| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| John Nicholson |
Posted - 17/11/2012 : 13:16:39
Hello, I've recently bought a baby Royal about two weeks ago.
Basically in these two weeks he's been fine with no problems or anything, but the other day I lifted up his hide and it was crawling with mites, so after asking a few people including the person I bought him off, a few people seem to think it's dust mites or wood mites and others just presume it's snake mites.
Personally I don't think they're snake mites but I am no expert on mites of any sort and it's my first encounter of mites. They're not black which I've been told are snake mites, they are kind of a grey colour and they are just over the bark hide. I cannot see any on the snake I don't think, the ONLY place I've seen them is over the hide.
And since I spotted them he's not been in or near his hide hardly and he's been bathing in his water bowl.
So could anybody tell me what type of mites they are? And how to get rid of them please?
I'm going to completely clean out his viv later on, and disinfect it. I have currently got the substrate in the freezer to ensure it's clean. And I will bath my little Royal as well just to be on the safe side.
Any other suggestions and tips please? |
| 6 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Auld Baldy |
Posted - 18/11/2012 : 00:43:37
If the bark is going mouldy, take it out now and use a corn flake box or loo roll tubes. No point in holding on to it as it will only infect anything else in the viv. Or take it back to the shop for a refund and ask them to check their stock. See if they can identify the critters or mould.
Total strip down of viv required. Hoover out the edges and corners in case there are any eggs then disinfect with F10 reptile disinfectant or wipe down with a bleach solution. Dry off with paper towels and let it dry out and defume completely for a couple of days until the bleach smell has gone. |
| John Nicholson |
Posted - 17/11/2012 : 23:17:22
Hmm yeah, the bark hide is actually brand new got it two weeks ago when I bought the viv, but it appears to be going mouldy, it's all green and blue-ish around the bottom and there's a few holes in it, doesn't look right at all I plan to throw it out and bin it when I can afford to buy him a new one.
But yeah we completely cleaned his viv, froze his substrate, boiled his hide for a bit, steralised everything. Bathed him as well... I was a bit worried about bathing him seens as through he's still a bit jumpy and still settling in and all that, but he seemed to really enjoy it!! Because my bath is a stupid angle we put him in one end he went swimming down to other end and his whole body and his head was submerged under the water!!But because he's not stupid so he didn't drown himself. He was swimming around and appeared to happy!! He seemed to enjoy it more than my corn does :O
I didn't put any oil in there or anything though, that won't matter too much will it?
Fed him straight after and he ate like a boss, he feeds perfectly. It's great to watch I was worried he'd be a bit stressed from the bath but he seemed good :) |
| Thorne Walker |
Posted - 17/11/2012 : 19:01:29
You might want to put him on kitchen roll for a bit.
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| Charles |
Posted - 17/11/2012 : 18:54:44
I brought a small bag made from seeds back from Peru. I stored it in a plastic bag and after a week or so noticed that it had produced some small grubs. I didn't feel that I could soak seeds in boiling water, instead I baked it in an oven at 100oC for half an hour. |
| AcidicAngel |
Posted - 17/11/2012 : 18:10:21
If you want to continue using the hide you can do the same as what I did with the corkbark hide my 2 share. I had suspicions of it cause I noticed little holes appearing in it everywhere so completely disinfected the viv and then soaked that particular hide in baby steriliser and boiling water mixture. 5ml of Baby Steriliser and then the rest boiled water. Soaked it over night and sure enough next morning there were the same type of mites as what you are describing. A dark-ish grey colour and they burrowed into the corkbark. Washed the hide down with fresh cold water and then soaked it in some fresh cold water for 2 hours to bring the rest of the steriliser out and then dried it n the airing cupboard. Put it back in and no problems since. I also bathed the snakes in an oil bath as has been suggested above and a few fell off but no where near as many as what came off the hide. Not had any problems since doing that :) |
| Nasicus |
Posted - 17/11/2012 : 14:06:55
Yeah, I'd purge the viv like you said, soak everything you can in boiling hot water, and possibly not use that particular hide, throw it out just to be safe.
I'd also consider treating him for snake mites, just as a precaution. Oil baths are effective, especially as I'm not too sure if Frontline can be used on Baby Royals, as I've only had to use it on Baby Corns before, where I used to work. |
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