I didn’t say mites are not a problem, I just said they are not as dangerous as people seem to think.
Permethrin can kill/do permanent damage with in hours of exposure as it has been designed to do so. Mites can not.
I have used and will continue to use provent a mite on otherwise healthy sub adult and adult animals.
As for the newly bred and the nearly dead…nope not while there are other options
I also use Frontline. Had mites twice. Once on a new hatchling ball python about 1,5 years ago and about a year ago on a baby corn. Both times I got them under control without even cleaning the enclosures of all snakes but I did discovered them before they got to the other reptiles. I only cleaned the enclosures of the snakes who where having them.
You have to get the Frontline spray (we call it puppy spray) and not the drops because the drops are a lot more concentrated and might cause problems for your snake. Spray the Frontline on a tissues or make up whipe and rub it on the snake lightly. I personally would not spray directly on a snake because if you use to much it can harm the snake. Avoid eyes and mouth and cloaca. The body of the snake absorbs the Frontline and will kill the mites even where you don’t rub it. Get the water out of the tanks for 24 hours so the snake can not crawl through it and the drink Frontline water. Also rubbed Frontline on the outside of the enclosure so if a mite wants to crawl out it meets a Frontline barrier. Also put the snake in quarantine, so far from all other reptiles and don’t handle any other reptile after you handled the infected snake until you took a shower ect. I also rubbed the whole surroundings of the other snakes with frontline so if one mite escapes and finds it way to the other reptiles it will still meet a second Frontline barrier. After one week repeat the Frontline treathment. Twice is enough.
With the baby corn i was too scared to really wipe the whole snake with Frontline so I wiped only it’s belly and washed it of after an hour to prevent overdose. It was just a 8 gram baby. I wiped the bottom of the tub from the corn and covered it with normal paper after it was dry. I also wiped the corn several times with coconut oil ( do you know that people from the Dutch Caribbean islands also use coconut oil against head mites on people? Studies shown that headmites die from coconut oil. I don’t know if it has the same effect on snake mites, but it’s natural just like olive oil so it doesn’t hurt at least). Snake mites have a life circle of about 10 days. After the mite is full it drops of like a tick and lays it’s eggs often in substrate or under paper. Then the eggs get on the snake again. The clue is to break the circle and kill the mites before they get the chance to multiply.
Watch the other snakes well. If you are worried they did spread they you can also whipe the other snakes with Frontline. If the mites have nothing to eat and everytime they want to the meet pesticides, even without cleaning the enclosure they will not survive.
There is also a video about the use of Frontline on youtube from muscle serpents university. This is where I got the idea but later on I discovered that very many breeders here in Holland use it.
Here is the video:
If you want to know mite about it the just look on youtube. There are several video’s about the use of it on snakes. Hope you get rid of them soon. At least with Frontline it is not a too big problem.
Good luck!!
Thank you, I’ve heard of people using Frontline but I myself have not…so thank you for this info will be looking into it
My issue is with permethrin, I’ve seen it do alot of damage to young and/or sick animals
I’ve used Natural Chemistry Reptile Spray, and it’s done the job twice for me now.
Just recently had a minor infestation with my hatchlings, I moved both racks out of the reptile room and have been treating them.
Every time I found a mite, I would squash it. If I found one under one of my snake’s scales, I would gently pull it out with my nail and also squash it.
I just deep cleaned my white rack, and did not see any mites while inspecting the tubs and the snakes.
I’ll be deep cleaning the black rack tomorrow morning when my fiancé gets off work, and while I did inspect that rack and the babies as well, I only found 1 tiny live mite on one of the hatchlings and removed/killed it. I saw another in a water bowl but it appeared to have drowned, but I squashed it anyways to be sure.
I’m confident a thorough scrub down with hot water and dawn dish soap will get rid of the rest of the mites. I might do one last treatment in a few days with the spray, just to make sure.
Thank you everyone! I have successfully rid my ball python of mites. I did not want to jinx it so I waited and it has been about 1 month since I have seen any mites. When I initially picked up my new snake who had mites it was very bad, he had scars and those little pests all over him, even in his eyes! It was very sad to see. But now there isn’t a single mite in sight and his old scars are already healing over with new scales. I decided to name him Rocky because he’s a fighter, he pounds every meal I give him. Again thank you everyone for your input, I combined a few different methods and they all seemed to work wonders. Im glad to see there’s plenty of helpful and informed people in this forum, as a new person in this community 
I can document fipronil/Frontline causing both neurological problems and death in an animal, so it too can be problematic. That said, I agree that it is an order of magnitude safer than permethrin/PAM.
Another option is a very dilute ivermectin solution. I do not have the calculations in front of me so DO NOT take this as gospel but I believe it is something like 1:1000 dilution of a 10mg/mL stock. At this concentration it is not dangerous to snakes but it wipes out the mites (and most other insects… and snails… and isopods… and springtails… and worms)
I have used this method before as it’s readily available at the local farm and feed. It does work but like Travis points out you have to heavily dilute it because it’s very strong. Error on the side of caution when diluting it if you choose this route.
ABSOLUTELY!
And also, find the math for it and DO NOT just go with what I posted above since I clearly stated I am not sure on that dilution factor
We bought some babies two years ago that came with mites, we put Frontline on a paper towel, rubbed the snake all over, deep cleaned racks, provent a mite around the tubs. Mites were gone in one shot
frontline for the win. use once and mites are gone.
Last week I was handling my collection, and noticed on my 0.1 pied, that there was some pink spots showing up on the white areas. Grabbed a led flashlight and pressed it against her and could see tiny black dots under her scales. Knew what I saw. Removed everything out of all the enclosures. Placed the BPs in a water bath, followed by a oil treatment(Mite Guard). While they soaked, I sprayed the enclosures with Provent a Mite, baked all the wood items, and placed hides and bowls in the dishwasher. The 0.1 Pied was the only one I could find any signs of mites on. This week, the pink spots are going away, I used the flashlight again, and couldn’t find any mites under her scales. I’m going to keep them on paper towels for at least a month before putting substrate back in. I’ve heard to many horror stories of mites spreading, and think I caught it right when it was starting. I am going to keep the Provent a Mite treatment from now on, I disregarded before, thinking if the reptiles came in clean, that they would stay clean.
! - for infestations I use Predatory mites. They will eat snake mites all up. Available in the UK - even on eBay. I have used them before on plants. (obviously a different type.) They eat all the mites then they starve to death when there is no more snake mites left.
No risk of chemicals harming your animals.
I also use olive oil as a preventative. I coat the any new snake with olive oil on white paper towels, because if there is any, you can see them like pepper on the paper towel so you know you have them. Mites breath through their skin, so if you oil them the oil suffocates the mites and also kills most. If you see any on the paper kitchen towel, repeat until there are no more.
With quarenteenining new snakes and any substrate for a month, and the oil thing, there should be no need for predatory mites.
Things have moved on these days and mites need not be an issue.
Did you end up using predatory mites? If so what did you get and where from?
We don’t know if our baby ball has mites or if we are seeing little springtails from the substrate. Nothing in his(?) eyes or vents. the bugs we have seen are tiny…like a grain of pepper. The kits think they see them under his scales but he has a very speckled pattern. I threw out the substrate, moved him to a 10 gallon tank with throw-away plast bowl and hide and just paper towels. I will do a Dawn bath tomorrow and maybe try rubbing with some olive oil. I don’t want to use too many chemicals because he is so small still. Just moved up to sm mice last week. I think I will treat his enclosure with the Prevent-a-mite and let it dry/air for a week while I keep him on paper towels. I will try to get a bug picture tomorrow. I am too tired tonight!
What color are the bugs you’re seeing and how fast do they move?
Snake mites will be black and if you put on a hard surface and press down on it with your fingernail, it will pop and leave a blood stain. Wood mites and other species that don’t bother snake will generally be white or lighter colored and usually move faster than snake mites do.
Hi @jennamcg ! Welcome to the forum! I’m sorry about the possibility that your baby bp has mites. When you say they look like pepper flecks, it sounds like you probably have mites. Is there any way to post a picture?
Kudos to you for beginning the soaks and moving to paper towels right away. I have successfully used dawn soaks to eradicate those little suckers. I know from other people’s posts that provent-a-mite worked really well also.
Provent a Mite worked perfectly for me and you are correct that the sprayed surfaces have to completely dry before returning the animal to the enclosure. In the meantime the soakes will help ease any discomfort that your baby may be feeling……
I added the best picture I could find if the one bug I found on the paper towels this morning. It definitely looks like we have mites. I can get either ivermecton or the puppy frontline. And I have prevent a mite (equivalent) for the big enclosure. I am okay with keeping him in the small tank on toweling for a month or two. Just to be sure. It will give me time to properly set up the bioactive tank.
Yeah looks like it. Sorry that it happened. Just remember that at one point or another, every has or will have to deal with them. It sounds like you have got a great plan in place so hopefully it shouldn’t be too long before you can get everything how you want it.
Anyway, welcome to the community 
Don’t put oil on the snake, it damages the natural oil on their scales. Just lather the snake up heavily with dawn and let the lather stay on the snake for a couple full minutes then rinse. While you’re doing this make a ring with your hand drag it down the snakes body to help mechanically remove as many as possible.
If you have carpets in the room vacuum them thoroughly and/or treat with provent a mite.
