Rat mites

Dani · #1 (**permalink**) 11-11-2002, 12:15 PM

I've just read in an old post that there are two types of mites, mites that attach to warm-blooded animals (rats) and ones that attach to cold-blooded animals (snakes). Can anyone confirm this? Is there absolutely no chance that the mites that can be found on rats attach themselves to snakes? I don't feed live, but I do feed F/K (I'd like to switch to F/T in the future when I have money to buy a mini-freezer). I'm going to be buying small rats this week and I will be breeding a couple and feeding the rest. I was thinking of spraying them with a mite-killing spray before allowing my snake to eat them. Does anyone know what the homepage for Black Knight is? I'd like to see if they have any international distributors.
This question is for UK members. Are there any online shops in the UK that sell Black Knight?
Thanks.

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motorherp · #2 (**permalink**) 11-11-2002, 01:36 PM

Hi, don't know about the two types of mite but I can't find Black Knight for sale over here. There are several types of mite treatments available, most seem to be for birds as opposed to fuzzy creatures and others for reptiles. I've never had a problem with mites in the UK (too cold for them maybe [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img] ) The following are links to some sites which may help;

Snake mite cures

Reptile mite cures

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eddie · #3 (**permalink**) 11-11-2002, 01:41 PM

You deffinately do NOT want to put ANY chemical on the food prior to feeding.
I wouldn't even put any on the food any time prior to killing it either.
Just because something is safe for external use doesn't mean it's safe for internal use.

Why not see if the pet shop you get your feeders at will kill and freeze them for you a few days in advance, then you pick them up on feed day?
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Dani · #4 (**permalink**) 11-11-2002, 02:13 PM

I don't think I'll be using the Ivomec injection at all, it just seems too drastic while there are other products available on the market loke Black Knight. My snake doesn't have any mites (hope it stays that way). I just said I was thinking of using Black Knight on the rats if at all. The thing is I'd like to catch any possible mites before they have a chance of coming into contact with my BP. Eddie, when you say "You deffinately do NOT want to put ANY chemical on the food prior to feeding" are you referring to motorherp's first link or to my idea of spraying Black Knight on rats? I thought that Black Knight was safe to use around snakes unlike other mite-killing sprays where the snake mustn't be allowed to contact the spray. Do you just mean that it's ok to spray Black Knight in the same enclosure as a reptile but it wouldn't be good if the reptile licked the spray and ingested some of the droplets? Please let me know.

eddie · #5 (**permalink**) 11-11-2002, 02:33 PM

There are some horror stories about even spraying the BK in the snakes enclosure.

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE> Eddie, when you say "You deffinately do NOT want to put ANY chemical on the food prior to feeding" are you referring to motorherp's first link or to my idea of spraying Black Knight on rats? </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

I mean on ANY food given to reptiles period!

Besides, the rats are going to groom themselves when they are sprayed and it may just kill them also. Even if it doesn't, then when the snakes eat, the chems are going to be injested that way.
Or if you spray it on the rat after its dead, the snake will ingest it then.
Not a good idea at all.

Dani · #6 (**permalink**) 11-11-2002, 02:52 PM

Ok thanks for clarifying. Is the only way to get rid of mites safely to freeze the rodent? I guess I'll be combing the rats myself trying to look for mites then. Are there any other members that feed F/K? How do you guys make sure that your feeding rodents don't have any mites on them? The more I think about it, the more I want to start with F/T but I can't just now. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img]
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JuliusSqueezer · #7 (**permalink**) 11-12-2002, 11:06 AM

LOL...there are WAY more types of mites than the two mentioned. If you look at your skin under a microscope right now, you are absolutely covered with mites. Most of the times when you scratch an itch, it is caused by dust mites. gross huh?

Reptile mites will not feed on warm blooded animals and ear mites etc that feed on mammals will not bother with cold blooded animals. This is all true. Just because they won't feed on a rat though, doesn't mean that a rat exposed to them can't have a few clinging to his fur. They are often carried in from infested petstores on feeder rodents, substrate, boxes or bags that anything you purchased came in, your clothing just from walking through the store....many many ways to bring them home.
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Dani · #8 (**permalink**) 11-12-2002, 11:26 AM

Thanks for shedding some light on this. Anyways, after talking about mites yesterday I've come to the conclusion that I need to have my snake switched to F/T sooner than I had in mind. I finally found a company in Spain that sells frozen rodents [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] Needless to say I will buy rats from them and that way I don't have to spend time breeding them myself. So now I'm looking into the purchase of a mini-freezer. I don't like the idea of keeping dead rodents with other foods in my regular freezer.
So, Julius, how do you keep your snakes from getting mites? Because it seems like feeding F/T doesn't totally eliminate the problem, since you can bring them home many different ways, which sounds reasonable. Is it just luck? And is it a question of time before the snake gets them? Is there no definite way to prevent them ever coming into contact with the snake?
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sartori · #9 (**permalink**) 11-14-2002, 06:42 AM

never spray black knight or any other pesticide on a rat.. i dont care what the bottle says.. just dont do it..

if you want to treat for rodent mites.. get ivermectin.. dilute it in a spray bottle (id have to look up the exact dosages).. and spray the rat/mouse from the tail to the head.. make sure to get the face also.. the mites will go there to avoid the ivermectin..

wait 2 weeks and treat again (if they are to be kept as breeders)..

if they are to be food.. just freeze them.. the mites die.. along with all the little nasty stuff they are carryin in them..

another trick to treat mites on rodents is to get a bottle of "provent a mite".. and spray some cotton balls in a jar.. then drop 1 or 2 into the cage litter with the rat/mouse.. (you also want to treat the sides of the cage before you do this.. follow directions on the can).. clean the bedding out 3 days later and drop another cotton ball in.. easy as pie..

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JuliusSqueezer · #10 (**permalink**) 11-14-2002, 07:37 AM

ivermectin is fine for some snakes....boids usually have no problem....If you have a highly varied collection....be extra careful with it....thin skinned snakes will often have an allergic reaction upon the second treatment. Young pitvipers especially will fall dead. If there is a pet frog or arachnid anywhere in the house.....don't use it period even in another room.

I usually put 1 cc in a 24 oz spray bottle. But because of some of the species I keep now....I no longer use it at all.

How do I avoid mites? Unfortunatly I don't sometimes. But I have many weapons and they dont last long here. I haven't had a mite outbreak in over a year though....I only feed frozen...I spray sawyer's tick spray in any new substrate I buy and I haven't spent much time in petstores lately. Right now I'm fighting a moth infestation LOL....they came in in some bird seed.
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