Mites! what do you do?

Is there a thread for getting rid of mites?
I want to see one where people give what they used, how they used it, how often they treated, and the results. even pictures and videos for others to see. maybe even links to products people think are best!

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On the animal? Water, dish soap. They’ll drown.

The tricky part is getting the eggs and larvae dead. You can freeze the enclosure if you have a freezer large enough, bake it with various methods or go buy Provent-A-Mite spray.

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Well there are various products on the market however some do not treat all stages which include eggs, some only treat the adult stage.

The best product on the market is Provent a mite refered to as PAM. It treats all stages and if directions are followed is efficient and safe. RID lice spray also can be used in the same manner.

Now you can also do homemade brews with the same active ingredient but that is something I am more reluctant to recommend as it could be tricky and dangerous to use by someone with limited experience.

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have you ever heard of mites building a resistance to a product? i used NIX once before and despite how often i used it or how i used it, the mites still stayed. then i went back to my regular methods and they were gone. ive always wondered if its possible

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It’s not impossible but kind of unlikely. Maybe the mixture was off a little bit or the eggs didn’t get treated?

The eggs are the toughest part. Miss a couple and you’re retreating indefinitely. :scream:

If you know where you picked them up from pass it back to that person so they know. If you got it from bedding or an enclosure keep in mind that freezing and baking (even microwave, but that has its problems…) kill them off.

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this was a year back, my burm was from an expo where he picked the mites up from. but ive been looking into more methods and ways people get rid of mites because often times i take in reptiles and im sure newer members are always looking for information on it too

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For sure. Mites aren’t a new problem by any stretch, though. There’s tons of info and videos out there.

The prescription should always be soap+water and Provent-A-Mite, freeze/bake your substrate, and/or get the enclosure as hot (or as cold) as you can. :slight_smile:

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Depends on what species of snake has mites for me. Some species of snakes (hognoses and other small colubrids in my case) are more sensitive to the active ingredient in PAM (pyrethrin) than others. It can cause neuro issues & death even if used by the directions around more sensitive species.

I’ve only dealt with mites a handful of times but I keep both PAM and Reptile Relief on hand at all times just in case. Reptile Relief has worked really well for me with pyrethrin sensitive animals, you just have to be a bit more deligent about cleaning and monitoring the enclosure when you use less harsh chemicals.

There are a ton of ways to treat mites so I’m sure some other folks will have more methods that work for them :+1:

Just be careful and research individual species before treating them with any kind of pesticide would be my best advice.

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That’s interesting. I remember hearing a long time ago this same thing but I thought (I could be entirely wrong) that it had to do with the more generic pyrethrin solutions. No animal should ever have direct contact with Provent-A-Mite.

Reptile Relief is for spraying directly on the animal, isn’t it? For that I believe the most recommended and safe method is dawn+water. You’ve used it for the enclosure? I’ll have to keep it in mind.

I’ve never actually had a hognose get mites. Only balls and short tails. Lucky. :slight_smile:

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I had mites in my collection at one point, a local breeder recommended I use this product, Natural Chemistry Reptile Spray:

I was able to order it off of reptilebasics.

Sure enough, after spraying some on the snakes and a little in each corner of their tubs, the mites went away. I did the treatment for a few weeks but it did get rid of them.
This stuff isn’t as harsh as PAM and so can be applied to the snake (of course avoiding the head when you spray it!) and you do want to remove any water bowls so they don’t get the stuff into the water bowl and drink it.

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thats always my go to, along with dawn

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Dawn: If it’s good enough for baby ducks, it’s good enough for me :joy::rofl:

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i use dawn for a LOT of things… even my horse, rats, mice, etc…

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@cwdanger I just used some to clean off my stress ball at work it was getting dusty :joy:

I’m really glad none of my new purchases have come with mites so far.

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Just as an obvious note, you don’t only get mites from new purchases from last year…
But we’ll leave that up to experience building. Best of luck.

Mites suck. I’ve always kind of been curious about their weird ability to seek out short tails, too. Something about short tails being mite magnets. Maybe it’s the extra humidity? :thinking:

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The absolute best method I have come across from SBK Reptiles:

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mites are evil little spawns. maybe your short tails are just closer to where the mites are coming from?

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This is my go to as well. That’s what I used on a small infestation I had from 2 snakes that came from a local expo. Only product I’ve seen that is safe for even really little snakes. One we used it on was a less than a year old corn snake baby. She didn’t like being wiped down with a rag that had the product sprayed on it, but worked like a charm. Think I’ll use it the next time some expo snakes come home just in case.

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Here in Holland the most common treatment for snakemites is indeed Frontline puppy spray for lice and ticks. I only had them once on a new baby ball python. Tried bathing, olive oil, predator mites who eat snakemites because I was scared to use it on a baby but nothing really worked ( we don’t have things like Dawns dish sosp here) On the baby they got lesser but didn’t disappear. Finally I did use Frontline on her and they where gone in a few days.the adults I wiped with Frontline the day I discovered the mites. I used it exactly like he described in the video. Whipped them with rubber gloves, kept them till they where dry, avoided eyes and mouth and kept water out for 24 hours. But the advice I got was to repeat the treatment after one week so I did. I didn’t have to change bedding or decoration because even if mite eggs where inside the still had to bite the snake to continue their live circle and they would die before they had the chance to produce new egg’s. None of my other snakes got mites and within two weeks all mites where gone. It’s now about half a year further I have not seen a mite since. I also didn’t see any side effects on the snakes. They did everything like normal. I almost wandered that if it is so easy what the hustle about mites was about. Only one small diclamer, I myself only used it on ball pythons but I know people who used it on boa’s without a problem but have no personal information about use on other snakes.

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