I've got mites too!

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SarahScales

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I was just cuddling one of my scaly family members and found a couple of little insects scuttling all over him! Poor thing... He is soaking himself now in a water bowl but I was wondering:

Any tips or tricks from the Pros? I am reading the help thread based on it but does anyone else have any tips that have worked for them?

I want to eliminate them ASAP!

Edit: He is a young fellow so he lives in a click-clack. Hopefully this should make it easier to treat.
 
Bath him in chlorohexadine you can get from the vet and move him into a new click clack whilst treating the other one. Wash it out and spray with mite spray. Also you can get an ivermec injection into the snakes food if its a good eater or directly into it. This will also treat worms etc. Hope this helps and good luck
 
Top of descent or Mac mite spray.
2 proven methods without the stuffing around.
 
I gererally use the aircraft insecticide, I believe that is permethrin, so far i haven't had any issues and never have had mites come back for a second round with the same snake
 
Bath him in chlorohexadine you can get from the vet and move him into a new click clack whilst treating the other one. Wash it out and spray with mite spray. Also you can get an ivermec injection into the snakes food if its a good eater or directly into it. This will also treat worms etc. Hope this helps and good luck

Firstly, chlorhexidine is an antiseptic, not an insecticide, so is quite unsuitable for the purpose you suggest. Plain water with a drop or two of dishwashing detergent would do the job better. The other suggestion is way over the top as well. Captive hatchlings, unless fed lizards or frogs, will not have worms. Mites are an external parasite, and are best treated with external means - automatically swinging onto king-hit and potentially toxic internal chemical treatments when not needed is putting your animals at risk.

Jamie
 
DO NOT use top of decent on young/small snakes. The dosage os for adults and can be toxic to young pythons. Best method would be a weak solution of permoxin. This thread, especially solar17's post should be helpful.

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/general-reptile-discussion-42/natural-treatment-mites-200942/

I used it on young snakes fairly recently with no ill effects at all (one being a GTP which are supposedly the most vulnerable). Granted, I hadn't read the warnings on here before doing it but a little common sense goes a long way. Obviously you wouldn't use adult dosages on young snakes. Why anyone would is beyond me.

Sarah, if you'd prefer to go the more natural route then, yeah it seems like Baden's Permoxin suggestion is also tried and tested. Whatever you choose to use, I'd suggest moving the entire set up into another room for a couple of weeks so any that are left alive around the click clack will die off (apparently they don't survive long without a live snake to feed off). Make sure you clean everything very well too.
 
Firstly, chlorhexidine is an antiseptic, not an insecticide, so is quite unsuitable for the purpose you suggest. Plain water with a drop or two of dishwashing detergent would do the job better. The other suggestion is way over the top as well. Captive hatchlings, unless fed lizards or frogs, will not have worms. Mites are an external parasite, and are best treated with external means - automatically swinging onto king-hit and potentially toxic internal chemical treatments when not needed is putting your animals at risk.

Jamie

So your saying dish washing liquid is an insecticide? Lol you will find chlorohexadine is better as the majority of the mites will fall off when bathed in it and it treats the microscopic wounds left by the mites. I didn't specify but obviously it's diluted in water. Also vet recommended..... As for the worms who knows as a hatchie the snake wasn't a problem feeder and fed garden skink to get it going? And don't think a vet would treat something that is toxic to the snake.
Cheers
 
Do not inject ivermectin.fatal to most reptiles. a "person" injected it into 5 of my mates adult snakes and all died. it only really gets done overseas with extremely large snakes with very small doses.its still not good for them.stick with badens recommendations
 
With respect to all suggestions.

As Jamie has put forth ...a drop of dishwash detergent in water will break the water surface and the mites will drown and that is what we want.

Aim to drown the mites not poison them. Treating the enclosure when the animal is not in it is a different matter.

This method perhaps has the widest safety margins.

If you want to use other stuff recommended by a vet please take your animal to your own vet for assessment, then if anything goes wrong your vet will have a full understanding of how to treat your animal.
 
You can get two different forms of ivermec, injectable and the non injectable. My vet treated all 25 of my snakes with the injectable ivermec after I picked up mites off a new snake which I didn't quarrentine(stupid mistake). The dosage for hatchies was something like .01mls diluted with saline. Obviously injecting the wrong form and dosage is fatal.
well done to wild-touch for posting a calm and open minded response and not just trying to rip someone's head with trying to be a know it all without a clue like someone else...
 
Thanks everyone! I will go with the dish-washing detergent idea for the snake himself, he is very very precious to me and whilst Top of Descent has a great reputation, the risk factor on a young snake has put me off. I will buy a fresh click clack to use whilst his old one is being treated. I'm just worried the rest of my collection will be infested too... Damn mites!
 
You can get two different forms of ivermec, injectable and the non injectable. My vet treated all 25 of my snakes with the injectable ivermec after I picked up mites off a new snake which I didn't quarrentine(stupid mistake). The dosage for hatchies was something like .01mls diluted with saline. Obviously injecting the wrong form and dosage is fatal.
well done to wild-touch for posting a calm and open minded response and not just trying to rip someone's head with trying to be a know it all without a clue like someone else...

I suppose this was aimed at me... I do actually have a few clues matey, but I don't know it all. Over the years I hjave heard quite a few stories of inexplicable losses when dosing reptiles with ivermectin, however, mites are very easy to get rid of using external, non- or low-toxicity chemicals, so why would anyone use something which is potentially damaging or fatal to a snake? Once it's inside, it can't be removed...

As Wild-touch suggests, dishwashing detergent is used to kill the mites by drowning (very effectively) without the use of poisons, which are not necessary.

Jamie
 
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