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Dio
Yearling
United Kingdom
297 Posts |
 Posted - 25/04/2011 : 13:42:39
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Just spoke to the OH and he said Dio's mites are back after just 4 days since he was treated. He got that mite off suff from pets at home and sprayed it all over Dio and the viv, changed the substrate, boiled all the wood and they've still come back.
How do we totally get rid of them? |
0.0.1 Royal Python (Dio)
0.1.0 Angora Cat (Blue)
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Lotabob
Royal Python Moderator
United Kingdom
5008 Posts |
Posted - 25/04/2011 : 14:02:19
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| You'll need to keep the treatment up for a few life cycles of the mite. It doesn't kill the eggs so they will hatch, go hunting for food some may even get round to making more eggs before they die so more eggs that don't die. Its a perrsistence thing rather than a nuke the gits thing. |
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Dio
Yearling
United Kingdom
297 Posts |
Posted - 25/04/2011 : 14:14:10
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| I'll tell him he's got to keep giving Dio the treatment then. good job its such a large bottle. Poor little thing keeps getting really scared when you pick him up though as he's all blue. |
0.0.1 Royal Python (Dio)
0.1.0 Angora Cat (Blue)
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Lotabob
Royal Python Moderator
United Kingdom
5008 Posts |
Posted - 25/04/2011 : 14:23:23
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| Aww poor thing. I've just read some reviews of Zoo Med Mite off, I think thats what you were using and it looks like its not very effective. Almost every one I read in the 10 minutes I was looking said it did very little to eradicate the mites and they only got rid of them after using Callingtons mite spray. |
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GMac
Grumpy scots admin
United Kingdom
1152 Posts |
Posted - 25/04/2011 : 14:29:02
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Mite off is pretty useless, theres a few methods of mite treatment that are proven to work, look at the top of this section at the stickies and this is a good one from TCS http://www.thecornsnake.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7957
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Royals, Corns, Boa, Kings, Hoggy, Ratsnakes
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n/a
deleted
7384 Posts |
Posted - 25/04/2011 : 14:34:36
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Hi, sorry to hear about mites - yeah, they're a bit like cat fleas, you have to keep on zapping them until you abort the life cycle - I've heard good reports of Callington's too.
Never had to deal with mites (touch wood) but anything like this is so frustrating ... remember when a gang of feral cats and kittens moved in on me 9 years ago ... there was nothing safe to treat the kittens with and I had flea larvae WAVING at me out of the armchair upholstery!!
Insecticides these days are much more efficient - you'll get there!
All the best. |
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Dio
Yearling
United Kingdom
297 Posts |
Posted - 25/04/2011 : 15:40:52
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| I'll order the Callingtons spray and see if that works. |
0.0.1 Royal Python (Dio)
0.1.0 Angora Cat (Blue)
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Lotabob
Royal Python Moderator
United Kingdom
5008 Posts |
Posted - 25/04/2011 : 15:52:15
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| Good look, that TCS thread is a good one too, a nice oil bath will remove the critter from the snake while you strip down the viv to bare essentials and give yourself a fighting chance, then spray the heck out of the viv with Dio in his bath and blissfully unaware of the fumigation going on. If Dio is anything like Sanke they will happily sit in the bath, Sanke even dunked under and swam about a bit but never tried to escape and the lid wasn't on the tub. |
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Dio
Yearling
United Kingdom
297 Posts |
Posted - 25/04/2011 : 16:55:15
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| Ill try that. Was looking online for that spray but its sold out everywhere until the 30th april. Weve got a power cut now until 10:30 tonight so will have to look online again after work tomorrow and just use mite off until then. |
0.0.1 Royal Python (Dio)
0.1.0 Angora Cat (Blue)
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sandi
Sub Adult
787 Posts |
Posted - 25/04/2011 : 17:10:09
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| Frontline is the only sure method to erradicate completely. Hypoaspid miles are good if you want to avoid chemical treatments. The stuff from pet shops does not work. |
0.1.0 Royal Python - Florence
1.0.0 Boa Constrictor - Boris
1.1.0 Alaunts - Willow & Brochan |
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Dio
Yearling
United Kingdom
297 Posts |
Posted - 25/04/2011 : 22:11:57
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| Got electric back a bit earlier than they said so i've ordered the Callington from Surry pet supplies but it's not in stock until 30th April so will have to keep using the other stuff until then. |
0.0.1 Royal Python (Dio)
0.1.0 Angora Cat (Blue)
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hodgie
Fully Grown Royal
United Kingdom
1197 Posts |
Posted - 26/04/2011 : 09:07:14
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quote:
Originally posted by sandi
Frontline is the only sure method to erradicate completely. Hypoaspid miles are good if you want to avoid chemical treatments. The stuff from pet shops does not work.
You can also give your snakey an oil bath which is completely harmless as there are no chemicals involved.
Futher to both treatments though and this is probably more important, you need to move the snake and all equipment to a different part of the house. Snake mites like any parasite will travel away from the host and their eggs are easily moved and airborn by any breeze in the house.
I can only suggest by my own experience and i eradicated the problem on the first go.
I filled a tub, 90%, with clean veg oil. Then i put Hannah in there for 10 minutes, this will completely coat her and kill any mites very quickly, you can put a couple of airholes in the lid if you want but you need the tub fairly full so snakey can completely submerge.
Meanwhile i set up a rub on a heat mat in an upstairs room (used to keep her in the lounge) i then went completely overboard with the frontline on her viv and all of the viv equipement, closed it up and left it for a few hours, then moved it to a seperate bedroom room.
I kept her out of her viv and the lounge for 2 months to be sure any hatched eggs would have died. This may seem extreme but if you keep your Royal in the same room you have a very good chance of the mites coming back.
Good luck. |
Royals owned "lots"
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Lotabob
Royal Python Moderator
United Kingdom
5008 Posts |
Posted - 26/04/2011 : 12:21:22
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quote:
Originally posted by hodgie
[br
I filled a tub, 90%, with clean veg oil. Then i put Hannah in there for 10 minutes, this will completely coat her and kill any mites very quickly, you can put a couple of airholes in the lid if you want but you need the tub fairly full so snakey can completely submerge.
I'm pretty sure that an oil bath is a tub of warm water filled to 2/3 the depth of the snake to avoid drowning and then you put a skin of oil over the water. And about 15-20 minutes in there with airholes as a must. Not saying your way doesn't work its just unnecessarily risky and heating water to the right temperature is far easier than heating oil to the right temperature. |
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hodgie
Fully Grown Royal
United Kingdom
1197 Posts |
Posted - 26/04/2011 : 12:55:21
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sorry but i have to disagree, i was informed by a friend who has a zoo after he spoke to his reptile keepers. This is how they deal with it with venimous snakes. A tub of clean veg oil causes the snake no harm what so ever, it would be no different as if you or i got into a bath of veg oil, there are no additives it just coats the skin, obviously you wouldn`t want to drink it by the gallon . Snakes can hold their breaths for an extreme amount of time, sometimes for operations on the venimous ones he told me it can take up to 30-40 minutes before they are fully under.
I did state not to fill the tub full and air holes are fine but the idea is that the snake fully submerges, the mites start to fall off in seconds. After mine came out i just put her through a clean teatowel and then into a pillow case full of shreaded paper to absorb any odd bits of remaining oil.
Its for every owner to do what they think is best, for me this worked and i`d have no hesitation doing it again, i found it was easy for the Hannah didnt seem to stress her one bit. But as above any owner with mites really needs to move the snake to a completely different room. |
Royals owned "lots"
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Lotabob
Royal Python Moderator
United Kingdom
5008 Posts |
Posted - 26/04/2011 : 13:19:58
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Its not the oil thats a risk its the filling it 90% full, for a start if you have a adult royal thats a heck of a lot of oil. Then the oil will need heating up as it will be at room temperature (18-20oC) and to put a snake that has ambient 25-27oC into something thats potentially 9oC colder than they are will cause a rapid cooling and may result in sending the snake into shock, sending any animal into shock while submerged in a liquid is very dangerous.
If you use water that is at the correct temperature and just put a skin of oil on the top its saving you a load of oil for future treatments and avoids any rapid cooling or faffing about heating oil and not overfilling the tub does avoid the chance, however slim of the snake drowning regardless of how long they can hold their breath.
As I did say before I have no doubt your way works, what I was saying is there is a safer, more controlled and cheaper way to do it |
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n/a
deleted
7384 Posts |
Posted - 26/04/2011 : 13:31:26
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| Hi, I can't comment either way on this, but it did occur to me that a safe way to bring the oil bath or oil to the right temp would be to leave the filled closed container (without the snake of course!) overnight in the snake's viv - whereupon the following morning the bath would have reached the perfect temperature for the snake to use it? |
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Edited by - n/a on 26/04/2011 13:33:08 |
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Brad
Snake Mite
United Kingdom
28 Posts |
Posted - 26/04/2011 : 13:55:03
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Hi Dio
I did what and Hodgie told me. Oil baths and callington seems to be working upto, now not seen anything this week but I am keeping up the treatment because like Lotabob said you have to keep the treatment up through the whole life cycle of the mite. |
1.1.0 Fire Royal CB10 Brian & Bella
1.0.0 Cat Samson
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Dio
Yearling
United Kingdom
297 Posts |
Posted - 26/04/2011 : 16:36:20
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| Thanks for the advice. We will try the oil bath, luckily he's young so it shouldn't take too much oil to submerge him. The moving him to a different room may be a problem as the OH lives in a small 1 bedroom open plan flat and the only other room that we would be able to put him in is the bathroom but don't think that would be a good idea. We will just have to keep the treatment going for a while. |
0.0.1 Royal Python (Dio)
0.1.0 Angora Cat (Blue)
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hodgie
Fully Grown Royal
United Kingdom
1197 Posts |
Posted - 26/04/2011 : 19:36:33
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quote:
Originally posted by Lotabob
Its not the oil thats a risk its the filling it 90% full, for a start if you have a adult royal thats a heck of a lot of oil. Then the oil will need heating up as it will be at room temperature (18-20oC) and to put a snake that has ambient 25-27oC into something thats potentially 9oC colder than they are will cause a rapid cooling and may result in sending the snake into shock, sending any animal into shock while submerged in a liquid is very dangerous.
If you use water that is at the correct temperature and just put a skin of oil on the top its saving you a load of oil for future treatments and avoids any rapid cooling or faffing about heating oil and not overfilling the tub does avoid the chance, however slim of the snake drowning regardless of how long they can hold their breath.
As I did say before I have no doubt your way works, what I was saying is there is a safer, more controlled and cheaper way to do it
You seem to be reading this in a different way than i have written it, i`ve never said to use oil at room temp. |
Royals owned "lots"
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hodgie
Fully Grown Royal
United Kingdom
1197 Posts |
Posted - 26/04/2011 : 21:42:55
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quote:
Originally posted by Dio
Thanks for the advice. We will try the oil bath, luckily he's young so it shouldn't take too much oil to submerge him. The moving him to a different room may be a problem as the OH lives in a small 1 bedroom open plan flat and the only other room that we would be able to put him in is the bathroom but don't think that would be a good idea. We will just have to keep the treatment going for a while.
If your living in a small house just spray some mite spray around the outside of the viv once aday, by around i mean a circle type spray around the base of the viv approx 6 - 8 inches away from it. |
Royals owned "lots"
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Dio
Yearling
United Kingdom
297 Posts |
Posted - 27/04/2011 : 22:25:14
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Treatments still on going but it can't be affecting Dio too much as he, in the OH's exact words, just went apocolyptic on his mouse so he's still eating anything we give him. Thats 5 feeds in a row without a refusal.
EDIT: Correction he didn't eat the mouse. He attacked it like he was going to eat it but for some reason just left it. |
0.0.1 Royal Python (Dio)
0.1.0 Angora Cat (Blue)
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Edited by - Dio on 28/04/2011 15:14:19 |
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Topic |
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HELP mites again
