Currently having a mite problem with my Boa. He came to me with mites as I unfortunately discovered. I am using reptile relief spray and Provent A Mite. I also isolated him into a smaller bin on paper towels. However, I’m actively seeing them re appear, WALKING on the paper towels treated with Provent A Mite, which is supposed to leave a residual effect and kill them. So much for that, after this product got so much praise. Any suggestions on what I can do? I want these suckers gone, been treating him, and the enclosure with those products and giving him baths and it seems like nothing wants to work.
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Is he in a different room from your other snakes? Exactly how did you utilize the PAM?
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My colubrids are in a separate room on a different level. I pray on everything they don’t end up with any. I applied the PAM as instructed, yet I see the mites waltzing on the treated paper towels. The only other animal that was in my room was my Tegu. He has since been moved to another room, and was treated the same way, and had an entire enclosure take down and soak. Not a single mite was found on him or in his enclosure, nor were any seen after soaking him, and then soaking his enclosure in HOT soapy water. But apparently tegus are not susceptible to mites anyways according to other people, nor could I find any examples of tegus having snake mites online.
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I had mites from a chain pet store bought snake. Before I realized it , they spread to several other of my snakes.
I bought the Provent-A-Mite and only used that product.
I took all substrate out of every enclosure housing my 17 Ball Pythons.
I heavily sprayed paper towels (outside) to the point they were visually damp , not dripping but damp.
I let them dry thoroughly, not a damp area at all. Placed them in every enclosure. I did this 3 times , once a week. Thankfully that worked and I’ve been mite free ever since.
I also took a sexing probe with a small dab of Vaseline on the ball portion and gently massaged the mites out from under the scales. I sat for hours doing this. The mites would get stuck in the Vaseline which I then burned with a lighter. Cleaned the tip and repeated hundreds of times.
I sprayed a couple of paper towels and wiped down every surface in my snake room.
It’s possible the reptile relief spray and PAM could be working against one another making them ineffective. I’m no scientist but I’ve heard of products having a naturalizing effect on each other before.
I hope this helps and I wish good riddance to those horrible little bugs…
Good luck!
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There have been reports in the past few years of PAM-resistant strains of mites, so not a major surprise to hear this
May I suggest an alternative approach?
Put you snake in a simple cage with some easy organic material as bedding and dump in a buttload of these:
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I’m going to try Frontline spray as I’ve heard good things about it. The predatory mites I’ve heard mixed results, and I want to eliminate the snake mites for sure. I will try them if all else fails but I pray the Frontline will help. What also makes it tricky is that my Boa constrictor is a suriname locale, which are covered in black spots naturally, so unless the mites are actively moving, it’s very difficult to spot them latched on.
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Thank you @t_h_wyman. I was at a loss for what to suggest next because PAM worked for me like a charm………
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Frontline spray is no longer available. Or at least no longer manufactured, so check the expiration date if you do find a bottle
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I’ll check the bottle when it arrives. But the good news is, through what I’ve been trying so far, it’s been a few days since my last PAM treatment and all but two mites I spotted in the enclosure were dead. The two living mites were nymphs or deutonymphs so thankfully they were not breeding adults. I sprayed the enclosure with the reptile relief just to be safe. I will be completely soaping the tub and reapplying the PAM in a few days, but, so far, it looks like it’s no longer any form of infestation, just the stragglers. Might be nearing the end of this war, just gotta keep my eyes open for any that hatch. No mites seem to be coming off the Boa right now, as he is taking a dawn dish soap bath.
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you can purchase a bottle of 10% Pymethrin through Amazon. Mix 1oz into a 24oz spray bottle and use as needed.
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