Hi James,
Is this the thread you were talking about (
Mites)? I found it by clicking the "search" button below the "home" tab at the top of the page and searching for the keyword, "mites."
I know you're not suggesting it, but one obviously wouldn't want to delay treatment until the snakes were ready to slough. There are other less invasive remedies that people have used with mixed results. Here's one:
Frequently wash the snake with a mild liquid soap, like Ivory dishwashing soap; then thoroughly rinse it. Next apply a thin coat of
vegetable oil all over the snake, including over (but not in) the nostrils. This removes most mites and suffocates others, but it doesn't kill the eggs. This method requires use of a clean quarantine tank in which you can change the substrate (newspaper or paper towels) at least daily. Periodic bleaching of the quarantine tank occurs, being done more frequently in the first few days after the snake has been added. The snake also gets re-washed & re-oiled frequently. Its water bowl is checked often; you can do the wet paper towel trick, and you can usually wet a Q-tip and run it around the rim of the eyes to detect remaining mites. This cleaning and oiling process is normally continued for at least two weeks (often longer), to ensure that all eggs have hatched and all mites have been removed.
If sloughing occurred in the middle of this process, one would want to wash, rinse, & oil the snake before moving it to a temporary holding area and bleaching the quarantine tank to ensure mites and eggs were removed. The problem is that mite infestations can also cause shedding problems, so it might not be a fool-proof method of ridding the snake of mites. Also remember that mites consume blood and fluids, so shed skins don't offer much for the mites in terms of their next meal. Mites give me the heebie-jeebies, so I've turned to chemical treatment and accept the known risks.
Rick
P.S. Don't let my secret search technique out
. It makes me look smart and helpful
.