Snake Mite Treatment 2022
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- Опубликовано: 31 авг 2022
- Update: Treatment was successful!
I was unlucky enough to get snake mites recently, not sure how I got them. Snake mites usually show up when you get a new animal you don't quarantine from the rest of the group, but I didn't get a new animal recently so it had to have been something else. Substrate, new decor, something I walked in from outside are all very rare ways to get them, but thats my online guess right now. Anyway, 3 of my five snakes had mites for sure including my Brazilian Rainbow Boa (BRB), my Clown Ball Python (BP) and my Corn Snake. I caught them in their early stage as there were only a few on my snakes, but unfortunately my Corn Snake did not make it. She had other health issues as a rescue and hadn't been doing well, so I think this was the final nail in the coffin for her. I'm going to miss Artemis.
What I did to stop the spread and kill the mites had quite a few steps listed below:
Enclosure Clean-up Steps:
Step 1: Removed all substrate from all the enclosures.
Step 2: Removed snakes and placed in clean tub. Soaked each in a bath I'll describe in Step (#)
Step 3: Removed all Decor
Step 4: Bought and sprayed down enclosure with Miracle Cure Snake Mite Spray.
Note: I used several small bottles so I would recomend buying more if you have a big collection. Provent a Mite is supposed to be better but couldn't be found quickly anywhere. I bought the Miracle Cure spray at Petco, in person, but you can find it other places like Chewy: www.chewy.com/miracle-care-re...
Step 5: Spray down enclosure with Dawn Dish Soap water mixture. Only need a few drops of soap mixed with water.
Note: When spraying both the mite spray and soap water, spray as much as you can so you get a thick layer of both on the enclosure. Also get all the cracks and crevices you can like vents, doorway lips, anything can hold snake mite eggs and you want to try and down/kill them to end the life cycle.
Step 6: Placed paper towel down in enclosure, and spray down with regular water if humidity is needed.
Decor Clean-Up Steps
Step 1: Take removed Decor and soak in Dawn dish soap HOT water.
Step 2: Scrub with a brush or sponge while submerged. If too large to soak, run hot water over while washing with Dawn dish soap.
Step 3: Left dish soap water on all but water bowls and then placed in the sun to dry for an hour.
Step 4: Placed 2 hides and a water bowl in enclosure only for easy cleaning until no mites were found for a week. Then added all decor for enclosure.
Snake Clean-Up Steps
Step 1: Placed my snake into a clean tub with holes on the lid and added regular water for 15 minutes. Water should only go up half the snakes body so they are relaxed.
Note: Water temperature was determined by species and I had the heat mat attached to a thermostat to maintain the temperature I set for the species soaking. BRB = 82 Degrees Fahrenheit, Others I own = 85-90 Degrees Fahrenheit. Can get thermostat for heat mats here: www.amazon.com/dp/B01I15S6OM?...
Step 2: Added a drop or 2 or Dawn dish soap to water and made bubbles around snake. This layer of soap is to kill any mites on the snake but is safe for the snake itself.
Step 3: Let snake soak for 1 hour+
Note: This was when I cleaned their enclosures and decor.
I repeated this whole process a couple of times before not finding any mites. Hoping I got them all so stay tuned.
Songs played include:
Holding on for life by Broken Bells
The Harvester by Brandon Heath
GREAT vid !! Thank you 😊
Glad you liked it! Been planning to post more videos on care, just haven't yet since I'm undergoing a move for my home 😁
this may sound like a dumb question but, once you remove the snake from the dawn water, do you rinse them
off under the sink or just dry them off? also, how do you keep them from getting the dawn in their eyes if they’re in it for an hour?
I typically just dry them off completely before putting them back into their enclosure, but this is a good thought to ponder a bit further. Dawn is very benign to use on snakes but also kills the mites because the soap chokes out the mites. I know of no ill effects from just drying them off after the soak as opposed to washing off the soap completely and then drying.
As for their eyes, they have eye scales that cover their eyes that is also connected to the rest of their scales (if you look at a snake shed, you can see it's all one "wrapper" so to speak). So because of this they don't have the issue of getting soap in their actual eyes.
How did you realise you had mites? Are they visible?
@elenaasimakopoulou1358 So they are visible when you really look, though if you were looking for them on an all black snake, it would be a challenge.
I knew to look for them because I had one very lethargic acting snake, 2 snakes soaking wayyy to much for what had been their normal soaking amounts, and a full adult female shedding monthly. Her shedding so much was definitely not normal for an adult snake as they should only shed 2 to 3 times a year. Adult snakes shed more if sick or injured.
I honestly should have checked even sooner then I did, but most mite infestations come.from introducing a new snake that already has them into the collection and I hadn't brought in any new snakes/animals into my collection for over a year at this point. I now suspect they were in the substrate somehow.
Any idea on how you got the mites.
I'm guessing it was either substrate or a new hide where I missed cleaning a part of it. Most the time, snake mites come from a new animal being brought in and not quarantining, but I didn't have a new animal in the last year. So that's my best guess. Great question!