# Anybody experienced with snakes?



## HorseyTee (3 September 2017)

Last night I disovered loads of little grey mite type parasites in our corn's viv, crawling on his little resin house. Couldn't see any on him, but I had just fed him so didn't want to pick him up to investigate. I imagine they will be all in his substrate too. 
We are going to throw all the substrate out, and wash his house/water bowl/log in very hot water. 

What can we use on him and the viv that is safe?


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## twiggy2 (3 September 2017)

HorseyTee said:



			Last night I disovered loads of little grey mite type parasites in our corn's viv, crawling on his little resin house. Couldn't see any on him, but I had just fed him so didn't want to pick him up to investigate. I imagine they will be all in his substrate too. 
We are going to throw all the substrate out, and wash his house/water bowl/log in very hot water. 

What can we use on him and the viv that is safe?
		
Click to expand...

http://riverroadveterinary.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/snake-mite.jpg


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## HorseyTee (3 September 2017)

Hmm see they seem a little bigger than that, and are grey rather than black. 
Going to try and get a few to show to the vet to see what they actually are, and so how to treat.


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## Nasicus (5 September 2017)

Could they be Springtails? Little white/grey bugs, could have been introduced in some bedding, or the log maybe?
If it is, they're not really a bad thing, just of more use in a bioactive setup. I have them and small tropical woodlice in my bioactive crested gecko setup.


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## Amye (5 September 2017)

If you couldn't see any on him... might not be snake mites. When I first got my Kingsnake he had mites, you could see them under his chin mainly as little black dots and if i could get my fingers slightly under his scales I could get them out. I also noticed them crawling on his face. 

If you only have one snake, and it is mites, don't panic as you should be able to get rid. If you have a few it'll be more work. You CAN get sprays to disinfect and kill the mites (some you spray in the tub with the snake in, some you spray with the snake not in) however, I didn't go down this route as some snakes have had adverse reactions to sprays, mainly young snakes and I didn't want to risk it as mine was only young. Hognoses have been known to die from some of the sprays so if you have a hoggie as well I would stay away from them.

One of the best ways to get rid of them is to get snake mite eating bugs! (sold as TAURRAUS I believe). If you google you'll get lots of help.

The way I did it, a bit unconventional and took time but it worked, was:
Remove all substrate from rub (if not in a rub house snake in a RUB (Really Useful Box) type container (obviously big enough for it). 
Use kitchen roll as substrate and change daily.
Clean RUB everyday when changing substrate.
Keep decoration to a minimum - mine had a large enough hide and a water bowl and some rolled up kitchen roll to crawl through as this could be replaced. 
Coat snake in vegetable oil (yes really) everyday to suffocate the mites. Then bath in water to 'drown' the mites (the head does need a dunking too so the mites don't just migrate to its head). 

Obviously I only did all this with my very laidback snake, any reptile that was stressed out by handling you'd probably have to do another way. But mine seemed content enough with a swim and was only small so easy to handle. It did take a few weeks until I stopped and was sure all mites had gone, but it did actually work (and I was sceptical at first).  I also hoovered the room he was in and cleaned around the rub to make sure nothing was living there! 

This may help: http://www.anapsid.org/mites.html


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## HorseyTee (5 September 2017)

Hmm after a google they do look like those!


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## HorseyTee (5 September 2017)

Thanks. 

I'm now thinking they are those little springtail bugs.


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## Nasicus (5 September 2017)

Amye said:



			Hognoses have been known to die from some of the sprays so if you have a hoggie as well I would stay away from them.
		
Click to expand...

Aye, Callingtons if I recall correctly!

Thankfully I've never had them myself, even when I had a large collection.

I did however have to handle an outbreak at a reptile shop I had literally just started at years ago (apparently I was the first person to notice the snakes were crawling with engorged, mature mites, blergh).

I sent them out for Frontline Spray for Cats, spritzed kitchen roll and wiped them all down daily, removing any mites I saw by hand. That alongside with decimating all the display vivs, taking them apart and wiping them with the spray, disposing of all bedding and decorations, and keeping them all on kitchen roll until the infestation was dealt with. They're easy enough to get on top of, you just need to be thorough and clean.


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