Hydra

[aquamentus_11]

the spray they probably used was something like reptile relief. it kills the mites on the snake, but not in the cage. there's going to be mites back on her as soon as she's placed back into the cage, unless they treated it too. mites lay eggs. if you don't see any for a week that doesn't mean they're gone. the eggs will hatch and the cycle repeats. that's why you have to treat the bedding twice. once to kill the mites currently alive and once to kill the newly hatched. a third treatment would probably be ideal just to be sure. soak your snake in some luke warm water while the bedding dries from the spray. that'll drown a lot of the mites on her. the residue on the bedding will take care of the rest. and like i mentioned earlier, remove the water dish while spraying.

have you used Rid with <1y old snakes too?

[mikem]

have you used Rid with <1y old snakes too?

yep. just make sure it's completely dried before putting the snake back in. i wouldn't bother using it though unless you actually see mites on her.

edit: oh and another place mites can come from is bedding. i've purchased bedding that actually had some mites in it. not sure how common this is, but it's happened to me once.

[aquamentus_11]

sounds like i overreacted.......they sprayed down the old cage and then put them in a new one after they sprayed the snakes themselves.

[EasternGirl]

I wouldn't have taken her back to that place. I do understand you protecting Hydra...but you may have to treat her now anyway.

[EasternGirl]

I have no idea about that stuff...maybe buy some when you are there and then you can treat her again with it. Read the directions...maybe it tells you how many times to treat and how long to wait between treatments. Or, you can use the stuff Mike suggested and treat the new enclosure before you put her in it. Just make sure you wait the amount of time he said before putting her in.

[aquamentus_11]

i'll keep an eye on hydra. the ribbon was in a plastic tub with a locking lid. i wouldn't expect a lot of mite traffic, but i wouldn't rule it out either. taking her back may not have been the ideal thing to do, but it solved the problem. i could never be sure that they were all gone. i'll just stick with cbb's from now on.

[mikem]

Any snake can get mites...wild caught, captive born, captive bred, captive hatched... doesn't matter. Eventually everyone who keeps reptiles will have to deal with them. Just keep an eye out over the next couple of weeks, but you're probably not gonna have an issue.

[aquamentus_11]

ok, cool. thanks for the help

[EasternGirl]

So..you're not going to go back to get her then?

[aquamentus_11]

no. as much as i'd like to, i have a responsibility to keep hydra healthy.