Reptile Mites Suck, Here's how to Treat and Prevent them!

[@MyrtleBeachWebAngel]

Wow. Such a smart easy thing to put them in fresh water first, so they can drink, do business, etc., then transfer to fresh medicated water. Thanks man! 👍 🥇🥇🥇

[@RhynosRoyals]

Happy to help! Thanks for watching!

[@eugenereardon4557]

Very educational video. I do love Per vent a might😊 I use that all the time if I think I have any so far, I’ve never had any mites that I know of but it was a very good video very learning experience.😊😊😊😊

[@RhynosRoyals]

I'm glad it was helpful! And yes preventing mites is the best strategy!

[@daviddibble958]

2100% spot on brother!!!

[@jaclyntodd8684]

My girl currently has mites , I've got her in a quarantine bin. I have a question about what to do with the mites that are in her eyes? I've researched a lot and can't seem to find anything. Also alot of things I'm seeing it says not to get near the eye so I am wondering how those ones will get killed off? TIA

[@RhynosRoyals]

Good question! I'm sorry your girl has mites but don't fret. You will definitely need to treat the enclosure. The mites will leave her at some point. But in the meantime give her a good soak. Start in clean luke warm not hot water for about 20 minutes. Then change the water and add dawn soap and warm water maybe a tad deeper but enough to let it get its head out of the water still. Let it soak maybe 30 minutes. While it is soaking preferably in a tub with locking lids, treat the enclosure with provent mite or the alternatives I mentioned and let it dry. Then after 30 minutes put your snake back in. Repeat this in about 2 to 3 weeks.

[@jaclyntodd8684]

@@RhynosRoyals so I dont have to do anything with the eyes? They will just leave on their own with the treatments?

[@RhynosRoyals]

They will eventually come out to breed and when they do the idea is since you treated the enclosure that they will die then. Also soaking them can kill quite a few. Snakes can hold their breath a fairly long time and the thought is that they will dunk their head a few times into the water with dawn soap and this can get rid of the mites . If you want take a small amount of soapy dawn water and a clean wash rag & Q tip and whip their face near the eyes. Then do the same with the q tip and very gently go around the eyes to try to get some out. The snake will not like this very much however so it will not exactly cooperate. With that said as long as you treat the enclosure the mites will eventually move and when they do you will find some of them dead. That's another reason why it is important to retreat a couple weeks later in my opinion to prevent a re-infestation.

[@jaclyntodd8684]

@RhynosRoyals Thank you so much! About to go get the prevent-a-mite and she said it was some reptile spray I could put directly on

[@RhynosRoyals]

Good luck and yes the spray you can put on that I use is called Reptile Spray. The Prevent a mite you only want to spray in the enclosure after you remove the water and make sure you follow the instructions carefully. Hopefully you will be rid of your mite problem soon!

[@meg7221]

Can you link the reptile spray? And what thermometer gun reader you recommend on amazon?

[@RhynosRoyals]

Editor here, I completely forgot to add the links, so thanks for reminding me! I've linked both the reptile spray and the temp gun we use in the description, but I'll link them here as well. www.amazon.com/DeFlea-Reptile-Mite-Spray-8-Ounce/dp/B0002QIII8/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=Cj0KCQiArsefBhCbARIsAP98hXQAB6o1ExdT7Dm3T5pTqtMBD2lhMlPaE4w8x2kGEcoi3GqMsX3f5SwaAu7LEALw_wcB&hvadid=616863376788&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9016213&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=3231417243495130341&hvtargid=kwd-2684133081&hydadcr=24662_13611802&keywords=reptile+spray&qid=1676854558&sr=8-1 www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Lasergrip-1080-Non-Contact-Thermometer/dp/B00DMI632G/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=temp+gun&qid=1677530668&sr=8-4

[@SnakeTreasures]

What can one do if they have very expensive bioactive biodude dirt?Is there anything that can be done in that situation? I can't find any info on that. Thanks you 😀

[@RhynosRoyals]

That is a good question. Unfortunately the easiest answer would be to dispose of it do the treatments and temporarily use paper and replace the substrate with new substrate later. If you have isopods or other helpful cleaner crew bugs try to remove them or as many as possible. You could attempt to "bake" the substrate as well but I do not know if this will cause the bioactive dirt in your case to effectively be useless. However you could try one other thing. You would need a temporary enclosure for up to month to put your animal in. Then try to remove any cleaner crew bugs and use different soil to keep them in. You would want to treat your temporary enclosure before making the move and the easiest substrate during this time is likely paper as it would help see the mites as well. Then you would remove everything you can from the main enclosure and wash and treat it and also treat the enclosure leaving the substrate you are trying to save. Wait 2 weeks and treat it again then keeping it dry. Then you can try to replace everything. However this could risk them returning if you missed one even or an egg. Also I will be the first to admit this treatment could harm or make that soil useless. I love bioactive and one day I will learn it and do one myself but I won't pretend to tell you that I am an expert on making bioactive so perhaps reach out to the people that make that substrate and ask their thoughts as well :) Thanks so much for watching and good luck with the treatment :)

[@SnakeTreasures]

Thank you so much for this wonderful response! I truly appreciate it. You're awesome!!

[@RhynosRoyals]

You are very welcome and thank you!

[@OctopusWithNoFriends]

Get this: there are MITE-EATING MITES!!! And once they run out of mites to eat, THEY DIE!!! And you can buy them! Probably your best bet for mites in a bioactive enclosure.

[@shiftingscar4482]

The reptile treatment I had didn't say not to put in their eyes. When I discovered that mites were in my little guy's eyes I put drops in and gently messaged the edge to see if that would help. However I'm seeing everywhere else saying not to do that. Is my snake going to go blind because of lack of warning or directions? I'm getting the spray you recommended tomorrow and following the steps after I get off of work this time without putting it in his eyes, but should I be worried?

[@RhynosRoyals]

Hi there! I'm sorry to hear that whatever brand you got didn't say not to get it in their eyes. However you snake should be fine in general. Snakes have eye caps that they shed as well which helps protects their eyes. So while not ideal it's not likely to blind your snake. Just monitor them and make sure you don't see anything abnormal with their eyes :)

[@AwoooOga3503]

I found some crawling on my Children/snakes and i was lived 🤣 😤

[@RhynosRoyals]

It's always a stomach sinking feeling I imagine. Anytime you discover something is wrong is really. Hopefully it wasn't much trouble for to clear them out

[@AwoooOga3503]

@@RhynosRoyalsits bioactive and I have seen much just a few, but I at least have to dump the soil out and clean plants, bark and all hides. Yokes 🤣 I'm not about to deal this this if it gets worse

[@RhynosRoyals]

Oh no bioactive is a bit tougher. Did you do the bioactive yourself or buy a kit? If you bought a kit I recommend reaching out to who you got it from and asking how treatment would work. In the meantime if you can move your snakes into temporary enclosures that have been treated and use paper towel and a very basic set up that way you can hopefully kill off the mites.

[@AwoooOga3503]

@@RhynosRoyals I did it myself, I've had it sence 2020-2021. But yes I'll have to house them temporary now until idk when 🤣😤 So far it's not alarming, but ugh it gives me the ick. I wish they didn't exist in the first place. Why do they exist tho?

[@RhynosRoyals]

Sadly many creatures have parasites that plague them :( So long as the parasite has a way to take advantage of their hosts they will do so. Best thing we can do is to try and prevent them and if that fails act quickly to remedy the issue.

[@Red-357]

That Ortho home defense is no problem if the snake can inhale that?

[@RhynosRoyals]

Thanks for watching! For the Ortho, don't spray that in their enclosure for sure. That is for the ground around it to kill mites that would travel around on the floor between rooms and lay eggs. Spray it around the perimeter of the room, in the door ways and even around the racks or enclosures you use but don't get it on them. This is strictly a liquid so they wouldn't be breathing that in, but if it got into their food or water they would likely get very sick or worse.

[@justanotherdayfamily3128]

Keep dog or cat flee/tick collars around your housing area and it will keep those nasty bugs at bay

[@justanotherdayfamily3128]

Borax in a water spray bottle and spray around this will also keep bugs away! It's cheap and very effective 👌 2tbls 20 Oz spray bottle with water 💧 and a box of borax is only 4 bucks. Trust me. Works wonders. Don't waste your money on all the fancy stuff. It will make you broke

[@RhynosRoyals]

I have heard of people cutting up collars and putting them in areas of high traffic in their reptile rooms as well. Oh and I agree I like provent mite and I find it effective but I also had the same results from Nix and other such sprays that run about 4 to 6 dollars. If you can save money and not at the expense of your animal I say do it.

[@IDK-vs1mg]

I have an eastern bluetongue and a shingle back I keep them in a glass front wooden enclosure, I confirmed they're mites with a USB microscope, removed everything, sealed up the ventilation holes and gave it five seconds of mite spray and shut the lid, while that was happening I gave both lizards a soap bath followed by a diluted Betadine bath and put them to bed in a small plastic carry thingo. I previously researched they quickly die at 50 degrees celsius, so I put a small bathroom heater in the inclosure and a temp probe, heated it to just over 60° celsius for about half an hour, opened the lid to let it air out and returned the lizards the next day using puppy pads. I didn't know reptile mites can migrate outside of the inclosure, if anyone reading this has any suggestions I would appreciate your thoughts, cheers

[@RhynosRoyals]

While I am no expert in those specific species of reptiles mite prevention should be the same. If you treat their enclosure as you said and don't again in about 2 weeks you should be good. And actually I had not heard about warming it up but often I heard of people freezing their substrate in order to use it again as that will kill the mites too that are in the substrate at least and then you can still use it later once they are all gone.