How to eradicate reptile mite infestations with Seven Dust:
Seven Dust is simple. Just make sure and buy the right kind. It comes in 2 strengths....ONLY USE THE 5% Formula. It is a powder that looks kinda like flour.
Step One: Remove snake from cage and rub a generous amount of seven dust all over snake. It wont hurt his eyes but avoid the nostrils and heat pits if applicable. put the snake in a plastic storage container with air holes for an hour or so with the dust on him while you dust and clean the cage.
Step Two: Leave the cage as is and throw a few handfulls of dust in hard enough to make a cloud rise up for a few seconds....Dust everything in there..substrate, waterbowl, logs/hides etc. Use your hand and stir up the substrate mixing the dust into it. Cover the cage and go watch TV for 30 minutes or so. Now that all the mites are dead, Empty the cage and throw away the substrate. Wash off anything that was in there; ie waterbowl, logs/hides, etc. Spray the cage down with a water bottle of water/10% bleach solution and clean all the dust out and make it look like a pretty new tank/cage. Use papertowels for a couple of weeks to make sure no mites escaped death but put the clean hides and waterbowl back in. *I always just go ahead and put in new substrate if I am 100% certain it is mite free...Bake it in an oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes if you aren't sure but take it out imediatly if starts to smoke. WATCH IT! I don't wanna be responsible for you burning your house down.
Step 3: rinse the snake off with warm (not hot) water and dry him and put him back in the cage.
I have been doing this for many years and have never had a reoccurance or a side effect of any kind.
**Use of chemicals of any kind is unadvisable with gravid females. I have no data on it causing birth defects or any problems but it isn't something that I would take a risk on when with a little extra effort Lori's mineral oil treatment will work just as well.
***Tony Basica's Weirdsnakes also notes the following:
I myself and I'm sure there are many others am EXTREMELY sensitive/allergic to the stuff, I rescued a burmese python from a guy that always used seven dust and after just handling the snake that had seven dust on it my eyes swelled shut and I almost couldn't breathe for hours!! I had to get completely away from the stuff change clothes and shower before my eyes stopped itching. Just something that really should be noted on there is the possibility of human reactions to it.
MINERAL OIL
This is the method I use for the eradication of mites. There are no toxins involved when using Mineral oil on your snakes. The following are the steps which I use in this method.Mineral oil can be purchased from any drugstore, grocery or such place as a department store like Walmart in the health section. A 32 oz bottle of this will cost about $5. This may not sound like much in volume, but it is and will last a very long time.
1. Liberally soak the snake down from the neck to tail end with the oil. Keep in mind that your snake will be VERY slippery when oiled down. For the snake's head area I usually apply the oil with fingers everywhere EXCEPT the nostrils and eye sockets. IF YOU ARE DEALING WITH A PITTED SNAKE SUCH AS A PYTHON...DO NOT APPLY OIL INTO THE PITS. The only time I apply oil to the eye sockets is if the snake has quite a lot of infestation in the sockets. After your snake is oiled down place it in a place to soak for about an hour. I use my feeding tote for this. Do NOT use any substrate in there with your oiled snake. I guarantee that if you do use substrate you will have a chore removing it from your snake.
2. While your snake is soaking in the mineral oil CLEAN THE CAGE. Remove ALL items from inside the cage. I use 100% BLEACH to clean my cages. NOTE: BLEACH IS NON-TOXIC ONCE IT IS COMPLETELY DRY. First rinse the cage with HOT water to rinse it out. Next use 100% BLEACH to clean the cage, making sure that you get ALL the little crevices clean also, then rinse with HOT water again. I repeat this 2-3 times. Once you have cleaned the cage with bleach use paper towels to help dry it. Use each paper towel for one swipe in the tank, then grab a new paper towel. Let the tank air dry completely now. You may use thebleach to clean the items in your cage depending what you had in there. Waterbowls can be cleaned using bleach, BUT THEY MUST BE 100% DRY BEFORE YOU PLACE DRINKING WATER IN THEM FOR YOUR SNAKE.I rinse them out before using for drinking water after they dry also. Set up your snake's cage now with the bare minimum of items in it. I only place the waterbowl, hide [ if absolutely neccessary] back into the cage. Also use newspaper, papertowel or white butcherblock paper for a substrate at this time. By using such for substrate you will be able to tell if your snake still has mites. I continue to use such for about 4 weeks after treatment before using any other type of substrate in this cage again.
3. After your snake has soaked for about an hour remove it from the container. Run your hand down the length of the snake's body, starting at the neck area. You will notice that the mites come off onto your hand. Use papertowel to wipe them off onto and discard. Also remove any mites from your snakes head using your hand/fingers. At this point I will rub the snake's body down with more oil. I do this over a towel, as working with the oil can be quite messy.
4. This is one of the most important steps of eradicating your snake of mites. Now "scale" your snake. Scaling is done by going from one end of the snake to the other end to seek out any mites which may be underneath the snake's scales. DO NOT USE ANY SHARP OBJECT WHEN DOING THIS! Such could seriously harm your snake. I use my nails when doing this. Sometimes you can tell just from looking at the underside of your snake which scales have mites under them. You will notice a tiny dark raised bump on the scale. GENTLY lift each scale to check for mites. If you find mites , remove them. The mites can be "pushed" out from underneath the scales by "rubbing/sliding" your finger over the scale from top to bottom of the scale. If you run into a stubborn mite that won't leave your snake's scale, generously rub more oil over the scales in this area. Wait a few minutes as the oil smothers the mite[s], then try again. With persistance you will get the mite[s] out. This is VERY time consuming, especially if you have a very long/large snake. I do NOT rinse the oil off my snake. By leaving it on the snake, if I have missed any mites the oil residue will smother them and they shall die off. Leaving the oil on your snake will NOT harm it. You can rinse your snake off with water at this point if you wish though.
Once you are satisfied that your snake is mite free, place your snake back into it's cage. MAKE SURE YOU WASH YOUR HANDS THOROUGHLY AND BLEACH THE CONTAINER OUT THAT YOU USED FOR SOAK. I HAVE USED THIS METHOD FOR OVER 23 YEARS NOW ANY TIME I HAVE HAD A SNAKE COME DOWN WITH MITES. IN THAT TIME I HAVE NEVER HAD TO REPEAT A TREATMENT FOR MITES TO ANY OF MY SNAKES. If you wish to,or it is needed, you can repeat this process, but I would wait about 5 days time to do so.
LORI KEHOE
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