MITES, after purchasing a huge collection

All Reptiles
18

This! As i mentioned before it is extremely important you do not get this in their body, wetting a papertowel with it and applying this that way helps get rid of the risk of ingestion, as well as allowing you to wipe off the dying mites and dispose of them.

If you want to be extra safe, if your snakes like to soak in their water, i would rinse them off after applying this to them so they dont soak and contaminate their water. Reptile spray works fast at killing, and the residue isnt that effective at it, so you arent losing much effectiveness by cleaning it off afterwards.

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22

Remember if you use any chemicals to treat your cages let them FULLY AIR DRY or you’ll kill your animals.

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23

Those are not safe around animals. It says directly on the packaging to not inhale vapors or to keep them anywhere near where people or pets regularly are. They are primarily meant to be kept in garages close to the outside doors. You are putting your snakes and your own health at risk using those in that way. @jbglow Definitely don’t do this. Instead follow the advice of @t_h_wyman.

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24

I have heard you can use populations of predatory Trombidiformes to eat any leftover parasitic mite populations, however I don’t know where you’d find these predatory mites for sale, and I have no solid proof of their effectiveness. Definitely listed to wyman, OP.
Just bringing this up to openly wonder and fish for info about it, since I have an interest in mites.

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25

In the US we have the species Stratiolaelaps scimitus ( also known as Hypoaspis miles)

You can get them off of amazon, i used the seller “natures goodguys” and now all of my enclosures are populated by them. Since i use bioactive and have a healthy springtail population, they actually have a reliable foodchain, so did not die out once the motes were handled. So they now work as active protection against mites instead of me having to react :slight_smile:

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26

I still do not suggest this product to anyone, based solely on the incredibly dangerous labeling that has caused the deaths of animals. It’s great that you know how to use it correctly, but the product itself does not explicitly say that it is toxic if ingested. Not only that, these are the application instructions on the bottle:
image

Any keeper without the knowledge base to know that you should never spray on an animal is going to read these and follow them. They may also spray the animal in an enclosed space, thus risking aerosol inhalation of the product. Hence why I now warn everyone about this particular brand. Not just the first instruction, but the third as well is problematic. “Reapply as often as necessary” should not be the first line if you are only to apply every 3 days.

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27

Absolutely fair, i get from a marketing perspective not wanting to put “this is poison, your animal may die if ingested” but i do agree "avoid spraying into eyes and facial areas does not properly emphasize just how important that part is. It should definitely note it is toxic if ingested, and significant reactions can occur. Its a good product in the sense it does what its intended purpose is, but i would put it with ivermectin in the “do not use it if you dont know what you are doing, death may occur” catagory.

It should be veterinarian controlled or have better instructions imo.

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28

I pre-load all my bioactive cages with predatory mites. Mostly to help keep down the fungus gnats that seem to bloom with new cages. I pick mine up from here:

https://www.naturesgoodguys.com/collections/spider-mite-control-1/products/500-live-adult-predatory-mites-a-mix-of-predatory-mite-species-for-spider-mite-control

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29

As a quick sidenote, and this should go without saying. You cant really use chemicals AND predatory mites, you have to choose onr direction or another, or one direction followed by the other (recommend poison to lower the numbers, then after all the poison is cleaned away, introduce predators, and have a backup in case residual poison in snake mites systems kills the first wave of pred mites.

Predator mites will work on large scale infestations without help, however you will be waiting a long time for the predatory mites population to reach a large enough scale to make a dent in a large scale infestation.

Edit: to be clear, by poison i refer to reptile spray or diluted ivermectin, because that is essentially whst they both are.

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30

I’m confused, did you quarantine? Do you have a separate room for quarantine? You need to practice good biosecurity when bringing in new animals. Are you aware of viruses like Nido & how they can be transmitted? Mites can transmit diseases.

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31

This isnt mine but this is in response to pest strips

HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUE: No-Pest Strips and Dichlorvos (active ingredient).

Dichlorvos is a highly toxic pesticide that can have direct impacts to the animals exposed to it via vapor or contact, as well as generational consequences to offspring DNA mutations. DO NOT USE IT!

http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/carbaryl-dicrotophos/dichlorvos-ext.html

The link I shared is the actual research stating the dangers of dichlorvos, the pesticide that is used in No-Pest.

Dichlorvos is entirely banned in the EU since 1998.

Dichlorvos is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor which causes weakness, headache, tightness in chest, blurred vision, salivation, sweating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, eye and skin irritation, miosis, eye pain, runny nose, wheezing, laryngospasm, cyanosis, anorexia, muscle fasciculation, paralysis, dizziness, ataxia, convulsions, hypotension, and cardiac arrhythmia in humans. As found by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Packaging from manufacturer states for use in UNOCCUPIED AREAS. When a product manufacturer goes to the extreme of saying don’t expose yourself, that kind of signifies the danger.

Gray Rushin, a former boa breeder and chemist, used NPS in treating mites in his collection in the early 2000’s; resulting in observations of severe neurological damage and death.

Observations pertaining to Boas being exposed to Dichlorvos:

  1. Death
  2. Neurological damage, CNS issues
  3. Impacts to fertility and fecundity. Failure to breed. High slug count. Increase in stillborns.
  4. Shorter lifespan

Observations are readily apparent. Look at breeding results of breeders. Those with high success rates, few slugs, low mortality, are providing proper husbandry and an avoidance of pesticides. Then look at the results from breeders who openly use pesticides as widespread or routine practice, low % of successful litters per pairings. High slug counts. Increased deformities. Increased mortality.

CDC warning for more info: Weiterleitungshinweis

Research inclusive of genotoxic effects, neurological effects, reproductive effects, developmental effects, and many others: Dichlorvos toxicity: A public health perspective - PMC

Thomas Andrew has a degree in micro-biology and can be of further resource. Diem M Boubede has unfortunately personally suffered long term medical issues from use and can speak first hand to the dangers.

Manufacturer packaging is attached in images including statement to use in unoccupied areas only. And regarding the hazards to humans and animals.

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32

I too am newly battling snake mites, and am getting to a scorched earth phase just because I can be terribly OCD with things like this. I only have a few snakes right now and have no clue which one was the host to these little buggers (I have some very small babies and identifying mites/signs of is also new to me. Doesn’t help that I have purchased all these babes within a few weeks.), but am going to try something a bit different. Did some searching on these boards and found some predatory mites

That we can actually get in the states. They may not be quite as heavy hitting as the Taurrus predatory mites but I want to combine these with other reptile safe applications/products during quarantine - and to add them to their final bins since I do use more a more natural/bioactive substrate for my noodles. The downside to the above mites is they can target the clean up crew, but I’d rather have to replenish them if this additional step works. Since I have half the snakes you do, I’m doing the dawn dish soap bath then using Lugarti mite spray after. It is definitely helping but since I have no idea how far they have yet to spread, I’m going in on the predatory mites as well since they can also be sprinkled on to the snake while in their quarantine bin!

Edit - it looks like verinium beat me to all this, but glad to see that it has worked for them and others in a similar situation. I am now terribly excited to unleash these guys and do a little happy prance in my head.

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33

As a heads up, if you are going full scorched-earth like I have detailed elsewhere on these boards, then you should be aware that the pesticides you will be using are persistent for up to six weeks and will kill predatory mites just as effectively as they kill parasitic mites. So you might want to rethink your quarantine/application strategy :+1:t4:

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34

Definitely! I think I will just do the dawn soak and use the predatory mites after and let things go from there - soaking again only when necessary. Until the predatory mites arrive I can give everyone a good hit with the stronger stuff, then dawn bathe them once I receive the mites to get them cleaned of the pesticides (assuming it isn’t too strong to withstand a good soaking) and add the good boi mites after(?). That was my loose plan for their quarantine bins but I have zero clue how strong the mite sprays are and if they tend to withstand soakings and require multiple or time to wear off.

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Was more trying to make the point that the spray, when used on things like cages/tubs/hides/etc., would retain the active residue of the spray and so would kill of the good mites as well as the bad

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36

If you are using Reptile Spray or diluted Ivermectin on the snake only, you will be OK with a soap water clean for the predators, as they arent hunting the snakes and are more apt to burrow into the soil. I did not put the predators into enclosures i treated for the exact reason wyman has stated, it can kill everything you want to add.

As for them killing the cleanup crew, you dont need to worry about that much. Springtails are extremely good at thriving so long as they have enough moisture and food, they reproduce alot faster than the mites. As for isopods if you use them as CUC the predators will scavenge dead ones, but do not bother them when they are alive.

I really like the miles type predator because they are a nice easily identifiable orange, so very easy to tell good apart from bad :).

Best of luck with your endeavor! It fortunately worked for me since i was forced to do it due to my busy schedule, so i couldnt follow wymans scorched earth policy, but this is a slower process, so keep an eye on the health of your animals and do your best to mitigate the effect of the mites on them.

Last note, DO NOT use any of the shed from treated animals in your bioactive mix, the residue WILL kill your CUC and any predators that feed on them afterwards. Remove treated shed as soon as its noticed.

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37

You’ve received a lot of helpful feedback already, but just thought I would include the forum link here to the thorough step-by-step guide I wrote that covers the mite treatment process that I have used on a similar size group of snakes. :slightly_smiling_face:

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38

Where did you get the predatory mites? We want to go bioactive and were just getting started when we discovered the mites! Fortunately I had planned to start fresh with the new plan so going “scorched earth” wasn’t a huge loss. I can bake the wood pieces and treat them. I will let them set for a month or more while I establish the tank. Having predatory mites sounds like a really good idea. Will they eat my isopods and springtails or just the bad mites?
Thanks!!!

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39

I think you can get them from Amazon! Just search for “predatory mites” and select the type you need. I can’t remember which type of mites you need. I know there are specific ones but I can’t remember which off the top of my head

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40

They will eat your springtails, however, a healthy springtail colony will easily continue to thrive even if a few are hunted (i never had an issue of pred mites wiping out my springtails). I got mine on amazon from natures goodguys, species hypoaspis miles. They are a great defense imo.

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