natural treatment of mites

[fre0005]

so i bought a snake, and after about a week i realised it had mites.. i bought some treatment and it seemed like it got rid of them for a few weeks but now ive been seeing them again.. they are not in a dirty environment so i guess i just didn't kill them all properly and none of my other snakes have ever had any mites and i dont have all that much money to be spending so im wondering if there is a cheap, effective and natural way of killing these mites for good ?
thanks

 

[sharky]

I'm not sure of treatments but non the less of clean enclosure or not you MUST disenfect and CLEAN EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mites can hide in the tiniest cracks. So once you treat your snake this time, was down the whole enclosure and everything in it with F10, let it site for a while then wash it down with water. Soak everything in water or water and F10 to kill all the mites/mite eggs on them.

None of my snakes/animals have ever had mites but good luck!

 

[fre0005]

I'm not sure of treatments but non the less of clean enclosure or not you MUST disenfect and CLEAN EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mites can hide in the tiniest cracks. So once you treat your snake this time, was down the whole enclosure and everything in it with F10, let it site for a while then wash it down with water. Soak everything in water or water and F10 to kill all the mites/mite eggs on them.

None of my snakes/animals have ever had mites but good luck!

i did do this last time, wiped down the snake with mite treatment and also the enclosure...
i think ill be buy some "top of decent" mite spray.. all you do is take out the water bowl, leave your reptiles in there and spray the cage till it goes misty and everything under the size of a cockroach should be killed... so i have been told. i will see how this works

 

[Bananapeel]

at which point did i ever say unless you're rich you should not be keeping any animals ?

I'm pretty sure he's refering to when you said, "I don't have that much money to be spending"
Problems can arise and you need the money to cover that. Mites wouldn't even be that expensive but if your snakes gets a RI or some other lethal injury or disease, that can't be cured with a 'natural, cheap, cure' and needs immediate vet assistance and you can't pay, what happens? You let it sit at home while you ask APS for cheap ways to cure it? No, you spend the money required to save the animals life. I'm not meaning to be rude but these things are a basic when it comes to looking after any animal. If you find you don't have the money required, you sell the animal to someone who you know can provide it with proper medical attention when it needs it.
Anyway, best of luck getting rid of the mites, they are a horrible annoyance!

 

[fre0005]

I'm pretty sure he's refering to when you said, "I don't have that much money to be spending"
Problems can arise and you need the money to cover that. Mites wouldn't even be that expensive but if your snakes gets a RI or some other lethal injury or disease, that can't be cured with a 'natural, cheap, cure' and needs immediate vet assistance and you can't pay, what happens? You let it sit at home while you ask APS for cheap ways to cure it? No, you spend the money required to save the animals life. I'm not meaning to be rude but these things are a basic when it comes to looking after any animal. If you find you don't have the money required, you sell the animal to someone who you know can provide it with proper medical attention when it needs it.
Anyway, best of luck getting rid of the mites, they are a horrible annoyance!

im aware of what he was referring to, yes i said "i dont have much money to be spending" but doesnt mean i cant afford to look after my animals and buy mite spray......

 

[disintegratus]

Firstly, just ignore anyone who seems to think you need to spend disgusting amounts of money on your animals in order to care for them properly. It's simply not true. All you NEED to be able to afford is the ability to stop your animal from suffering, and the ability to do what's best by the animal, and if you're not squeamish, that costs nothing. That's not to say you shouldn't get veterinary treatment for treatable ailments if you can afford it, but you don't need to have squillions in disposable income to be a good pet owner.

Anyway, to your original question, it's not what I would call cheap, but I would suggest skipping everything else and going straight for the Top of Descent. Herpshop has 3 cans for $50 I think. I currently have possibly hundreds of dollars worth of mite treatments sitting in my cupboard, because I didn't want to fork out for TOD because it was pricey. None of them worked, so I just ended up spending heaps more than I would have if I'd just sucked it up and forked out for TOD in the first place, not to mention the discomfort for my snakes because it took so much longer to get rid of the mites. In the scheme of things, it's not actually that much more expensive than other mite treatments anyway, and it's quicker, easier and more effective.

 

[buffcoat]

NIX a $1 spray bottle and one gallon of distilled water.

Mix the NIX in one gallon of distilled water. Shake super good. Add it to your spray bottle. Remove the water bowl and hides from the tank. Spray. You can even spray your snake. Replace snake. 2 weeks, do it again. Do not put the water bowl back for at least a day. He/she will sit in it to remove the mites.

This method shouldn't cost more than $20.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

[KristianG]

It is an expensive hobby but the most you will spend is the snake itself, the enclosure and vet trips everything is usually quite cheap as for the mites put all of the decorations in a pot (or something like that) full of boiling water and spray the inside of the enclosure and leave the snake in. After 20 mins give the snake a warm bath and the mites should fall right off him

 

[solar 17]

As Buffcoat said you MUST break the gestation (egg laying cycle) with a repeat dose in 11-13 days "NO" chemical firm is going to say one treatment is enough TOD has been responsible for several deaths but used wisely is a reasonable treatment but they MUST be backed up for a 2nd treatment, my choice "Permoxin" every time solar 17

 

[RedFox]

To kill mites, for good you have to treat every one and a half to two weeks, otherwise they will keep reappearing after a few weeks. I have top of decent sitting in my cupboard just incase. For adults it is fine but TOD should not be used on young snakes, as the dose is quite high and can lead to poisoning. For hatchies and juveniles, use permoxin and mix a weak solution with water. Spray the enclosure and snake allow to air dry then rinse with water.

Permoxin can be bought at the vets, online and at most stockfeeds for around $25 for a small bottle. It is toxic to cats so if you have a cat keep it way from any surface sprayed with pernoxin for 48hrs.

Just realised Baden beat me to it.

Megan

 

[solar 17]

Top of Descent This product gives me a rash when people on this site and others recomend it willy nilly it can be toxic to young reptiles and there are numerous recorded deaths of snakes with people using this product as RedFox (Megan) said the levels of some of the constituants is quite high sure for mature snakes but this is a risk if you get over zealous with your treatment.....but with Permoxin @ $23-25 for 200 mls, put 50 mls in a 10 litre (plastic) bucket and top up with tepid (warm) water you can use this as a spray, wash your enclosure out or bath your snake (anysize) BULLETPROOF and all this for $6.00 a treatment .....but with any of these treatments backup a 2nd treatment 11 - 13 days after your 1st treatment solar 17

 

[PilbaraPythons]

I haven't ever needed to treat mites with permoxin ( touch wood ) but it certainly works a treat with ticks so I am not surprised it nails mites as well.
When we treat for ticks we submerge the entire reptile briefly in the permoxin bath and then leave it soaking in it for ten minutes.
Never had a problem doing it this method and I know that every external area of the reptile has been in contact with it.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

I'm not sure of treatments but non the less of clean enclosure or not you MUST disenfect and CLEAN EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mites can hide in the tiniest cracks. So once you treat your snake this time, was down the whole enclosure and everything in it with F10, let it site for a while then wash it down with water. Soak everything in water or water and F10 to kill all the mites/mite eggs on them.

None of my snakes/animals have ever had mites but good luck!

F10 is NOT an insecticide, and will not itself kill mites - it's a cold-sterilising agent for bacteria, viruses and fungal spores. The best way to treat the problem is to kill the mites on the snake, drowning is effective - luke-warm water with a couple of drops of dishwashing detergent in a secure lidded plastic container, leave enough space for the snake to breathe with its nose out of the water, and leave the snake in the tub for 2-3 hours. At the same time use a flea bomb in the room, with the snake and waterbowl removed from the enclosure and the enclosure left open and intact - substrate and decorations etc - the fumigating effect of the flea bomb is pervasive and will kill mites wherever they are. They are of low toxicity, and leave a hormone residue which prevents emerging mites from growing to adulthood for 3 months or more, so future generations can't re establish. The hormone growth inhibitor only affects arthropods (insects, mites etc) and will not affect the reptile - it is not a poison.

If you start dragging substrate and decorations around into other rooms etc, you are likely to distribute the mites all over the place. It's better to ensure they are confined to where you found them and get the lot with one decent treatment.

Jamie

 

[-Peter]

Whichever way you go treating the surrounding area is of upmost importance if you wish to get rid of mights. Cleaning the enclosure and the snake merely alleviates the problem for a small time.