HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Can anyone recommend a good snake forum? Beauty, the boa we adopted is doing really well, shed twice now and she looks INCREDIBLE, except these dang snake mites I keep getting rid of and this is the 3rd time they've come back. I also don't want the python or my HCs to get these dang mites, and when I research I get everything from take the snake to the vet to soak the snake in water for several days (don't worry, I have enough common sense not to do the second one). It's very confusing. Like when I first got hermit crabs and I read conflicting info and was never sure what to do. My H is pretty knowledgeable about snakes, but we're just not shaking these mites with what we've been doing and need to nip this in the bud before she gets sick.

I'd like a place like this, a snake forum where people are flexible and polite and patient. Any suggestions?

All of the reptile forums have pretty much moved onto Facebook. (They still have website based forums, but no active members.) Reptile Forums UK is good even though it's European. There are some huge boa-specific groups as well.

Your python can and might have them as well. They are species specific (reptiles only) so are not able eat anything else including the hermits.

The problem with snake mites is that they have a full lifespan of over 40 days - meaning that you can get rid of everything you see and then have them turn around and have them back again. They can also travel distances to find new hosts. A female can only lay eggs after a meal on a reptile, so as long as you break the cycle you can get rid of them.

I had them when I got Peach, the deformed cornsnake. By the time I realized they were there, she was already anemic. What I did to eliminate them and keep my other snake (who was two feet above her) was this:

1. Bought a bottle of this stuff. Between the state Peach was in and the fact I was using it in a room with my scorpions, roaches and some iso'd hermits, I didn't want to use any serious poisons: http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... le&u=29642

2. Using gloves, sprayed it on Peach and rubbed it all over her til she was foamy. I then left her in a plastic bin for 20 minutes while I cleaned her cage.

3. I gutted the cage. Decorations were soaked submerged in hot soapy water for an hour. Wood was baked. Afterwards, I used papertowels (or regular towels which were taken out and immediately bleached) and only two plastic hides during treatment. The hides were washed with hot soapy water and left to soak submerged for 10 minutes at every cleaning.

4. The cage was washed down with soapy water and wiped dry in place.

5. Taking my time, I used a hair dryer to heat blast all the silicon and the rim. The mites and eggs die at 120 degrees for 10 seconds.

6. Even though it went against directions, I sprayed the inside corners of the tank and the rim with the mite spray and then wiped it down. And then put the tank back together.

7. I wiped Peach off and put her back in.


I did this three days in row and all the mites were gone from her. I switched to every three days for a month, and then weekly for another month. Stan (the other snake) got the gloved wipedown with the mite spray after he ate every 7 days for the full two months. I never found one on him. I did not tear his tank apart or do anything differently.

It was a serious pain, but 60 days later they were completely gone.

This is a great paper on snake mites: http://denardo.lab.asu.edu/publications ... emites.pdf

Ah, THANKS! I'll try that.

I haven't seen any on the python, but it's so much smaller and darker and these buggers are hard to see. Even it's water dish is dark and hard to see any bugs in. Plus I'm kind of scared to hold her-she's a ferocious eater and looks strikey all the time (I'm still a little nervous around snakes). My H mostly takes care of the snakes but I enjoy them so I look over them and I happily hold Beauty because she is so docile.

I had read so many different treatment methods (all relatively the same with slight variations), so I'm happy to try one I know worked for you. I have a strong feeling it's that 40 day cycle-that seems to be what is going on, because I'll think we beat them and then Beauty starts hanging out in the water more than usual and I look in and sure enough there they are, and on her again. I had an extra tank sitting around so this time after treating her I put her in a brand "new" clean tank while I clean the heck out of her things and her other tank. This is all such a pain for me right now because my H's back problems are so bad right now (surgery a week from today-I hope it helps!!!) it's difficult for him to help in any part of the process. I'm lugging this 40 pound snake and huge tanks by myself. This must be so stressful for her. She's breaking my heart with these dang nasty things and THEY GOT TO GO!

Ugh, bad timing. Hope the surgery goes well and that it helps!

I honestly think you could get away with treating the snakes in place for now and then going whole hog later. They're big snakes and it's not as much of a hazard for them as it is for smaller snakes. (Peach weighed a little over half a pound and already was having problems so being covered drained her.)

If the snakes aren't near the crabs there are stronger sprays that can be used as well where you don't have to do as much and they should have good results. Prevent-a-mite gets mentioned a lot. I'm sure there are others. You pretty much do need to use some sort of chemical to kill them as they hatch. Soaking works and dawn dish soap smothers them the same as it does fleas on dogs and cats, but they'll be infected from the environment again really fast.

I researched the heck out of it because I caught it a few days after she got home and I wanted to keep them from spreading, plus the inverts in the room which means I couldn't use PAM willynilly. The number of people who said it was impossible to get rid of them was frightening. Your story is common, and it's almost always from people not being told the lifespan and so they stop treating way too soon. Think of them like fleas - the initial treatment makes then go away but it takes three months of treatment until all the eggs have hatched and been killed. (Although with mites it's only two months!)

I am determined to get rid of these things if at all possible, as long as the process doesn't hurt the snakes. Beauty I worry about because she has the sinus deformity and I don't want her immunity lowered since she may be more prone to RIs. She already often wheezes and sticks her head up in the air with her mouth open-but this is normal for her. I'm not seeing any discharge, lumps anywhere, no regurgitation or elimination issues, she reacts normally to movement and moves normally. She has not eaten since her last shed-a couple of weeks now. All and all normal except she keeps trying to soak these mites off her so I know they must be irritating to her.

And you are correct, it is bad timing, my H is going to be laid up after his surgery for quite some time. But it's a good time to get someone who cares about us and wants to help (have several people in mind) to come over and help me with this. Some people won't even come over anymore because of Beauty (can you believe it? :roll: ) but a couple of other people are really taken to her so they might help. It is a big relief to know they are less dangerous for beauty, and I still don't see any on Sedona (the python), but should I treat her once for good measure (I think my H could handle helping with her and her little 20 gallon tank)?

The lack of eating is really normal with mites. They get uncomfortable. A friend of mine had a heck of a time clearing her infestation (lots of reptiles and a big space) and she had one boa go a few months without a meal until every single one was gone. Mine thankfully never lost their appetite.

I would treat Sedona once a week if possible just to make sure. The spray I linked (pet stores carry it too) is a preventative as well. Worst case scenario is that you get Beauty cleared and find out they moved into Sedona's space! You can also use double sided tape or roll a sticky packing tape around the tanks to catch any wanderers. I forgot that I had ringed then top of Peach's tank (leaving a sticky lip for them to get stuck too) with thick packing tape to make sure they couldn't leave when I removed the substrate and gave then less places to hide. She was incapable of climbing, so it was safe.