Can't Get Rid of Snake Mites

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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