Hi everyone, I'm really hoping someone here can help me! 4 days ago I discovered that my two red tail boas have mites after the female ("Nexus" 6 ft) bit me. She got me good too . While both snakes are rescues (their former owner was keeping them in a garage with no heat ) neither snake has ever been aggressive before. I've had them 4 months and cured their resp infections. Anyways, Nexus struck at me again after I had removed her from her tank to disinfect the tank; luckily I was wearing gloves this time. Last night the male (a 5 ft Guyanan) struck at me when I put him in a bath to soak with mite treatment. This is really upsetting me. Are the snakes on edge from the mites? This is a dramatic attitude change. Are there other explanations? No one taunts them, they were eating and shedding regularly before I found the mites. Honestly I spoil them rotten. What can I do? It's scary to treat them when they strike at me
I have Amazon tree boa's and one of them has mites..he has always been agressive towards me though. I asked a vet about mites and he said they really dont cause any changes in personality they are just a nuisance and hard to get a rid of them..i have no idea where mine picked up the parasite though its not like he go's outside in the grass. My guess is you already know how to get the parasites gone, but ill just go over a few tips: -put the snakes in a large container with water in the bottom and spray the snakes with mite off or another mite killing formula. -take absolutley everything out of the terrarium and submerge it in a bleach/water solution..if the decorations/wood/rocks arent submurged the mites crawl to the top and will not die. make sure the items are submurged for a couple of hours. -take the terrarium outside and spray it with a hose or something and replace the substrate, also disinfect the inside with a water/soap mix or windex anti bacterial spray..anything to kill the damn things! Well thats all i was told to do, i hope it helps you as it helped me. good luck!
While I've never had a mite problem I did have a friend that did... his adorable, nice, never even strike at anyone python escaped his cage and bit my friend when he stepped out of bed one morning, unpon putting Snakey (yes I know... original right? lol) back in his cage he found he had mites... We both came to the conclusion that Snakey got pissed off and just wanted OUT of his cage because the mites were bothering him... so he literally lifted the top off the tank and slithered out, the whole biting thing was probably because he was startled when Dan stepped off his bed. I would go ahead and say that your two RTBs are probably just very irritable and angry with the mites and might just be constantly on edge because of them. I would disinfect the entire cage and them and put them back in the cage and leave them alone for a couple days - don't go in the cage and you might even go so far as to cover the sides of the cage with paper so they aren't bothered by anything coming in and out of the room they are in. Then in a couple days take the paper off and a day or two after that start to handle them again. They should have ample time to calm down and by then you will be able to check to see if the mites are really gone or not. Good luck and keep us posted! Oh! And welcome to the forums!
I'm just going to give a brief .02 on a personal observation - I don't want to sound redudant or repeat what has already been said and suggested. I've seen and treated snakes with mites and I've noticed changes in behavior and personality. I received an email about a mite infestation from a local member in my herpetological society... the guy received a few snakes that were coated with mites that quickly spread to other herps in the room. It was one of the most severe outbreaks one could fathom: the carpet in the room was crawling with black specs and it looked like someone had dumped pepper shakers all over the herps and their enclolsures. It was absolutely disgusting, I don't know how anyone could ever let it get to that point before seaking help. He had even complained about sleeping on his bed in the room because there were mites in it... Anyway, back to the point. This person had several boas, a carpet python, ,and a couple of ball pythons. Every species was desperarately seaking relief by soaking in the water dishes, and I noted shed-like behavior with rubbing against rough surfaces. My guess is having mites is the equivalent of having fleas in dogs, but reptiles (particularly snakes) can't easily scratch at the irritation. EVERY snake was irritable, even the ball pythons who are generally not known for being a fiesty species. When I went to remove any snakes the result was a lot of hissing, striking, etc. It took about two weeks of constant care and cleans, along with a can or two of prevent-a-mite and the majority of the mites were wiped out. As soon as the mites were gone, most of the snakes calmed down drastically (except for he carpet python, big surprise =P). So I'd say this more aggressive behavior could very well be linked to the mites, and once they are erradicated you might see more docility in your animals.
Get rid of the mites and see if they go back to being nice.Ive had mites but didnt notice any change in temperament but I imagine if an animal soaks because it has mites then it must feel uncomfortable.So an uncomfortable animal is likely to be cranky. Or your boas are just starting to feel better because they are being cared for properly and have enough energy now to defend themselves..
Thank you all SO MUCH for the advice and insight!! Here's an update, and maybe some more useful mite removal tips in return for your help ... One of the guys at my local reptile shop recommended treating the snakes themselves with Lice MD. It's a treatment for lice on humans but is supposedly perfectly safe for snakes. It's cheapest at Wal-mart, runs ~$11 a bottle. I took both snakes to the reptile shop for help applying the Lice MD, as I wasn't comfortable doing this all by myself after being struck at multiple times You basically just rub the oil across the snake's entire body (don't forget their face) with a paper towel, and make sure they can't go soak themselves and wash the treatment off afterwards. It also makes them look shiny and pretty, haha. I treated the tank with prevent-a-mite. The folks at the reptile shop agree with JEFFREH and StikyPaws312 - apparently mites can be very aggravating for the snake and may cause them to act out. I guess it just depends on the individual snake. I've known people who've treated ball pythons and burmese pythons with mites, but there were not any accompanying attitude changes. Both snakes appear more relaxed now. I'll see how they do when I put them back in their tank ... still a little nervous ... THANK YOU again everyone
Good luck! Hope everything works out and they calm down once they're a bit more comfortable! Also make sure you keep an eye on them because mites can sometimes come back very easily if you didn't kill all of them in the 1st place :-/ When treating the tank for mites my friend threw out nearly everything in the tank, soaked everything else, including the tank itself and the screen in a 1:10 bleach:water mix and then washed it out thoroughly, then treated the new bedding with the mite preventative... (can't remember the name off hand). They never came back! Good luck!
Hi i dont have a snake but when i got my beardie 2 years ago he had mites and im sure was from the cage at the petshop as it wasnt too clean . I didnt notice them till 4 weeks later as i was still learning. when i went to petshop they trIED to tell me it was from the substrate i bought .I said why would you sell substrate with mites so. another petshop told me those guys were trying to just pass the blame. I used a mite spray and took everything out of tank but no luck. I still found 1 or 2 a few days later so i ended up getting a spray off the vet and kept him in a seperate tank with just paper towels while i cleaned , sprayed tank for few days, but never noticed any attitude change, they went away after a week but a still always check.
From my experience, mites can tend to drain the snakes of a lot of their energy and their appetites increased while infected. My RTBs got very aggressive, I'm guessing a combination of the hunger and the mite infestation. On the other hand, my burmese lost her appetite and didn't get aggressive at all so there is some variation between species and the severity of the infestion. Good luck with your cleansing!
I rescued a burm that was covered in mites, she was miserable acting and hissed and posed. I figured the temperament was do to the previous poor ownership and lack of handling. I used preventamite and after the mites where totally gone and she shed, she was a different snake (very tolerant). I also experienced the same thing with a rescued red tail too. I personally believe mites bother them enough to make them testy and less tolerant.
