Just knat's, I hope?

[BMoore]

Hey guys, I just changed my redtail's water and found two floaties. I hope they are just knat's. I am prolly just being paraniod but do mite's have wings? :P

[sclark]

Re:Just knat's, I hope?

Hey BMoore,

No mite that I am aware of has wings.. Sounds like knats to me.. If you are concerned, you may want to pick up some provent-a-mite and follow the directions on the can.. Basically it treats the substraight and the snake at the same time..

Hope that helps.
Steve

[BMoore]

Re:Just knat's, I hope?

Whew.......
What a releif. Just never saw anything like that in there. But summer is here, and the bugs are taking over. 8)
Thanks Steve! I think I will pick up some of the provent-a-mite, just to keep handy. It seems quite popular with everyone. Maybe it will keep the knats away! :
Paranoid me............... :P

[sclark]

Re:Just knat's, I hope?

Yeah mites would be no fun. My room got hit from one rescue that was placed in the wrong room, and all got mite. It drove me nuts for 3 week. Had to clean and scrub, etc evry tank every 3 days till my Provent-a-mite came in.

Its real easy. All you do is setup your cage, without the water bowl, take all the snake in the room out (feeding day is always easiest for me) spray the bedding, hide, branches, etc like it suggests on the can and let it air for 1-2 hours.. Put the snake back in and you coved for a month. Since my guys got hit fast and hard. I first scrubbed everything out with bleach while ever snake was soaking. After the tanks dried, I set the tanks up, sprayed the Provent-a-mite, covered the tanks with plastic and taped it. Set the tanks in the driveway on saw horses and let the inside cook for 3 hours. Then I emptied the tanks and put new bedding in and hides, sprayed them again, air for 2 hours and put the snakes back in.. While they were airing, I put this garanual on my carpet that is supposed to kill fleas , ticks and mites, then vacumed like nuts. I got everything under control and after two weeks not one mite. I did a bit over kill, but mites really S##K..

Steve

[stormyva]

Re:Just knat's, I hope?

Some alternatives to Provent-a-mite that are MUCH less expensive are Sawyers Tick Spray and Repel Permanone. It is rumored that Sawyers is the same product as PAM with a different label, but I will save that argument for other people One or the other is usually available at most Kmarts and Walmarts in the camping section and runs about $4.00 a can instead of $12 a can like the P-A-M. The permanone worked great for me, thank god I have only had to use it once though. (The mites showed up on one snake that was in quarantine about a week after he arrived)
The best cure for mites is prevention... . treat everything before it is introduced to "the population". Clean all bowls and cage decorations, and pre-treat any substrate. (For substrate treatment I use Black Knight but any of the other sprays will work just fine.... I put the substrate in a tub, spray it with BK, turn it over a little, spray it again, then let it set with the top on the tub for a couple of days before using it.)