MITES! HELP!

[oOSpOOkYOo]

The other day I removed a large beetle like bug from oscar's cage and now I was looking at him and saw a mite, I removed it no big deal. I spray some de flea on his body and then held him and looked at my hand, coverd in about 15 dead mites. Right now he is sitting in a coverd dish of warm water. He has 1 mite under an eye lid that I cant get out because I dont want to hurt his eye and de flea cant go in his eyes. Hes at the end of his shed stage so would it come out with that? Im currently cleaning and de fleaing his whole cage. :-X aspen! -sTEVE

[oOSpOOkYOo]

well i got the one out from under his eyelid. What should I do to further miteproof his cage? He's got 8 feet of silk english vine. 1 habba but, 2 vine jungle gyms, 1 marble rock cave, 1 huge marble rock dish and 1 tiny dish just like it and numerous abbrasive rocks for shedding. -sTEVE

[oOSpOOkYOo]

I've bleached the interior of my 421D, now the fumes are soaking (1 used 1:30 dillution). I steamed all the rocks and rock hiding places as well as the silk plants. All of the wood funiture is baking at 250 for the next 3 hours.

I keep my cage so clean. Anyone know how this could of happend? I recently put a mouse in a holding cage in the same room. He enterd his shed phase as I was feeding him so the mouse is in a 10 gallon tank. I have kept up to 5 mice in the same method. any input is appreciated. -sTEVE

p.s. oscar is stil soaking in a warm saucer for the past hour. Ill leave him in there for the next 4-5 hours I guess. Periodically changing and inspecting water. Each time I changed his water at the begining I saw swimming mites and dead ones too. But now im not seeing any. I grabbed all of em off his head and belly and around his cloca. He took his largest defication ever and I doubt any are "up in there". any other problerm areas? -sTEVE

[Panama_Red]

Steve
I Would watch what you spray on your snake, I have seen massive chemical burns from commercial Flea products. I'd go with the good old no pest strip, and use some flea and tick carpet powder on the floor around your enclosure, Those nasty little mites like to lay eggs all over.

[oOSpOOkYOo]

its a mite and tick spray. it's called De Flea though I got it from reptiledirect.com Everything seems to be under control ocsar wise, but his house needs more decontamination. -sTEVE

[joelathor]

I have not ahd a mite problem for some time now, but when I did I used a mixture of Nix (the head lice shampoo) and water to treat my animals and their cages. Mix some Nix and water in a 12 oz. spray bottle and treat your cage and your snake. You will also need to treat any cage furniture that you may have in the cage with the animal. Bathe the snake in luke warm water about 15 minutes after treatment, clean the cage and furniture and put the cage back together. Repeat the treatment 1 week after to kill any remaining mites from unhatched eggs. During this treatment process you should use newspaper for bedding and maybe should consider sticking with it.

[oOSpOOkYOo]

Well Oscar is in quarentine. He'll be there for the next couple weeks I guess. I tried feeding him in his sterile box and he killed and ignored the live mouse I gave him and then death coiled a f/t rat and then ignored it. I think he doesnt want to eat because it's hard to keep temps high in that box. Also a lot got taken out of him battling mites and going through a lengthy shed phase. Good thing I caught the infestation early and had the thinktank to rely on, thanks everyone! -sTEVE :P