he is on the road to recovery.

 

[BenjaminBoaz]

olive oil

 

[koganinja]

i got some littil black thing from my substrate and there was a small nest in the middle of the vive realy small i stireld the pims and the vive whent to the shop got more sub and it happend again so did it all again whent to the shop asked them and there boss said they had the same problem he changed there sub supler and now there arnt any so from experance a BIG YES you can get small things from the substrat that look like mites but what they are i dont know

 

[Penny]

I'm going to use Frontline, just wondering how much I should expect to pay- just so i dont get ripped off!

When i get mine from the vets i pay £14 for a medium sized bottle, hope this helps

 

[Ms.P]

thanks for the advise peeps! been to the vets! She mixed the frontline with correct amounts of alcohol ( so it spreads evenly). Theyre too tiny to put just straight frontline on-it'd have pickelled their lungs!
got the spray for their vivs too! It'll take around 7 hours to treat them and the vivs, and get the vivs fully ventilated and alcohol free, so I'm going to sort it tomorrow as soon as I get back from work.
heehee, Ive to keep them in a really well ventilated area once the frontline's on them, and theyre so small that a pillowcase would be too dense....so I've got some mesh material I use to make under skirts! heehee my little boys are going to be put in pretty pink bags! heehee!


I'll keep ya updated on how it all goes!
cheers!
xx

 

[ReptileRescueHull]

Four Paws make a brilliant mite and tick killer in there natures reptile ranges its about 8 quid a spray bottle not as harsh as front line and can also be used to treat the tank. ive had very good results with it and a single spray bottle will spray a 5 ft tank and snake without difficulty and leave enough for another treatment if needed

 

[carl24bpool]

I used the frontline but just mixed it with 1 part FL to 3 parts water. This reduced teh alcohol problem and the potency as my little Jungle was only 2 feet long.

I dipped a small cloth in the solution and carefully let my snakey glide through the wet cloth. Taking lots and lots and lots of care not to go anywhere near his head.

From what I can gather I don't think you need total coverage anyway since the FL stuff is pretty damn potent. I have heard some people just put a small amount behind the snakes head so it cant ingest it. I mean when I do my mums dogs bi annular Front Line treatment I only put a little bit under his fur behing his head and it keeps him bug free.

If using Front Line make sure you remove teh waterbowl for a day or two after treatment so it won't wash off and then get drunk.

I did use the FL straight from teh bottle on my viv and gave it a right good covering. I then left for an hour and then washed the viv again with a very weak bleach solution. Switched bulb back on to help drying whilst I baked the rocks and wood and froze the other stuff (substrate , plastic plants etc) for two days.

I now also freeze my substrate for two days before using as this is how I think I got mites.

Most people say FL doesn't kill the eggs, but I beg to differ since I never had to re-treat my viv after the initial clean up. I have now been mite free for three weeks. fingers crossed though!

 

[Dexter]

I just use the olive oil method. Nice, simple, cheap, harmless and efficient