by slangman » Sun Jan 06, 2008 6:23 pm
i inherited an unwanted gift with the jamacian boas (otr yellow snakes as they are called on their permits) so i had to decide what to do about them . prob is i didnt want to use chemicals on them if i could help it so i went down the route of hypoaspis mites . These are sold over here by a company specialising in micro biology and they cost me 10pound and 3 pound postage and packaging for 10000 mites . these are normally used to control scariad fly in green houses but as they are preditory , feed also on snake mites . so i put some compost at the bottom tier of their cage and as long as the soil or compost is kept moist , these mites will thrive . I had a look in the tub of mites as it says to do so that i could difieretiate between the 2 mites and there were not a hell of a lot of them but apparertly the eggs in the vermiculite and soil mix have yet to hatch . After a couple of weeks of spraying the soil in the viv , i had a close lok and indeed there were about 5000 little mites swarming around the viv . they actually track down the snake mites and attack them . these chaps occasionally climb onto the snake and chase the snake mites off so the others can get them . Such a thrill to watch cos i hate mites . They dont feed on the host at all and when all the snake mites are gone and their is no other micro organisms to feed on , they simply starve to death over 6 weeks . The snakes even seem to know what is going on as they lie in the soil most of the time . After a month of them in the viv , i checked the snakes lastnight and not a single snake mite to be seen even in the usual spots like the eyes and under the mouth and the vent . i will continue to leave the hypoaspis in the viv until the end of their lives and theorey is all the snake mites will be hunted and killed . holding thumbs cos i do so hate snake mites . I thought about a few breeders i know who could benefit from these chaps especially those with blood pythons who have a fair bit of substrate in the vivs .