yay i got an etb:) oh no it has mites :((

[prcdslnc13]

so yeah a friend of mine got this guy about two months ago and decided he wanted something more docile and handleable. so i end up getting it in trade awesome right. well thats how i felt until last night when i saw little buggys crawling on him. im very sure they are mites so now the question really is how do you get mites off of a snake you cant touch? ive dealt with mites on red-tails balls andn everything else that you can get out and wipe down and spray and such. i usually spray them down with reptile relief mite spray and then soak them for about 20 minutes. they then get to live in a rubbermaid tub with paper towel and a water dish til the nastys are gone. but how do i do that with a snake that needs high humidity and such? i was thinking coconut husk bedding on the bottom and change it out every couple days to keep up humidity but do you guys have any other ideas?

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[Ed_r]

Leave the substrate in. remove the snake remove the water. Spray the substrate with prevent a mite. wait 30-40 minutes let he cage air out. Put in fresh clean water and put the snake back in the cage.

14 days later repeat the process. 14 days ins the incubation period of the eggs the mites have laid. retreating in 14 days will kill the newly hatched mites so they wont breed again. problem over.

When spraying the cage i would remove the perches also and wipe down the walls of the cage. direct contact could cause problems. substrate will soak the spray in. perches wont.

Sounds like you got a w/c animal. Didnt momma tell you that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is? lol Good luck with it

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[JuliusSqueezer]

This is going to sound harsh...maybe very harsh but I think you and your friend have both recently made some very bad decisions. If you "can't touch" the snake, then the snake needs a home where he can be properly cared for. Please consider finding an experienced corallus keeper and relocating this animal. If you are anywhere near Georgia, you can drop it off here. Depending on his condition you can probably even take away something in trade. Sorry if I seem like I'm jumping to conclusions here...but from the sound of your post...I can't see any possible way that this snake has a chance of survival long term. They are very delicate and require PERFECT husbandry. I'm also guessing that this animal was likely wild caught. Wild caught emeralds are hard to keep alive even for the very experienced corallus keepers. They have been through a very stressful import process and exposed to all kinds of parasites, avian disease and stress.

As to getting rid of the mites. The best method I have found to actually work involves permetherin spray. It is sold commercially in the pet trade as Provent-a-mite for 20 bucks or so a can or you can get it under many other name brands at wal mart and other places labeled for ues as Lice bedding spray or Tick repelant. Name brands to look for are Repel, Rid or Sawyers...I think there is another one out called Permonone or something like that...at any rate READ the ingredients and make sure there is no DEET and that the active ingredient is .5% permetherin. To treat an arboreal like an emerald you have to do things a bit different. Remove the waterbowl and the perches from the cage. Spray the substrate but DO NOT spray the glass. Wait a couple of hours and put the snake in the cage on the substrate with NO perches or water bowl for 12-24 hours....then return the waterbowl and perches. Do not change the substrate and do not crank up the humidity too much for the next couple of days.

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[prcdslnc13]

ok thank you for the advise but frankly im a bit offended. its people like you that jump to conclusions about people that turn people away from the reptile trade. yes your right this is my first corallus ive kept, and your right i may be doing somethings wrong but ive been keeping reptiles for about 9 years. im not as ignorant as you think. i realize it was w/c and i knew was from the moment it was offered. when i say "cant touch it" i mean i dont want to get him really worked up and stressed out since i just got him. its not that im afraid of him and i freak out when he snaps at me. i have four monitors, all of them except for one are quite large. ive dealt with bigger scarier things then this little guy. the only reason i asked is because i know that they are delicate animals and need some special attention, i didnt know if the same held true here

[JuliusSqueezer]

oops sorry Ed...we must have been typing at the same time

[prcdslnc13]

I do appreciate the advice though and if you have any more i would gladly take it but next time you read something like that you may want to ask some more questions before you start making accusations. i really want to keep this guy alive and i am desiging his permanent enclosure as we speek. so if you have any good advice on that please open up it will be taken with graditude.

[JuliusSqueezer]

There are certain parts of the reptile trade that very much need people turned away from. The Emerald import business is one of the main ones. If you had done ANY research beforehand on what these animals go through and what the mortality rate is...we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. I stand behind my statements. If I offend anyone to the point that it discourages them from supporting the w/c emerald business....good Mission accomplished.

But here we are anyway and politics and offensiveness aside...we have an innocent victim here that deserves a chance to live. If you want to keep this animal alive, you need to find a very good herp vet asap and get a fecal done yesterday. I also suggest investing 13 bucks into some probiotics like benebac or nutribac and keep it on hand for when the bloating, puking or feeding problems begin. If you are certain you want to invest your time, blood, sweat and many tears into this project, I and others will gladly help you in any way we can. Aside from the mites, is there anything else obviously wrong? When is the last time he was fed and what did he eat? How often do you plan to feed him? How big is he? What are you planning to feed him? What are his cage temps and humidity? What style cage...setup? (the most common problems new emerald keepers run into is 1- overheating and 2 - over feeding, whether it be too much or large or too often) No matter how often you feed them, they will hunt nightly for food. Mistaking this behaviour for thinking you arent feeding them enough is a HUGE killer of pet emerald tree boas.

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[pathfinder36]

prcdslnc13,
Take it in stride man. JS is one of the most knowledgeable snake keepers I've ever had the chance to communicate with... period. He is also very "in your face" at times with some subjects that deserve to be sensitive topics. Some people love him, some people hate him... but your critters will sure appreciate his input. Don't get to offended. You'll warm up to him. =)

[toker]

Quote:

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Some people love him, some people hate him... but your critters will sure appreciate his input. Don't get to offended.