MITES and Different opinions and Treatment

[Joey1983]

Hey All, I was just reading in the advanced discussion forum about mites and the use of predatory mites as well figured it would be fun to spark a discuss with them. As most of you remember I had a nasty case of mites from the pet store back when I bought Barry in march 2012. I tried everything including the predatory mites. nothing worked until FATAL S. informed me about your NIX treatment which worked BEAUTIFULLY I am forever grateful. Just wanted to share here with what I posted in the advanced forum.

When I purchased my merauke in March 2012 he came with a "free gift" from the pet store. MITES! I will be honest I tried the baths, oil baths.. even the natural chemistry repital spray recommended on this site. They all HELPED but certainly were not taking care of the issue at all. He had a pretty bad case. With mites you need to be super aggressive. Also... the reason why I am replying to this thread is because I did buy the hypoaspis mites. I cant say that they helped or not because i kept finding new mites on the paper towels. The only treatment that worked was the following.

1) Buy NIX 2oz bottle and dilute with a full gallon of water. Make sure NIX is mixed well into the water and then place into a spray bottle. Spray the BTS down with the solution from toe nail to head. Don't spray directly into eyes but okay to spray all over head. Let the BTS soak in a bin for a few minutes and then return to a clean new tank. Line the rim with vaseline. This will prevent mites from getting out or in! Also make sure the tank is lined with white paper (paper towels are great)

2) Repeat the above procedure twice more (Once a week) total of 3 weeks 3 treatments. WORKS WONDERS! It is a chemical and could have consequences but I tried everything and I am a very detailed and persistent person and I seemed to not be getting anywhere with these mites until I tried the NIX.

Going forward.. you can use Preventamite spray or even cheaper.... Bed bug spray 2% permetherin when you change out the substrate once a month to prevent any further issues.

Hope this helps.

(again there are a ton of ways to deal with mites. This is just what worked for me)

I would also like to add that I cleaned the hospital tank out each day.. with water and bleach and changed the paper and re lined the rim with vaseline.

I also treated the paper towels with a 2% permetherin spray as mentioned above each day (let dry and properly air out before placing BTS back into tank).

[tylociraptor]

Nix works very well, but must be used with extreme caution, especially if the animal is weakened or ill due to, or seperatly from the mites. Nix is a VERY HARSH CHEMICAL, and this is why we must dilute it so much. Always, always, ALWAYS excercise EXTREME CAUTION when working with harsh chemichals and pesticides.

Predatory mites are of great use to invertibrate collections when you cannot use chemicals. I don't know that it would be worth the hassle of finding, ordering, and introducing the predatory mites into a reptile collection when we have many working methods already, but by no means would it HURT.