Qs on Dealing with mites

So, my baby blood python is my first snake to have mites. I just recently found two (so far) on him and I need some tips on what to do. I have heard of buying sprays for your snakes, but haven't got any luck finding any. I would LOVE for some tips that don't require too much money(if none at all, that would be perfect!)
I do not have him in a rack system. He is in an aquarium.
I have heard of things such as soaking the snake too, and I really need some tips for what I do with the snake, how I clean the aquarium, and how long it'll be before I can put him back into the aquarium.
Thanks!!

And also....I believe I have heard these mites are species specific... is this true?

I think the mites aren't particular to any species of snake. If they get near your other snakes, they will most likely infect them.

If you search online, you can get a can of Provent-A-Mite for like $15.

First, if you haven't, move the snake to a quarantined location away from other snakes. Give the snake a tepid water soak for 30 minutes or so. This will drown a good portion of the mites. They drown relatively easy. Pick off any survivers afterwards.

While the snkae is soaking, this is a good time to clean the enclosure. Put everything you want to keep in a bag and take the bag immediately outside. Throw away all the substrate in the cage. Bleach/chlorhexidine/sanitize the enclosure, wipe, clean and dry. Apply the Provent-A-Mite or other mite treatment as instructed. If you use the PAM, allow it to dry, do not put the water bowl back in, and line with newspaper or paper towels.

After you reintroduce the snake, any remaining mites should die within the first few days but some may survive. Sometimes a second treatment a week later is likely, however, if not, a second treatment should definitely be done 30 days later to kill any eggs that may survive and have hatched.

Sorry, forgot to include:

The bag of everything that you took outside, should be cleaned with bleach and boiling water, or ran through a dishwasher. However you do it, it should be thoroughly cleaned before reintroduction.

If you pick the mites off, be careful not to hurt the snake, pick at scales or underneath them. Pick off the easy ones, the purpose is to reduce the chance of any survivers after putting them in the treated cage.

Thanks! My mother and I rubbed him as he soaked(he HATED the water!) and realized he had way more mites on him than we thought. luckily, i think we got them all. his cage was bleached, and him and the cage furniture and then cage were sprayed with zoomed's Mite-Off. And about thirty minutes later, after he settled down, we attempted to feed him. He ate!! He wouldnt eat at ALL before and the mites probably had something to do with it. We're thinking he had a few mites when I got him.

And sorry, my fault on the question...when I said are the mites "species specific" I meant, Do they only go on snakes? Can they get on humans and cats and dogs?

The snake mite (Ophionyssus natricis) is primarily found on snakes and some lizards. For additional information Goggle the scientific name. If I remember correctly, the snake mite does not use warm blooded animals as a host.

It is interesting to note that the snake mite is not native to the U.S. It is assumed that the importation of materials/plants/animals from Africa introduced the snake mite to our native snakes.

They can have them back!

Permectrin-II

13.5 cc per gallon of water in a spray bottle. You can spray the snake, water, bedding and have no worries. I have used this for years. One bottle makes a good 100 gallons of treatment. I use it every time I clean the cages and it wont hurt the snake even if its in the Water.



http://www.atozvetsupply.com/Permectrin-II-p/33-perm-11.htm