| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Blackecho |
Posted - 22/01/2010 : 08:46:43
One thing we all dread is snake mites !! I bought an adult corn snake earlier this year which looked very healthy but a few weeks later showed signs of mite !!, initially it was a snuffling from her nose and then she started bathing in her water bowl and there were the signs as in BE's picture in his sticky on 'treating with Frontline', my heart sank as two weeks before this we had bought a Royal Python and the last thing I wanted was for the mites to spread to her.
I cleaned out the viv the corn was in and sprayed everywhere with Beaphar insect spray (Ivermectine) then I sprayed some on a paper towel and treated the corn snake but she was still snuffling and there were small encrustations around her eyes. I am not too happy about using toxins around my snakes and as they seemed to be in and around her nostrils and eyes it wasn't possible to use chemical treatments especially there !
I decided having done some research to use hypoaspis mites, I had read that they were a natural predator and thought this a much better solution if it worked so I ordered some from www.defenders.co.uk
They duly arrived 2 days later in a small cardboard drum along with a helpful leaflet on how to treat snake mites (they are normally bought as a biological control by garderners and growers against plant pests) I have asked if I can reproduce the leaflet here and I am awaiting a reply. I bathed the snake in warm water with a little drop of soap solution added (hand soap - carex) for about half an hour and then returned her to the viv
I got a small plastic tub and filled it with sterilised compost, (I sterilised it in the microwave oven) and when it had cooled moistened it and applied a layer of the vermiculite from the drum that contained the hypoaspis mites and placed that in the viv opposite the hide to act as a breeding area for the mites, I then put the rest of the container around the hide in clumps about 7cm wide and 2 cm deep and using an atomiser filled with warm water I dampened them.
I continued to dampen the mites down 3-4 times a day never letting them dry out completely. after 2 days the mites were active and crawling over the hide and within a week were actually observed on the snake which was not stressed by this at all, they are very small and very voracious when it comes to eating their prey :)
Within two weeks the Corn had shed and there were still hypoaspis mites there, the corn's eyes had completely cleared and she was looking less stressed and had stopped bathing, two more weeks passed and I was still misting and checking for mites, both snake mites and hypoaspis ones. There was no sign of the snake mites and the hypoaspis mites had dramatically reduced in number as a result of their prey not being present.
At this point I decided the job was done, the viv was thoroughly disinfected and then the base was sprayed with Ivermectine as a precaution and then covered in substrate, the areas around the viv were also sprayed, 4 weeks passed and no further sign of snake mites.
During the whole process we didn't handle her so as to ensure the hypo's were left to do their job, she fed normally throughout and is now a very placid and happy mite free snake :) as the mites were able to get to areas on her safely where chemical pesticides should not go.
We were also scrupulous with our hygiene so as not to transport anything to our new Royal who fortunately was in another room at the other side of the house and was never infected. I would certainly use this method again if I was unfortunate enough to have a snake mite problem it does work so long as you can keep a healthy colony of hypoaspis mites going for the period of the snakes infestation and the life cycle of the snake mite.
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| 9 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Thorne Walker |
Posted - 18/01/2013 : 23:24:11
quote:
Originally posted by Octyman
These worked fantastically for almost 2 weeks, the numbers of mites went down drastically (went from hundreds on him to only about 10 seen on him in the space of about 4 days!), and it remained this way until after 2 weeks the bad mites suddenly came back in huge numbers, the hypoasis mites were nowhere to be seen and my corn snake died :'(
So what else did you do to control/eliminate the snake mites?
I have this sneaking suspicion that aside from adding the hypo mites you did nothing... |
| Octyman |
Posted - 18/01/2013 : 17:12:17
These worked fantastically for almost 2 weeks, the numbers of mites went down drastically (went from hundreds on him to only about 10 seen on him in the space of about 4 days!), and it remained this way until after 2 weeks the bad mites suddenly came back in huge numbers, the hypoasis mites were nowhere to be seen and my corn snake died :'( |
| adamasrc |
Posted - 17/06/2012 : 18:59:58
waste of money haha.. |
| adamasrc |
Posted - 01/06/2012 : 14:13:38
just got some.. wish me luck |
| mikerichards |
Posted - 22/03/2011 : 09:34:48
I am not overly impressed! Clearly frontline stays active for about 6 months, not 3. I sprayed the racks last summer, all the hypoaspis died as soon as they left the tubs. Pointless doing it again! |
| gingerpony |
Posted - 13/03/2011 : 22:04:03
cool! i might actually have to buy a copy!  |
| a33272 |
Posted - 13/03/2011 : 12:57:41
write up on these in april practical reptile |
| gingerpony |
Posted - 09/03/2011 : 07:47:05
would be very interested in hearing your progress with these mike  |
| mikerichards |
Posted - 07/03/2011 : 17:29:50
i have these on the go at the moment, so far not much happening! i am surprised just how small they are compared to the snake mites, less than half the size of a female, and hard to see!
i hope they work well, time will tell. |
