| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Remmy |
Posted - 25/06/2010 : 18:43:07
How long does it take for mite eggs to hatch. I found some small black insects in tynans water bowl and cleaned the viv out straight away with disinfectant. I have put paper towels in the viv now for substrate with 2 hides and a water bowl. As i was cleaning the viv a moth flew out so i dont know if the small insects were anything to do with the moth as it has been a week now and i have not found any more. I have looked at him but i cant see any mites on him. |
| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| mikerichards |
Posted - 29/06/2010 : 13:09:23
Mite eggs hatch in 24 hours.
They generally don't lay their eggs somewhere easy to find, and they prefer higher up too, so is worth cleaning all the little cracks and anthing in the viv.
However, in 2 weeks you would be infested, so I doubt that you have mites! |
| Kellog |
Posted - 28/06/2010 : 06:11:17
I have had to deal with mites before with Kellog, so I can only talk from my own experience. But it did work and didnt cost us anything. It does take time, but it is very necessary. And I also know that just cos you cant see any doesnt mean that they arent there.
We discovered he had mites a few days after we came back from holiday. He had been 'kenneled' at a reptile shop we use and must have caught them there - although none of their other snakes showed signs of them. We were lucky because he went blue while we were away and it was just before he started to shed that my son noticed and asked what all the little black spots were running all over him! He then started shedding and it was manic...he was literally trying to tear his skin off . Think up until then, because he was going into shed, he hadnt felt them properly and had shown no change in behaviour or anything.
My OH acted quickly and immediately got him out and into water to help rid him of the rest of his shed. We then bathed him again and ran him through damp kitchen roll in our hands and then dry kitchen roll. This way you can then look at the kitchen roll for black spots (mites) and red spots (blood). We totally emptied the viv, threw out the substrate, disinfected everything (as you have) and then put viv back together with only his hide and water bowl, on kitchen roll not substrate (again allowing you to check for mites and blood). I think that mites can stay alive on substrate for a period but cannot on kitchen roll.
When you bath them you need to make sure the bath is clean, with no residue of shampoo or soap in it, and that the temp is approx 27-28oC (preferably measured with a digital thermometer), so feels just cool of lukewarm...if that makes sense.
We changed the kitchen roll in his viv daily and bathed him every couple of days. The problem is the eggs they lay, you have to wait until they hatch and then catch them before they can lay any more. The whole process took 6 weeks before we were happy that he was mite free. I think we could have probably returned his viv to normal a week or so before that but it is better to be 100% sure. When we did return his viv to normal we made sure we had baked any wood that had previously been in there and again disinfected everything else.
We did try the oil in the bath, but all it did was make the bath slimy, Kellog slimy and my OH slimy! Dont think it actually helped much at all. I know you can use chemical treatments for it but we wanted to use that as a last resort.
What is vital at the moment is hygiene....especially if you have other snakes. Make sure you wash your hands before you handle each snake or anything to do with each snake after handling the first.
I hope this is of some help. It was hard work but it got rid of them in the end and was worth it. My attitude is that it is better to be safe than sorry and I would rather keep my snake like that for that long and be sure than return the viv to normal and risk the mite infection returning.I still remember him trying to tear his skin off and it was horrific.
Have a read of this (if you havent already) to fill you in on mites and their treatment - http://www.thecornsnake.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=3651&whichpage=1
xxx
|
| Remmy |
Posted - 27/06/2010 : 19:25:39
Ok thanks, its been nearly 2 weeks now and no more mites, maybe it was something to do with the moth |
| heatseeker872591 |
Posted - 26/06/2010 : 23:30:52
mite eggs take 2weeks i read to hatch and mites life cycle re begins |
| heatseeker872591 |
Posted - 26/06/2010 : 23:29:54
ewwww i hate moths lol f10 disinfectant can eliminate mites, my big giant rat snake had mites when i 1st got him, a bath in an rub full of warm water and a through clean out with f10 of the viv should eliminate em keep repeating it every few days, i stick to newspaper for substrate easier maintenance and when the snake sheds he shud shed the mites on him too but you need to get rid of the shed and clean out the viv again straight after this and this shud eliminate them 100 percent |
|
|
