Khanidge

I hav'nt really, but I thought it would be a nice idea to post up My method of ridding Mites from your snake's with out using any chemicals.
I have adopted this method from the Late Steve Irwin " rest in peace mate"
This method is simple, cheap and harmless to the snake but not to the Mites.

Itenery:

1; A R.U.B. ( really usefull Box) with a locking lid and NO HOLES (TOM) where water can leak out. This must be a good enough size for your snake to move about in.

2; A teaspoon.

3; Warm Water.

4; A heat matt and stat.

5; Vegetable Oil.

Lets say that a 50ltr Rub will surfice for the size of your snake, fill this to the depth of the thickest part of your snake, or just below its back at the thickest point.
Add about 1 teaspoon of veggie oil to the water ( a little more wont hurt but really isnt needed), then with your fingers Rake the oil through the water to reduce the size of the oil "blobs" and disperse it evenly accross the surface of the water.
Now add your snakie, let him/her soak for about 1 hour. But dont alow the water to get to cold, This could give him/her a nasty chill and we Dont want to do that.
So you can place the heat matt Under the R.U.B not in it with the water.

WHY VEGGIE OIL

Most paracitic blood sucking beasties have evolved to breath through thier Bottoms or legs. The reason for this is whilst thier head parts are burried in to the unfortunate host flesh feeding on thier blood, they can still breath.
By using the veggie oil, these breathing parts are blocked by the oil, thus they cant breath and die of suffercation.

Whilst your little Chappie/Chappet is basting you need to clean out the viv.
This is where you will need a chemical insecticide to Kill the mites inside the Viv.
There are many on the market that you can get from many good Reptile/exotic pet shops.
Prevento mite, mite off, Ardap and even Front-line spray has been used in vivs to good effect.

HOW TO CLEAN OUT YOUR VIV

Remove all substrate and cage furniture. Throw away your substrate it will be harbouring mites.
Soak and scrub all the furniture using a good disinfectant F10 is the best you could use for this.
once it has been soaked for say 1 hour spray it with the insecticide of your choice from the reptile shop.
Vacumn out the viv and surounding area, Yes the walls and floor near the Viv and behind if you can.
Disinfect the Viv inside and out.
Let it dry.
Spray librally inside and out of the viv and surrounding area. Yes the walls and floor aswel.
These little nasties can lay thier eggs a fair distance away from the Animal/Viv.
Once the correct safe airing time has past where it is safe to put your snakie back in the viv only put in a plastic type hide. NOTHING else not even the water bowl.
When you get your Snakie out from its Warm oil bath it will be like holding a eel this is good, as you can be sure every little bit of him/her has a thin layer of oil that is suffercating those nastie little Blighters. DONT wipe it off.
The following day put the water Bowl back in. you dont want it in over the first night as your snake will soak and wash off some of the oil.

YOUR NOT FINISHED YET THOUGH

Unfortunatly these Blood sucking beasties have a trick under thier sleves.
They HAVE layed eggs, Every where. "mmwaaahahaha"
These eggs can lay dorment for years, ERRRRRRR i hear you squil.
But dont Panic, They will hatch in around 14 days.
They only lay dorment if ther is no movement near them, so once they sence your snakie moving they will hatch.
So you will have to repeat the above methods in roughly 2 weeks time.

MITES are a part of herping you cannot keep Herps with out getting them at least once. Dont panic, follow these steps and you will rid the little blighters
I will add a few more bits to this thread but my eyes are stinging my butt is numb and my other half is throwing knives at me.

Hope this helps Deano............................................. ..........................

Tom

great info..
Sticky!!

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iggylover

Great info, my reptiles havent had mites for a while now and i know how much of a bugger they are to get rid of.

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1.0.0 Greeen iguana (Jewel)
1.0.0 Albino nelson milksnake (Ludo)
0.0.1 African bullfrog

LizardlinksUK

Would the same method work with Lizards, my beardies got mites last year. Although I managed to get rid of them quite quickly, I still don't know where they appeared from as luckily the rest of my collection was ok which rules out livefood and there was no new decor.

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worldreptile

well where they can lay dormant, for years, but yea the method would work on lizards too, just adapt slightly

wilkinss77

the method i've always used is to use pieces of vapona fly killer in a closed container drilled with holes (fish food containers are good). hang it in the viv & take out the water dish. after 3-5 days the mites will drop off. remove the pest killer & provide water again. repeat after 2 weeks to kill any hatching mites. but you will all know about this, as it's a well known remedy!

abadi

Very Useful, Thanks for tipping!

eunectesmurinus

this probaly wont be of any use anymore but my anaconda recently dgot mites and due to her sizes most sprays and methods dont usually work except callingotn mite spray the stuff is awesome you dont even need to spray the snake itself just the enclosure within one week all the mites were gone.