Bedding after Mites???

[nomadbean]

My redtail has mites, which I have treated, but I cannot figure out what substrate to use while I make sure I got rid of them. I usually use bark from the pet store and coconut shavings, but they are not working with the mineral oil. So, should I use newspaper or what should I use that will not stick to her or kill her? Will the newspaper make her all black from the ink? Please help so I do not have to deal with mites again.
[addsig]

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[hisba]

Good question! Yes, use newspaper, that way the mites won't have any place to hide or
lay eggs. It's possible the newspaper could get some ink on the boa, but I don't find it's really
a problem. (I use newspaper in all my cages) You could also put a lot of paper towels over
the newspaper, that would make it easier to see the black mites crawling around too so you
could see if they were all gone.
[addsig]

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[nomadbean]

OK, I have another question, I just found more mites on my snakes belly while putting new bedding down. I want to get them off, but I am concerned because it is almost time for her to shed and she needs to eat tonight. So, should I treat her again, then feed her, and let her shed or just forget about mites until she is done shedding. Her skin is just creepy and loose, and according to books she is going to shed soon. I have to leave her alone after feeding for awhile, so please help me with treating her......thx in advance
[addsig]

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

Long as she is a healthy boa..Ya don't need to worry about missing a meal with her at all. Your priority atm is the mites eradication. What exactly are you doing with the mineral oil anyway? I find that a lot of people think that they can just rub their snake down with mineral oil and think the mites will go away. Such is NOT the case. The tx that needs to be done for eradication of the mites using mineral oil is very in depth and time consuming. For instance..it takes about 5 hours of working hands on with a 4' snake when using mineral oil for mites. Then there's also the cage that needs to be done too. IF you do NOT perform the mineral oil treatment to the full agenda , then you are wasting whatever little time you spend doing it. You MUST scale the snake in order to FULLY utilize the mineral oil eradication. MOST people wouldn't take the time that is involved in such. For those people..try one of the other methods mentioned in our mites caresheet area [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_eek.gif[/img]
I have YET to treat a snake for mites that is under 6' utilizing mineral oil and the whole treatment regime for such and have any reoccurance of mites in all the years I have kept snakes.
[addsig]

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

OH yeah..easiest thing to use for a substrate when delaing with mites is the newspaper also. Use black & white printed ones though. COuldn't tell ya how many people I have talked to who have used the funnies section, or another section with like red print, AND their snake wound up with a red belly. Some have even said they had a vet tell em the snake was sick with belly rot/burn/scale rot etc...hehe
[addsig]

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[Countryboy]

Like Lori said go ahead and get rid of the mites asap. She could also be trying to shed to ge rid of the mites. If you don't have the time for the mineral oil treatment try 7 dust it is also in the mite care sheets. I used it on my Argentine boa and it worked great. Good luck with everything.
[addsig]

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[nomadbean]

I am scaling her, I read all the care sheets and I started at her head and am picking of all the mites, there are a lot of raised scales. Luckily Maggie is only two feet long so it will not take that long. She is sitting right now between pickings, I am about halfway through right now, she needed more oil I think because the mites were running so I am letting them suffocate. I think when she gets bigger this may not be an option because it is taking forever, but I cannot let her have bugs, I don't think she likes them and she is my little baby so I want her to be happy. Thanks for the info, I appreciate it all...I will let you guys now if I get them all in about...five weeks [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]
[addsig]

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

Yeah..look for another remedy when they are bigger. I have never had to deal with mites on any snake larger than a 6'er until recently. I transported a snake for someone and was told that it had been treated for mites to the point of eradication..only to find out it wasn't arghhh.. Should have known better. Seeing that I got lazy after driving for like 20 hours when I got home, I just placed the tote that snake was in on top of one of my cages that housed 3 HUGE breeders, 9-10'ers, and they wound up with the dang lil buggers too. Luckily we were able to control the mites to the point that the other 20 or so snakes housed in the same room didn't get them also. [ Which only further goes to show that the mites had indeed come from the snake which was transported and infested with mites ] I resorted to PAM on that one. Luckily for me only 1 of the large snakes got them seriously. Of course the person who told me that the snake I was transporting didn't have any mites contacted me like 2 days later to tell me that they had found mites in their home where the snake I transported had been located. I wasn't asked to take that snake with me until I was leaving their home and in my haste to get going....I neglected to verify the mite situation with the snake and just accepted it...I'll NEVER do that again! Of course I did find that the snake I transported was indeed LOADED with mites...so much for having had eradicated them as I had been told had been done. I wouldn't want to be doing mineral oil tx to a 10'er myself..UGH. Even with using PAM , and mineral oil 1 x, that snake was sooo INFESTED that the mites could not be controlled at all and the snake was lost due to the mites [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img] Gotta love it when people tell ya that the snake they hand over to you is not with mites when in fact it is! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_mad.gif[/img]

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	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[ratsickle]

HI,
I wouldn't use any insectaside unless its designed for the animal, I had a mite infestation
in a pet store return that I brought home . I finally bought some provent-a-mite and this stuff is great,Follow the instrucions on the can to the letter,I took out all the substrate and sprayed the floor and the corners and sprayed the hides cleaned the water dish and put the water dish in the sink til done . Waited until the spray was dry. Put the snake and the cleaned water dish in the cage and haven't had any mites since. You should re-treat the cage at the end of the month. Remove the snake and water dish though. You only need to spray a little it has a residual effect that kills any mites that try to lay eggs in the cage for up to one month dont' forget to treat the feeder box... You have broken the chain of re-infestation.. good luck,
after using newspaper for a couple months thats all I use..
doug
I have two new cans on the shelf but have been mite free, are you feeding frozen thawed,
another way to get parsites in and on your snake is to feed live....

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Aint them BOA'S COOL --

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

Doug...I also wouldn't like to use any pesticides on my snakes at all also. BUT on a 9 , 10 ot larger foot snake...ya really got no choice. BTW PAM is provent-a-mite.. Also...If a snake is sooo INFESTED that the method you use doesn't do anything for them to get rid of the mites...you really need to try out another method.

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LORI

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	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[east_stingray]

As for the substrate to use...
I highly recommend newspaper, but there's one catch. Go to your local newspaper and ask for an end roll. This is the end of those huge rolls they use. They will usually give it to you or sell it for a couple of bucks. This way, you run no risk of an active snake being covered with ink! It's also easier to see things such as mites with white paper (looks better in the cage, too).

Just my .02

-East
[addsig]

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks