Can't Get Rid of Snake Mites

Predators do not eradicate their prey. You may never think you have a problem in your collection because the predators keep the prey at a low burn but when you sell a snake to someone else, they will get mites. I don’t purchase any snakes from anyone using predatory mites for this reason.

I’ve never ‘touch wood’ had a problem with mites on my royals.
But we’ve been told by a few people these work and they’ve never had a problem again (nor have people who brought the snakes as were breeders).

Just going by what I’ve been told and the people we know who use them and recommend, a friend also used them on a rescue and touch wood nothing since!!

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Second this.
The only mite infestation I’ve had so far was impossible to kill off, until I did things this way.

Treat all the snakes in the infected area directly for the mites. The little bastards move more than you think.

Absolutely sterilize all equipment in the room. Don’t just wipe it down with your chemical treatment, soak it and let it sit, everything. They hide the eggs everywhere.

Ban any fur bearing animals from the area, and wash clothing immediately. I personally believe, the damn things came from a show on our clothing. And migrated around the house the same way.

Plan to retreat within a week, because you did miss eggs.

Plan to repeat the exercise at least twice.

Until you go full unrestricted chemical warfare option, you won’t get rid of them permanently, they’ll be back.

Don’t forget the floors, walls and ceilings of the affected area. Mine didn’t go away fully until I mopped the floors with nix, every 3 days, for 3 weeks, it sucked. But I firmly believe it set a barrier, which may have prevented migrators from coming back into the zone. The mites don’t predate us or our mammal pets, but they will hitchhike.

Good luck, and be kind, don’t send anything out until you know you are mite free. And be wary and ruthless with quarantine.

I know at least one breeder who told me he always takes at least one white snake to any show, not for sale, for examination. He treats and quarantines everything he brings back including his own snakes, as a routine preventative measure.

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Hope I never get any. My gosh!

But with Taurus mites you’re suppose to use them twice. Once to get rid of mites and then again.

They’ve used them in a shop where the other half works (he’s aquatic wholesale out back, not the shop, but it is attached) but they’ve used them and never an issue also.

Also Tried everything with the carpet a friend had, he had tried sprays and all and did nothing at all to help or clear him.
Only thing that worked was Taurus mites!
All his other snakes were fine too.

Just hope I never get any, but with speaking to breeders and friends I will personally use Taurus mites myself!

Wouldn’t work here for me. My “reptile facility” is a room in the main house. We have furry pets who are inside/outside. We live out in the country, on a farm, in the South. Heat + humidity + wild spaces = bugs. Having ticks and fleas come in on the pets is just a fact of life, even if you treat for them. So you clean and treat the house, frequently. No issues. But wild roaming Taurus mites would not survive, since we use non-specific chemicals in the house. Outside areas we use DE and predatory biologicals so we’re not indiscriminately killing everything and poisoning the garden etc.

Or, as my wife says “Nature! Get it off me!” :rofl:

Our ‘reptile room’ is outside, converted the outhouse.
By Hideyoshi is being brought in, May reconsider now as I Also have dogs and other furry animals and live in the country! So Now you’re worrying me haha :joy:

She sounds Amazing! If I see a moth I run, I’m out the room and gone :roll_eyes:
Yet I can feed my reptiles crickets and other insects and rats :woman_shrugging:t2::sweat_smile:

Having the snakes inside isn’t a real problem so far, just the one episode early on. Certainly makes it easier to keep an eye on things.

Yeah, my wife actually is amazing. Annnd she likes spiders, tarantulas and rodents. She pets rats, coos over mice before we feed them off (yes, I have to keep her from naming them, 'cause then they’re pets…), and she’ll let tarantulas walk on her hand.

But one cockroach randomly walks across her line of sight and she is up on the nearest elevated object with a shriek. :man_shrugging:

Unlike me. Don’t like rodents, except as snake food. Tarantulas belong in sealed glass boxes, at someone else’s place, far away from me.
Spiders are awesome creatures, in the wild, at arms length, definitely not on me.

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Luckily for me I don’t feed live.
I’d probably cry every feed :joy: (Vegan) haha.
What a wonderful woman though! I bet it’s hard not to name!

The perks of having someone who loves the same animals as you, well to a degree! I always hear ‘I need to ask my partner’. God knows what I’d do if he hated lizards or snake haha

Ugh Reece had spiders, I loved our regal jumping girl, she was awesome, but he snuck in a dwarf Brazilian blue diamond and an obt because he knew I hated them! Oh and hid them so I didn’t know for days until I found tiny crickets and was asking why we needed them :joy: I got over it but never would touch one! I did feed at times which was cool though…

Spiders, ok fine

Giant spiders, uhhmmm

Giant Hairy spiders, nope

Giant hairy spiders with open cages, loose in the room, crawling on an unsuspecting person’s shoulder and stroking their neck, looking for exactly the right place to bite them and drain their blood?
Noping right the f out. And yes, I know that was oddly specific.

Giant hairy spiders the size of cars, straight up nightmare fuel. I console myself that they can’t exist here because of the limits of chitin structural strength and oxygen transport systems. Then I remember, genetic engineering is a thing…

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“coos over mice before we feed them off (yes, I have to keep her from naming them, 'cause then they’re pets…)”

Rule #3 on the farm: don’t name food animals, except things like “steaks” “ham” “bacon” “thanksgiving dinner” (all real world examples)

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Omg sounds like us!

I talk to the cows in the field near us, ‘hello pretty lady, look at your beautiful baby’

Reece comes along and says ‘they will make a nice burger soon’ :woman_facepalming:t2::sweat_smile:

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I may not have as many snakes, but if you have the time for it, Frontline spray. I put on some surgical gloves, spray some into my hands, and work it all over the snake until they’re glistening. Next morning when I went in, not a mite in sight on the snakes and dozens dead on the paper towels. Of course, a deep clean and retreatment to break the lifecycle is always needed, but it’s the best result I’ve seen so far.

"We only save the cute ones, right?

‘Who are you and what do you do?’
‘I’m an otter, and I do cute little human things with my hands.’
‘You’re free to go.’
‘Next! Who are you and what do you do?’
‘I’m a cow, and…’
‘You’re a burger, get on the truck.’
‘But I’m a living creature!’
‘You’re a baseball glove, get on the f’ing truck.’"
-Dennis Leary

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May try that if I ever have a next time. Sounds like a fast die off. I used a diluted nix solution, worked pretty well and didn’t bother the snakes just had to reapply. I suspect that at dilute levels it didn’t kill all the eggs very effectively. So I wound up re-treating. Also, so important to preventative treat every animal the mites have access to at the same time.

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Not sure if vets do this now or not but in Florida about 15 years ago I had mites on 5 ball pythons that I couldn’t eradicate. The vet injected a medicine in the snake, forgot what its called, but harmless to the snake and basically made the blood harmful to the mites. Worked amazingly.

I wish we had something we could use on ourselves like that against mosquitos.

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DO NOT SPRAY THE ANIMAL!

Spray a paper or cloth towel with the Frontline and use that to wipe the animal down

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Yeah that wasn’t wisely worded I’ll adjust that. I use a rubber glove instead of a towel. Speaking of gloves, I’ve seen someone spray it on their bare hand and wipe them down, I wouldn’t advise that either.

I can’t edit that post anymore. Perhaps @eaglereptiles could replace the word spray with treat? Or otherwise edit that sentence to avoid suggesting anyone spraying pesticides in their snakes face….

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100%
The main ingredient in Frontline can be toxic if overdosed and it is very rapidly absorbed by mammalian skin. Wiping done a single animal might not cause an issue, but continual use in a short period of time could be very very bad

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And I remember, 30 something years ago, when we were advised to drench our BDUs (combat fatigues, for non-military) in pyremethrin spray to fight off ticks etc. We let them dry, but then you sweated in them. Some of the guys had rashes or got headaches or nausea. And your sweat would smell funny, medicinal. But we were assured by the military that it was ok, no problem… :roll_eyes:

Wear your PPE!

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