Gravid BRB with MITES! What do I DO?

Allysen · #1 (**permalink**) 05-08-2007, 08:31 AM

We brought home a new bci about a little over a month ago (Molotov) and quarantined her well on the opposite end of the house far far away from the rest of the collection. She was eating well, and pooping well, nothing seemed amiss. I take her out every day, except for a few days after feeding. Well yesterday (which was indeed, a few days after her last feeding) we discovered her to be utterly and completely infested with mites. They were nesting in the corners of the cage, just. Everywhere.

Needless to say, this being our first case of mites, we scrambled around town like chickens with our heads cut off, getting provent-a-mite and reptile relief, and treated Molotov accordingly. We thought that she was far enough away from the others, but today we of course discovered we were wrong. Needless to say all future snakes will be quarantined at my boyfriend's office across town.

The mites have not gotten to everybody, but of course, we have to treat everybody like they've been infested.

Most of them are no problem, but our BRB is about 3 and a half months gravid, absolutely huge, and I'm absolutely scared to death of handling her in this state. She has mites.

Has anybody else had a gravid snake that got mites? What should I do? I don't want to move her at all this far along, and I'm scared of taking her out because of the temps fluctuating, but we HAVE to get rid of the mites!

I've been looking at Mite-Off on the internet, which boasts that it kills mites and their larva without pesticides and is safe enough to spray in a reptile's eyes... Has anybody used this? Does it work as well as it says? ACK help!

HARTSOCK · #2 (**permalink**) 05-08-2007, 12:53 PM

Okay, first off Mites SUCK!

I have been dealing with a case of them with my rtb and where I haven't won the war, I have learned a few things which may help you. First, if you look on here for mites, you'll find many different treatments, some more effective than others. As far as your rainbow goes, you'll want to use something that is very low risk, such as those natural treatments that you were talking about. Don't go with the Sevin Dust, Rid (or Rit??, the lice treatment) at this point. What I have used is something called DeFlea, it is one of those all natural sprays that will kill the mites on contact, but I have had a problem with them reoccuring and not getting rid of them all together. One reason is that I may not have been as diligent as I need to be and treat more often. I seem to win the battle for a few weeks, but then they come back.

One area to watch for is the corners of the tanks and if you have something like a critter cage with the sliding locking top, they usually have on open space where little things can get inside and lay eggs. The mites can get between the glass and the sealant and be protected when you treat the cage, you really got to get in there and hand rub the corners the best you can.

As mentioned I had gotten a bad case of them that had spread to two other cornsnakes that were in the same shelving rack. They weren't as bad and I was successful in clearing it up in those tanks, but I learned something that helped to keep them mite free while even staying where they are. If you suspect mites or have them, get some vasoline and smear it around the top part of the glass about a finger tip width. Mites don't jump like fleas, they have to walk where they are going. (or be transfer by catching a ride on us or on the things you are using in the tanks) They try to walk through the vasoline and get stuck and eventually die. This keeps them in the tank they might be in, and keeps them out of the tanks they haven't made it into yet. Now the same person who told me about this little trick also recommended that I put the vasoline in the corners of the tank and along the bottem joints so that any mites who may be hiding in the sealant end up trap and suffocated, but with the way my rtb moves around, I would have one really slimy slipperly snake!

use something mild in treating the gravid one, treat as often as you have the time for, and good luck!

Gurl · #3 (**permalink**) 05-08-2007, 01:59 PM

i think the deflea spray hartsock is talking about only kills mites and not their eggs, so u will need to use it and clean ur cages with it probably everyday.. that is what i use and so far it has worked for me, and i havent had a mite problem in a few years. you could have transfered the mites to ur other snakes from ur clothing, or handling one of ur snakes, and then another one...
good luck!!! let us know what works!

telefrag · #4 (**permalink**) 05-08-2007, 02:45 PM

Mites can also move across a house in a few days, if you have them on one snake, its possible for them to infest a collection in other areas of the house.

Especially (as mentioned above) if they get on your clothes, or on tools being shared between cages.

Out of curiosity, what are the cages made of? (wood/plastic/glass)

Allysen · #5 (**permalink**) 05-08-2007, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by telefrag

Mites can also move across a house in a few days, if you have them on one snake, its possible for them to infest a collection in other areas of the house.

Especially (as mentioned above) if they get on your clothes, or on tools being shared between cages.

Out of curiosity, what are the cages made of? (wood/plastic/glass)

Boaphiles and Matrix racks with sweater tubs. I'm pretty sure that the mites just made their merry way across the house because we were being SUPER careful, changing clothes and washing hands after handling Molotov.

Everyone who appears to not have mites (yet) has been removed from their enclosure and we've thoroughly provent-a-mited, so hopefully that will at least stop them from spreading any further.

Allysen · #6 (**permalink**) 05-08-2007, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hartsock

Okay, first off Mites SUCK!
I have been dealing with a case of them with my rtb and where I haven't won the war, I have learned a few things which may help you. First, if you look on here for mites, you'll find many different treatments, some more effective than others. As far as your rainbow goes, you'll want to use something that is very low risk, such as those natural treatments that you were talking about. Don't go with the Sevin Dust, Rid (or Rit??, the lice treatment) at this point. What I have used is something called DeFlea, it is one of those all natural sprays that will kill the mites on contact, but I have had a problem with them reoccuring and not getting rid of them all together. One reason is that I may not have been as diligent as I need to be and treat more often. I seem to win the battle for a few weeks, but then they come back.
One area to watch for is the corners of the tanks and if you have something like a critter cage with the sliding locking top, they usually have on open space where little things can get inside and lay eggs. The mites can get between the glass and the sealant and be protected when you treat the cage, you really got to get in there and hand rub the corners the best you can.
As mentioned I had gotten a bad case of them that had spread to two other cornsnakes that were in the same shelving rack. They weren't as bad and I was successful in clearing it up in those tanks, but I learned something that helped to keep them mite free while even staying where they are. If you suspect mites or have them, get some vasoline and smear it around the top part of the glass about a finger tip width. Mites don't jump like fleas, they have to walk where they are going. (or be transfer by catching a ride on us or on the things you are using in the tanks) They try to walk through the vasoline and get stuck and eventually die. This keeps them in the tank they might be in, and keeps them out of the tanks they haven't made it into yet. Now the same person who told me about this little trick also recommended that I put the vasoline in the corners of the tank and along the bottem joints so that any mites who may be hiding in the sealant end up trap and suffocated, but with the way my rtb moves around, I would have one really slimy slipperly snake!
use something mild in treating the gravid one, treat as often as you have the time for, and good luck!

Thanks for the corner tip, I've been absolutely WASTING the corners with the Reptile Relief DeFlea stuff, and I sprayed Ember (the BRB) with it last night, but I've read that it can really dehydrate a snake, and since she's particularly susceptible to dehydration being a BRB, I'm a bit nervous about how often to use it. The bottle says only ever 3 days, but I really really want the mites out of there NOW. Blargh mites suck!

Allysen · #7 (**permalink**) 05-08-2007, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gurl

i think the deflea spray hartsock is talking about only kills mites and not their eggs, so u will need to use it and clean ur cages with it probably everyday.. that is what i use and so far it has worked for me, and i havent had a mite problem in a few years. you could have transfered the mites to ur other snakes from ur clothing, or handling one of ur snakes, and then another one...
good luck!!! let us know what works!

I guess my main problem right now is that I can't really clean out her cage because she really shouldn't be moved around at this stage in the pregnancy. I need to get rid of the mites, but I don't want to move the snake!

I think that the mites probably just made it across the house, we were changing our clothes after handling the new snake religiously, and very very careful about handling any of

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