|
|
|
Click here to see a easily printable version of this BK-II Strategy paper
NOTE: NOTHING IS FOOLPROOF! MITE TREATMENTS USE CHEMICALS!!
Mites are killed with chemicals, whether you are using BK-II Mite spray, another similar chemical “preventing” spray, or No Pest Strips, at this point in time there is no way around that. Regardless of the method you choose to attack your mite problem, you HAVE TO ATTACK it, and rid the mites from your collection. We believe that BK-II Mite spray is the most effective treatment for snake mites. Read and educate yourself, and make an informed, intelligent decision! Hognose snakes seem particularly chemically sensitive, we don't recommend using ANY chemical treatment for Hognose.
BK-II is the new and updated version of Black Knight, the legendary mite spray. The active ingredient (Phenothrin) remains the same, and BK-II is specifically labeled to kill snake mites. EPA approved!
Snake mites are evil, evil creatures, and they should be banished from existence forever.
Ok, maybe that is a bit over the top, I am sure mites play an important role in the biodiversity of nature, but they are not going to play a role in our collection, and hopefully, not in yours either.
A mite outbreak in a collection is a serious issue, and you must be extremely thorough, and you must see the treatment through, to eradicate the parasite for good. Once your collection is clean, you need to stay on your toes to prevent reintroduction from a number of sneaky sources.
We haven't had mites in the Pro Exotics collection in many years, but it is a fear that is easily in the top three, and we have preventative measures in place, and we follow them without fail, to stop any mite introduction at the door.
If you are unfortunate enough to have a current mite outbreak, you truly need to overreact to the situation to deal with it completely and effectively. If we have a bank of 500 ball python cages (we do), and we find one mite in one water bowl in one cage, the entire wall is going to be broken down, and our thorough treatment takes immediate precedent over any other goals, cleaning, feeding, and even breeding, for the day. It is suddenly a team effort, and we work quickly and smartly, and we overreact.
You have to go all the way with your treatment, breaking down an entire wall, a whole room, or even an entire collection, because if you don't, if you clean five cages well, but miss that sixth cage with fresh mite eggs (due to hatch in a couple of weeks), you are risking the entire collection becoming infected, and for a large breeder, that can mean hundreds or thousands of mite infested snakes.
If we find that one lonely mite (be assured there are already others you don't see), then we break down the entire section. If you find a few mites, in a few cages, in a single room, then you have to do the entire room. If there are hundreds of mites in many cages, you really are best off doing the entire collection. If you have only a handful of cages, perhaps a dozen, you are going to be better off doing the whole collection in response to even that single mite, because believe me, you will kick yourself in two weeks when the two hours you saved today turn into another 10 hours of work then.
Snake mites are tiny creatures, but they are active, and they can travel up to 48 feet in an hour. That is a long way, and can cross a LOT of cages. When I insist on being extremely thorough with our attack, it isn't a joke, and it isn't fun, it is a serious response to a potentially disastrous situation.
The snake mite is a tricky, stubborn, and tough little bug. Dave and Tracy Barker break down the species account of the snake mite very well in their book on Ball Pythons “Pythons of the World Vol. 2”, available at their site, vpi.com, and I suggest everyone read and understand that excellent title to better understand the enemy that we are dealing with.
Very briefly, mites have a simple life cycle, lasting from thirteen to as many as forty days. In this period, they hatch, feed, breed, and die, which is not so bad except for the fact that they reproduce exponentially (doh!), and mite infestation numbers can go from a few single individuals to many many thousands in a matter of days.
Not sure if you have mites or not? Well, then we have to do a cage check.
You are looking for walking pepper. Yep, mobile little black spots on the go, they crawl around the cage, on the animal, and on your hands. They drown easily in water, and reptiles aren't dumb, so you will often find a snake soaking in its water bowl, trying to administer its own self-treatment. Check the bottom of the bowl for dusty specks, those would be the mites. They pop when you squish ‘em, best done between a couple of fingernails, or against the side of the water bowl. Dust, dirt, and substrate don't explode when you smash them, mites do : )
If you have newspaper substrate, study that for a moment, you can catch the traveling mites walking across the white pages fairly easily. Check the reptile for mites on the skin, under the scales (especially belly scales), and around the eyes and pits. Set the animal down, and then check your hands. You will usually see at least a few cruising across your palm. Don't worry, these are SNAKE mites, and without a scaly animal to feed on, the mites will die quickly, so they are no danger to humans.
You can also take a damp white paper towel, and wipe down the length of a suspect reptile, you will pull at least a few of these buggers off on the towel, where they are easy to spot.
As of 2008, the best weapon against a mite outbreak is BK-II Mite Killer, period.
In the past we have tried other treatments and approaches, most successfully No Pest Strips (a solid second place choice, but much more dangerous for your reptiles), but BK-II far and away produces the best results.
BK-II Mite Killer works, and it is what you should use. Really.
Of course, if you ask a dozen “experts” about their mite weapon, you are liable to get a half dozen different responses. Go to an online reptile forum, post a question about mite treatments, and you will get a wide range of replies with many approaches.
Some folks say simply soaking the animal in water kills mites. It does, sort of. Some keepers go through the elaborate steps of coating an animal in cooking oil. That one sounds loopy, and is amazingly short sighted, and I am a snake keeper, not a snake cooker. Other companies promote lotions that have natural ingredients that “kill mites” when slathered on an animal. Great, what smooth skin you have (what are these funny little bugs?)!
Number one, be careful of advice (any advice!) you get from the Wide Wide World of Web, or even friends. Give a guy a cornsnake for two weeks, and the next thing you know he is online answering every breeding, diet, regurgitation, and parasite question as an “expert”. Enthusiasm is great, reptiles are a great hobby, but good grief, not everyone is an expert! (on a side note, using oils and creams can suffocate and overheat reptiles, especially small ones, so the “slather” treatment is definitely not recommended)
These “treatments” fail to even address the life cycle of the animal you are attacking! Anyone recommending an “oil slathering” treatment doesn't have the rudimentary knowledge to even understand the problem themselves! Sure, you may kill a majority of the live mites on the actual animal (you won't kill them all), but you have done absolutely NOTHING to address the problem of the thousands of eggs waiting patiently in the cage and rack. A few dozen, or even hundred mites, on the actual body of the reptile is absolutely dwarfed by the mite love waiting for the host back in its home cage. Without addressing this side of the issue, you are spinning your wheels, wasting valuable time, and putting the health of your collection at risk.
In order to eradicate this tenacious parasite completely, you need to address the live mite, as well as the eggs waiting to hatch. Only one product does this effectively, and that is BK-II Mite Killer. It is an aerosol that contacts the entire cage (and rack, and floor, and room) killing live mites, as well as desiccating those invisible eggs. ( PLEASE NOTE: BK-II kills bugs. PERIOD! That means it will kill your feeder crickets, your feeder roaches, and your precious Tarantula collection. It is also not for use with frogs or other chemically sensitive pets (geckos have been known to react negatively to No-Pest Strips). Be sure to move these animals well away from any possible exposure while you are treating your snakes and lizards for mites.)
Now, don't go getting all super smart on us and get the next cheapest roach spray at the hardware store. BK-II is expensive because of its formulation. It uses active ingredients (Phenothrin) that you WILL NOT find in other common insecticides. Believe me, I've looked. And not only do I NOT KNOW if Raid will kill mites, it may very well leave your reptiles screwy. Or dead…
You WILL find other insecticides using Permithrin (the active ingredient used in another mite product), BUT IT IS NOT THE SAME THING! It does NOT work in the same way, and it isn't meant to be used in the same way! That detail is very very important. The only thing I am using the Permanone Permithrin spray for is its intended use, with camping equipment, NOT with animals.
Many stores don't sell BK-II because they already have plenty of $10 insecticide. You need BK-II because it effectively kills snake mites without harming your animals. Don't be a cheapskate, go with the real deal.
So let's put it into action. For our first attack, let's assume that the mites are already here, and you have found them on animals or in cages…
Once again, be thorough and go a bit overboard casting your treatment net.
Your first step is going to be to spray the snake racks. You already have mites in cage number one, spend a few minutes hitting up the surrounding area so that nothing spreads further while we are breaking down cages.
Spray around the cages, on the shelves, and across the floors. Spray the doorways, spray your tools, spray the trashcan (we will be tossing suspicious items in there soon), just pretend it is Lysol and get all immediate and obvious surfaces. Please remember that BK-II is a bug spray, and bugs like crickets, tarantulas, feeder roaches, and other valuable insects will fall before the power of the Mighty BK-II!
Once you have quickly hit up the most obvious mite highways, start the treatment by soaking your reptiles.
Soaking your snakes in room temperature water (about as deep as the thickness of the animal, see our FAQ on soaking for more important soaking details) will kill off many of the live mites on the body of the animal, and give you time for phase two.
While your animal(s) is soaking, which should last about an hour, you will need to thoroughly clean the cage(s). Toss out any substrates, as well as any other disposable cage decoration. For your water bowls, hidespots, and other cage furniture, a nice long hot washing with dish soap and a good scrubber brush is step one, soaking for an hour or so in a 10% bleach solution (or Virosan) is step two. Scrub out the cage as well, getting the nooks and crannies, and be as thorough as possible.
At this point, pull your animal from soaking into a dry holding container. It will be going back in the reassembled cage shortly.
Once all your items are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, you can reassemble your cage. Use newspaper, or another simple substrate, as cage beddings like Sani Chips, aspen, cypress, or care fresh offer too many hiding spaces for the mites and eggs. Put back the hide spots and other decorations, but leave out the water bowl for now.
Next go ahead and spray the assembled cage with BK-II. You are not trying to hit every surface, but rather hitting the cage with a good healthy shot. For a Rubbermaid sweaterbox, or a 2 foot cage, I would suggest hitting it for a good 4 or 5 seconds. For a 4 ft cage, perhaps twice that long. For a 10 gallon tank, less, try 2-3 seconds.
Once you have sprayed the cage, replace the animal immediately. Wait a few hours for everything to dissipate, and replace the water bowl, filled with fresh water.
There is no need to spray the animal directly, and while I don't think it would be harmful to the animal, it is just not necessary, and the fogging step is extremely effective.
That is it for today. Pretty simple, for a single cage. Of course, earlier I strongly recommended that you do ALL the cages, so perhaps you will need to repeat this 4, 5, or 100 more times…
Now that we have thoroughly attacked the snake mite with an intelligent and effective strategy, it is best to follow up on that attack for extra assurance that it has indeed been addressed over the long term.
BK-II Mite Spray is such an effective mite killer that I am not sure that follow up treatments are truly necessary, but when facing an adversary like Ophionyssus natricis , you want to get it right the first time.
Let's say you do your first (and toughest) treatment on a Monday, you will want to follow up with a treatment for the next 2 Mondays. At this point, it really is extra insurance, but theoretically, you are killing off any remaining mite eggs that are waiting to hatch.
To use the BK-II Mite Spray preventively, it is a bit simpler…
First of all, DON'T ORDER ANIMALS FROM SOMEONE THAT WILL SEND YOU MITES!!
This seems like a no-brainer, but you wouldn't believe how many folks are looking to get some rock bottom deal and instead of one animal arriving, they get 1000 (1 snake, 999 mites). You really do get what you pay for. The other trick is when you fall for the okey-doke and think that “Big Name Wholesale Joe”, “Small Breeder Willie” or “Closet Breeder Jones” is above sending you crappy animals, but in reality, he doesn't quite have the morals and standards you supposed.
Be demanding and extra particular when getting new animals, and don't settle for anything less than complete professionalism, and it isn't professional to ship out animals with mites.
When we receive new reptiles at Pro Exotics, they go from the shipping bag right into a soaking container. Soaking the animals gives them a chance to rehydrate (they are often dehydrated after shipping) and floats off any indicators of a problem (“Hey! Who ordered pepper with this python?!?”). While the animals are soaking, we toss out the bags (or directly launder them), and spray down the boxes, inside and out, with BK-II, placing them outside our facility until we get a chance for closer inspection.
Once the animals are done soaking (an hour or so), and we have seen no mites, we fog a dry Rubbermaid, and in goes the new animal. While we wait an hour for the BK-II to go to work, we set up the cage for the new arrival. Out of the Rubbermaid, and into the cage.
Using this immediate treatment of new arrivals has kept us mite free for years, and if done properly, it is extremely effective.
BK-II Mite Killer is a terrific product, easily the best product available, and an important weapon in the reptile hobby to keep our collections clean and healthy. It doesn't much matter whether you get BK-II from Pro Exotics, or one of the many sellers on the internet, the important thing is that you get it, use it, and rid your reptile world of the nightmare that is mite infestation!
 |
||||
 Who
We Are |
Details
/ FAQ |
|||
| Reptile Price
List |
Photo
Gallery |
|||
| The
Specials Showcase |
Care
Sheets |
|||
|
|
||||
|
Home
|
||||
 |
||||
 |
Website design and graphics
by 2am
Creations All site content © Pro Exotics 2001-2008 |