!!mites!!

[TSC23]

Hi all, I need some help with a mite problem that I have just found on my 2 new olives, I've been paying attention to the thread that noidea has going with the use of TOD, I didn't want to jack his thread so started my own. 1st found the mites tonight when changing the substrate to the olives temorary enclosure (60l tub). The questions I have are;

1) Can I purchase TOD at the local reptile shops or do I need to see the vet? I plan on seeing a vet anyway because I'm starting to freak a little despite reading a bit about the problem

2)The breeder that I got them off said they hadn't eaten for roughly 4 weeks, would these mites be effecting their eating habits?

3) The smaller olive is a fussy eater and is starting to look frail and is looking like it needs to grow into its skin a bit, its also the primary carrier for the mites, if the mites are effecting its eating habits should I ask the vet to try and assist feed it? I know this is the last option and 4 weeks without food isnt a great period of time, but with the condition he's in, I want it to start getting healthy again.

4)Splitmore mentioned in noidea's thread about orange medic, is it highly recommened by many people over TOD? I want to get the most powerful stuff to get rid of these little pricks with minimal harm to the olives.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SlothHead]

You can get it from your local i would think, if not there are plenty of online places with it.

The eating may be affected by the mites, but then it would have to be a pretty severe mite problem.

How old are the olives? I wouldnt worry about 4 weeks

I dont know about the other medication, but the easiest way i have found to remove them is have the animals away in a separate room in plastic tubs with a water bowl.

Let the animals soak first in a tub of water for a while then have them in the keeping tub. Dont put anything else in there other than the water bowl and the a bit of newspaper.

Then every couple of days, get them out, change water, wipe out the tub, change the paper, spray a bit of TOD in the inside of the lid.

It usually takes about a month

good to see you are reading about the mite breeding cycle as this will help

 

[solar 17]

Mites

l basically agree with slothhead, l have used boyh those products but didn,t like orange medic but l found equally as good or even a tad better is PERMOXIN, what ever you use repeat in 12-13 days to break the gestation or breeding cycle......best wishes

 

[Tojo]

Hi mate,their is a product i recommend that i get from the Herp Shop called Top of Descent.It is used for aircraft cabins.World Health Organisation approved for the disinsection of aircraft.Easy to use just take the water out and spray the enclosure.Works a treat.

 

[TSC23]

Thankyou for info so far, Im going out to get some new tubs tomorrow and some TOD, also just confirming top of descent/TOD is the same product right?

 

[GSXR_Boy]

Same product. (don't use the cheaper mite products from the pet stores.)
When spraying the cage take the water bowl out for at least 24 hours.
You can also rub the snakes with vegetable oil.

 

[paleoherp]

I am a former animal technician for the Peter McCallum Institute of Cancer and I also studied Animal Husbandry at College and it has always been my understanding that you must do a second treatment for mite at around 6 days after the first treatment.
The reason for this is that there will be eggs still present after the first treatment, once hatched these will be able to lay eggs in around 7 days time.
The trick is to treat those mite which have hatched after the first treatment before they become mature and start laying more eggs. I have been doing it this way with my herp for the last 20 years

 

[paleoherp]

I heard last week from a colleague in the industry that TOD is going to be repackaged specifically for the reptile market, no doubt the price for this product will go up.

 

[NicG]

Hi TSC,

I can't recommend Top of Descent (TOD) highly enough. The first snake I got had mites and I got rid of them permanently within a fortnight.

One thing I found useful (and kinda satisfying) was to use fish'n'chip paper (ie completely white) as a temporary substrate and remove most of the cage furniture after spraying. I left some high perches for the snake to climb on.

Whether it was the presence of the chemical on the paper, I don't know, but my snake immediately climbed as high as she could after I sprayed. And before long, I could see the dead mites sprinkled on the white paper. I couldn't believe how many there were - no wonder they irritate the snakes. Also of interest was the different mite sizes.

I repeated this process every 5 days until there wasn't anymore little black dots to be seen ...

Cheers,
Nic

 

[junglemad]

I heard last week from a colleague in the industry that TOD is going to be repackaged specifically for the reptile market, no doubt the price for this product will go up.

and then again it just mite get cheaper

 

[TSC23]

I've got my little fellas going in to the vet who has alot of experience with reptiles tomorrow, I'm grabbing some TOD of the net tonight, on the herp shop they sell it in 100gm tins, I've got a 60l tub with the olives in it and two other enclosures, one roughly 1m x 60cm x 80cm and another being 1m x 60cm x 1m, will 2 cans of TOD be enough to do all 3 enclosures at least 3 times?
Thank you for all the advice so far.

With the condition of the smaller olive with the mites wiorrying me a bit, I spoke with someone today who said that they might have to inject the olive with some kind of fluid, and that it might have to continue for several weeks until it looks a little healthier. I would be required to do all of the shots over the upcoming weeks, has anyone done this before and did they just go home and start injecting into their pythions?

 

[blokkie]

iemand die het Nederlands beheerst
Ik heb hier een oplossing voor mijt bij ons.
Misschien helpt het ?
En kan het voor mij vertalen

blokkie

 

[TSC23]

Sorry mate, in english?

 

[blokkie]

okee lets try, In Holland we use louseshampoo against mite.
They sel the shampoo ( 60 ml flacon ) with 1% permetrin
Whe use 20 ml shampoo on 1 liter of water mix it wel and spray it on the snake even the eye's and nose.
Also the vivarium ( wood stones etc. ) everything ( exept the waterbowl )
It wil kill all the mites and the mite egg's.
I use it on my Bredl's, Mcdowelii's, childreni's, maculosa's and woma's with no problems.
They sell it here at the chemist's

Blokkie

 

[TSC23]

Took my little olives to the specialist today, the outcome is not good at all. I managed to get a few mites off the smaller olive and put them in a sample container for the vet to look at, I also took in a stool sample,I wasn't 100% sure (but assume its the sml 1) which one it came from but it turns out that the poor little critter is going through organ failure at the moment and its the worst possible news for him and the vet has said that its only a matter of time.

The vet has said that I'm to inject hartmans into the larger one, once every 2 days and the littler one 3 times a day. They're both being force fed perscription deit cat food mixed with water each day for 3 weeks then to return to her at that stage, she's asked me to call her when/if the little one goes. I really hop it does not come to that. I don't think that i'll get much sleep tonight, my worry is now that with the fluid and the food being put in all at once it might be a bit of an overload. When I looked at the smaller one earlier it was laying still but the last 3 inches of it was facing belly up, havent seen this before so it worried me a bit.

 

[TSC23]

P.S and the vet highly recommened TOD aswell.

 

[paleoherp]

Sorry to hear that TSC23.
Did the vet say that the organ failure is a direct result of mite or as a result of something else?

 

[TSC23]

I asked the guy I got them from when there last feed was, he said 4 weeks ago, I doubted that highly and the vet confirmed, what she couldn't confirm was if the pythons themselves got the mites and that stopped them feeding or they stopped feeding and then got the mites.
I did buy the pair knowing one was a troubled eater, my larger olive that I got earlier in the year is a troubled eater aswell,but by know means at any stage similar to the newer smaller one,theres a picture of her as my avatar, she is hatched nearly the same time, there is a huge difference.I never expected to get these new ones in the condition that they are in though. The vet said that I should be able to save the slightly larger of the pair but didn't say it had the best chances. IF, one dies or they both die, being the absolutley worst case scenario, they went with someone caring for them, more than what I can say about the breeder.

 

[TSC23]

If any olive owners out there could please help me with details as to how big their olives were around the 6 month mark and what size food they were feeding them,, it would help me out tremendously with my current problem I'm having. I already owned an olive previous to the new pair I purchased just recently, only she was roughly 6-8 bigger than what my new ones are at the same age. Olive owners please help!!!!

 

[theduclos]

is it too late to get a refund off the pet store?