| MITES
& HOW TO GET RID OF THEM
Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks, are
just as, if not more, pernicious once they have
infested even one of your reptiles. The best way
to get rid of them is to never get them to begin
with. Unfortunately, every time you visit a pet
store, reptile expo, herp society meeting, or
interact with an infested herp, you risk unwittingly
transporting mites into your reptile area.
Mites, like ticks, are eight-legged blood-sucking
organisms. They carry and transmit diseases from
one reptile to another. The mite species found
infesting reptile hosts are unlikely feed on non-reptilian
hosts. However, it is due to their ability to
use non-reptiles as a form a public transportation
that cause reptile keepers to inadvertently infect
their own collections with mites.
Ticks are commonly found on wild-caught reptiles
or captive bred reptiles who have been thrown
in with wild-caught reptiles or kept separate
but not properly quarantined. Ticks are larger
than mites and, once they are locked into the
reptile's skin and are feeding on blood or digesting
a meal, they don't move around much. Mites are
tiny and metamorphosize through several stages,
some of which are non-feeding morphs. Mites are
highly mobile and may be found roaming around
from place to place on the reptile and in the
reptile's environment. Depending on the species
of mite, they may be black, bright red/orange,
or the color of old, dried blood.
A wild reptile is infested with mites and ticks
but, being in its native environment and subject
only to the rigors and stresses of an environment
into which its species has adapted over millions
of years, the ticks and mites present no problem.
When a snake or lizard sheds its skin, it also
sheds its mites and ticks. While it may eventually
become host to another couple of mites or ticks,
it isn't forced, as is a captive reptile, into
contact with its own shed nor with the hundreds
or thousands of mites replicating all through
its enclosure and neighboring enclosures...and
the carpet, drapes and any other cozy spot found
by roving mites.
A captive reptile is under stress from the moment
it is captured or boxed up for transport. The
stresses and generally unsanitary conditions found
in the pet trade are, in and of themselves, unhealthful
for the animals involved. Add external parasites
to the mix and you have animals who are further
weakened. The mites may be tiny, so small that
they may be easily overlooked, but they can be
dangerous. Watch for them when you are at pet
stores buying your reptile or supplies for your
reptiles (wood products are favorite hiding places
for these pests). Watch for them when you are
at the homes of other reptile keepers. Watch for
them when you are at reptile expos and swapmeets
(most are no better than, and often worse than,
pet stores in the way the animals may have been
maintained). And watch for them when you handle
animals at herp society meetings or when students
bring in their own reptiles to share with the
class.
On lizards, reptile mites can usually be found
roaming the body, tucked under the edges of scales
and congregating around the eyes, ears, tympanic
membrane and any place on the body where the scales
are thinner. On snakes, the mites will generally
be tucked under the overlapping or projecting
edges of scales, around the eyes, and in the heat
pits. If you can see them from about three feet
away, or your hand comes away with several mites
on it, then you have a severe infestation. Reptiles
who are moderately to severely debilitated may
require fluids and nutrient supplementation to
help restore fluid balance and provide energy
for rapid recovery.
Why Mites Are So Hard To Kill
The chemicals that will kill a mite will also
kill the reptiles. The heat that it takes to kill
a mite will also kill your reptile. Mites can
be drowned, but if you are not careful, enough
mites can just scurry up the reptile's and emerge
from the water, hanging out around the eyes and
nose (and heat pits and eye grooves of pythons
and boas) until things settle down. Speaking of
eyes and heat pits, mites can live their entire
lives inside the tiny pits and grooves around
a snake's eyes or in their heat pits, feeding
and breeding and making more little mites to send
off into the world. Other favorite places include
the chin grooves of all snakes, in between the
dorsal crests of lizards, and in the folds of
soft skin around their armpits, necks and ears.
While snakes can be fully submerged in water,
and some lizards will voluntarily do so, lizards
may have to have water poured heavily sprayed
over their heads and necks to flush away the mites.
Another reason it is so hard to kill them is
that they spend a lot of their non-feeding and
reproduction time in tiny moist crevices, both
on the reptile and in its enclosure. At any one
time, you will have mites in several different
life stages in your reptile's enclosure and on
its body. The stages, and the time it takes to
morph to the next stage at certain temperatures,
are:
| LIFE STAGES / MORPHS |
ENVIRONMENTAL
TEMPERATURE |
| |
86
F / 30 C |
68
F / 20 C |
 |
| Egg |
28 hours |
98 hours |
 |
| Larva (non-feeding) |
18 hours |
47 hours |
 |
| Protonymph (feeding) |
3 days |
14 days |
 |
| Deuteronymph (non-feeding) |
13 hours |
26 hours |
 |
| Adult (feeding, mating) |
10 days |
32 days |
|
The protonymph will morph into a deuteronymph
in the time indicated only if it finds a blood
meal soon after it molts. If it does not, it can
survive without a meal for 15-19 days before dying
of starvation.
Since reptile enclosure temperatures fluctuate
from their daytime gradients to their nighttime
gradients, the time between morphing may be prolonged.
Snake mites are rather simple creatures. They
basically travel in a line. If they hit an obstacle,
like a wall, branch, water bowl, or body, they
climb it rather than finding a way around it.
If they are cold, they sense heat and make their
way towards it. When they get too hot, they go
off toward a cooler area. Moist, dark areas are
preferred. If they find a hole leading out of
the enclosure, they just keep walking, either
walking off the edge of the table and falling
to the floor, or walking up or down anything that
comes into contact with the enclosure or the surface
it is resting on: curtains, electrical cords,
etc. With any luck (for you and your reptiles),
it will starve to death before finding another
host. If your cages are close together and there
is lots of handling and opening and closing of
doors and nice ventilation panels, the mites all
too often find their way to another host, enabling
them to do what they are genetically programmed
to do: make more mites.
A gravid female mite leaves her host, making
her way to some dark, warm, moist crevice, pit,
or other imperfection somewhere in or out of the
reptile's enclosure. There she lays her eggs.
The soft-bodied hatchlings remain where they hatch
until they are old enough to molt to the protonymph
stage. So long as the crevice or wherever they
are remains moist, they will not die of dehydration.
After molting to protonymph, the mite remains
in its natal crevice until its exoskeleton firms
up. Once it is hard and dry, the mite will no
longer be in danger of dying of dehydration when
it moves into drier areas. It begins to wander.
If it encounters a host before it starves to death,
it will lodge itself under or between scales where
the skin is most accessible, and begin to feed.
The mite can smell a host and will make its way
towards one. The mite basically keep walking,
heading towards the host-smell, warmth, and dark,
stopping only when a special area on its back
comes into contact with something - like the host's
body.
When the protonymph has had its fill, it drops
off and wanders, in its straight-line way, towards
someplace dark, moist crevice. There is molts
to the deuteronymph stage. The non-feeding deuteronymphs
can be active but they usually remain in the crevice
until ready to complete its last molt into a feeding,
breeding adult.
During the latter part of the protonymph stage,
or when in the deuteronymph stage, the mites pair
off into sexual pairs. Soon after molting into
adults, they will mate, after which they head
off for a post-coital blood meal. Once they have
had their fill, the gravid females head off to
find a dark, moist crevice to lay their 60-80
eggs, while the males wander off to find more
unmated females. After laying, females will continue
to feed, her next 2-3 meals spread out about a
week apart.
Effectively Killing Mites
Mites are a drag, plain and simple. They are
microscopically small in most of their growth
states and are not nearly as easy to deal with
as a flea infestation. With fleas, you can drop
the dog or cat off at the groomer's for a flea
bath, and go to a movie or something while the
flea bomb you set off at home is doing its thing.
A couple of hours later, you are flea-free. (At
least, free until you or your dog or cat brings
in more fleas from outside the home.
Generally speaking, the mite treatment products
available at pet stores are ineffective. There
is no easy way to get rid of mites. It requires
a two-pronged attack: you must aggressively treat
the environment as well as the reptile. You can
treat the environment with toxic pesticides after
removing the reptile to a safe area. While the
environment is being fumigated, you can work on
the reptile using less toxic means. If your reptiles
are free roaming, treating the "environment"
may be an overwhelming proposition but one that
must be undertaken, and undertaken aggressively,
nonetheless.
Attempts to treat the environment with herbal
or homeopathic remedies will not work. Many people
try to avoid the use of toxic chemicals in their
lives (and I am one of them), but when it comes
to ridding an environment of tenacious, hard-shelled
pests who, in concentrations large enough, can
kill your reptile, you must act quickly and aggressively.
Another problem with eradication attempts is
that many people think that simply cleaning and
disinfecting the enclosure/environment will eradicate
the mites. It won't. It will get rid of the loose
feces and may wash away many of the exposed mites.
It will disinfect the bacteria left behind where
the mites were squashed or defecated. It will
likely not kill the nonfeeding morphs, larvae,
and laying females hidden away in deep crevices.
The following methods have proven successful
in ridding an environment and reptile of mites.
Note that, due to the fact that unhatched mite
eggs and mites in nonfeeding states will not be
affected by most of the chemicals that will kill
off the adults, you will have to repeat the treatment
of the environment and reptile at least once,
possibly twice, within a 2-6 week period.
Treating the Reptiles
Remove the reptile from its enclosure. Snakes
should be soaked in a dilute Betadine bath as
described above for lizards. If the snake persists
in climbing out of the tub or is too small to
put in a bathtub, place it in a plastic, lidded
container into which air holes have been punched,
filling it 3/4 full of the Betadine/water solution.
You may wish to bathe the snake in a plain water
bath first to allow it to drink first, adding
the Betadine after it has done so. If the snake
defecates in the water, drain the tub, clean it,
and draw a fresh Betadine bath.
Whether or not the snake's head was under the
water, dab the eyes and heat pits with mineral
oil after removing it from the bath. Check the
groove under the chin as well as under all the
belly scutes and in the vent folds to make sure
there are no mites, dead or alive, lodged in those
areas. If you find mites in these areas, you can
remove them by gently rubbing them from between
the scales and folds with a cotton-tipped swab
dipped in mineral oil.
Treating the Environment
Remove and dispose of all the substrate in
the reptile's enclosure (bag it in a plastic garbage
bag and get it out of the building). Vacuum the
inside of the enclosure thoroughly, especially
in the angles of the walls. If the tank is made
of wood or ungrouted melamine, lightly scrape
the inside angles with the edge of a blunt knife,
then vacuum again. You are trying to get up all
the loose eggs, mites and mite feces (the white
dust in the bottom of the tank).
If you have a glass or Plexiglas® tank, wipe
all surfaces down with hot soapy water. Wooden
enclosures may be sprayed with soapy water. Remove
all soap residue. For good measure, take the time
to thoroughly disinfect glass tanks by swabbing
them down with a 1:30 bleach-water solution (1/2
cup bleach per gallon of water), let the solution
sit for ten minutes, then thoroughly rinse out
the bleach residue. Disinfecting does not kill
the mites; depending on how much disinfecting
solution you apply, it may drown the mites you
missed during the cleaning step. Disinfection
is used to kill potentially harmful organisms
that may be spread around by the mites.
If you have wooden cage furnishings such as branches,
caves, or rocks, bake them in the oven, set at
200-250º F (93-121º C), for 2-3 hours
(depending on thickness, and longer at the lower
temperature); check on them during this time to
make sure they do not start to scorch or burn.
Rocks may be boiled, completely submerged, for
20-30 minutes. If the wood or rock furnishings
are too big to place in the oven or in a pot,
soak them in a bucket, cement mixing tray, or
tub, in a 1:30 solution of bleach and water (use
one half cup bleach for each gallon of water)
for eight hours or so, to thoroughly saturate
into crevices. Rinse thoroughly, spraying fresh
water into all the crevices, until they are well
saturated and flushed free of any bleach residue.
Let dry thoroughly, preferably in the sun, for
at least 24 hours.
Wash all bowls with the bleach-water solution,
rinse well and let air dry.
If you have heating pads inside the tank, unplug
and remove them. Clean with soapy water, rinse
off the soap, then spray them down with the bleach-water.
Let them sit for at least ten minutes, then rinse
clean and set aside. If you have the one of the
self-adhesive reptile heating pads, check under
them as best you can, or get rid of them entirely,
replacing with a people-type heating pad or other
free-standing heating pad or tape. Mites can crawl
into the tiniest of spaces between the stuck-on
pads and the glass, there to await their next
metamorphosis. If it doubt, rip it off, and throw
it out.
Disconnect all light fixtures and wipe them down
with a damp cloth to remove any adventuresome
mites and their feces.
Squeeze a "No-Pest" strip (such as
the difficult to find Vapona® strip) or cat
flea collar out of the inner envelope in which
it was packed onto a piece of foil laid on the
floor of the enclosure. Leave a bit still inside
the packaging so that you can slide it back in
when done. If the enclosure is a large one, you
may need to set out several such strips or collars.
If using a flea collar, stretch it out. You may
need to cut them into pieces to prevent the from
curling up again when you let go of the ends.
Close the tank and seal it up as air-tight as
possible to keep the toxic pesticide fumes inside
the tank where they are needed. Cover large, screened
areas and ventilation panels or holes with waste
paper or plastic, taping it in place. Tape over
the seams and any gaps between the doors and tank.
(Masking tape works well for all of this taping
as it seals tightly but will come off easily and
not leave a tacky residue.) Leave in place for
three hours, longer for large enclosures.
When the time is up, unseal the tank, disposing
of all the paper and tape into a plastic bag for
immediate disposal into the trash. Push the strip
or collar back into its original packaging, place
it in a ziplock-type bag, then store it in a safe
place. Leave the tank open and air it out for
several hours. If possible, open a window in the
room and turn on a fan to help air out the fumes.
A space fan may even be placed inside the tank
or blowing into it to speed the air circulation
in it. The fumes may be undetectable to you but
not to your reptile, so you want them flushed
out of the reptile's environment.
Put new substrate and any new furnishings into
the enclosure. Simple substrates, such as paper
towels, are best used for the next couple of weeks.
This will enable you to easily see if additional
mites have hatched or migrated into the tank from
the surrounding area. Drapes and upholstered furnishings
near heavily infested reptile tanks should be
checked and, if necessary, removed for thorough
cleaning. Replace the water bowl, hide box, into
the tank. Reinstall and turn on the heating and
lighting, warm the tank back up, and place the
reptile back inside.
After the reptile has been treated, it can be
returned to its enclosure.
Alternative Methods and Substances
Heat
High heat may also be used to kill mites in an
enclosure. Glass or other aquaria may be sealed
up and placed in the sun (obviously, the animal
should be housed elsewhere while this is being
done!). Do this on days when the outside temperatures
are in the mid-80s-90s (29-32º C) so that
the temperature inside the enclosure reaches or
exceeds the 131º F (55º C) for the several
hours needed to kill the mites.
Ivermectin (Ivomec®)
While some vets will recommend injecting a reptile
with ivermectin as a way to get rid of mites,
the drug is highly toxic. Even the drug's manufacturer
strongly advises against injecting it into reptiles
for any reason (it is often used as a dewormer
for reptiles). Another way to use this drug, however,
is externally, in a spray made by mixing ivermectin
and water. Ivermectin may be obtained in a vial
or syringe from your veterinarian, or without
a prescription in the bovine or equine section
of feed stores (where it is sold as a cattle and
sheep wormer under the brand name Ivomec). You
will also need a 1 cc syringe and a large bore
needle (which can also be obtained from feed stores
or your veterinarian). Ivermectin is rather thick
and the multi-dose injection bottle in which it
comes is topped by a thick rubber seal. You must
insert the needle through this seal to get it
into the drug itself. Some smaller gauge needles
can get through the seal without bending, but
it will take a very long time to pull up even
the small amount of the drug needed, so use a
larger-bore needle if you can.
Mix 0.5cc (5mg) of injectable ivermectin (it
comes 10mg/cc) per quart of water. Shake or stir
vigorously and use immediately.
Follow the steps above for cleaning out the enclosure.
Instead of using the pest strip or collar, soak
a cloth in the ivermectin-water solution, or pour
the solution into a spray bottle. Thoroughly wipe
down or spray the entire inside of the tank, wiping
down the unplugged heating pads and light fixtures.
While the ivermectin solution is drying in the
enclosure, soak a clean cloth in the solution
and wipe down the reptile or spray it thoroughly
with the ivermectin solution, avoiding the eyes
and open mouth. Use a cotton-tipped swab to carefully
apply the solution around their eyes and nostrils,
taking care not to get any in their eyes. You
can also use an ivermectin solution to moisten
a swab or cloth and work it into r the chin grooves,
under belly scutes, ventral folds, and into dorsal
crests.
Put new substrate and the furnishings into the
tank and replace the reptile. Monitor carefully
for the reappearance of mites, repeating as necessary.
Please note that ivermectin poses a potential
danger to any animal, but most especially to severely
debilitated reptiles, particularly when used systemically
(administered orally or by injection) on such
reptiles. Take extreme care when using it topically.
Ivermectin has been reported in the veterinary
and herpetocultural literature to be fatally toxic
to chelonians and should never be used in or on
them, nor in their environment.
No-Pest Strips
While this product has historically been recommended
to be used in the tank while the reptile is in
residence, an increasing number of reptile keepers
and veterinarians recommend against doing so.
This is due to the often fatal incidents of organophosphate
poisoning from the fumes that outgas from these
strips. Some reptiles may die right away, but
enough may take months to sicken and die, so long
from the event that the exposure to the organophosphate
is not remembered and the reptile is said to have
died "mysteriously" or "for no
reason."
If you are planning to use the more "natural"
pyrethrin products, keep in mind that this plant-derived
pesticide is still highly toxic and some of the
products also contain organophosphates.
NIX
One person reported using NIX (an over-the-counter
preparation for human lice infestations), mixed
50/50 with water, applied to the snake. It was
left on for no more than 10 minutes. The snake
was then rinsed thoroughly to remove all solution
residue. It was reported to have been effective.
Another person reported using NIX full strength
on his two snakes. He left it on for ten minutes
and then put the snakes in their enclosure, into
which a No-Pest strip had been placed. One snake
died within 24 hours, one survived but was weak.
Organophosphate poisoning from No-Pest strips
can, and have repeatedly, caused damage to the
reptilian (and other animals) central nervous
system; many have died. It is not known in this
case whether it was the full strength NIX, the
No-Pest strip, or both in combination that cased
the death of one and subsequent health problems
in the other.
Pet Trade Mite Sprays
Many owners have tried RepRinse and Mite-Off without
success. Provent-A-Mite seems to also have variable
results. Any spray-on-the-reptile product is going
to be worthless unless the environment is treated
as well. Conversely, plain water will wash off
most mites, but not the ones hiding tightly in
crevices around the reptile's body. Sprays won't
get to these mites, either, so you might as well
use something that really is effective at less
cost: plain water, with Betadine mixed in if the
reptile has sustained numerous mite bites.
Dehumidifiers/Desiccants
Placing dehumidifiers in the reptile's enclosure
or in the room have also been tried with varying
success. Caution must be taken when keeping some
reptiles in severely dry environments and the
presence of toxins, including pesticides, in such
dehumidifiers.
Trichlorfan
Trichlorfan, a cattle insecticide, has also been
reported useful (it is apparently fatal to geckos).
A 0.16% solution (8 cc of the standard 8% product
mixed in 24 ounces of water) is sprayed on the
reptile and left to dry thoroughly. The reptile
must be kept without water for twenty-four hours
so that the pesticide doesn't get into the water
that the reptile may then drink. After twenty-four
hours, the reptile is thoroughly rinsed off, then
placed back into its enclosure with a bowl of
water. The tub/shower must be thoroughly rinsed
before it is used by any animal or human.
When Considering the Use of Toxins...
Working with pesticides--internal and external
products alike--always involves some risk. An
animal may be oversensitive to a product or to
a particular component in a product. In a group
of animals being treated, one may suffer while
the others remain unaffected. This could be due
to an extreme sensitivity or an unknown underlying
physiological condition.
Many people have for years used pest strips inside
their reptile enclosures with no apparent ill
effect. It is best, however, to never leave a
pest strip in an enclosure with an animal, nor
even open in the same room with an animal. Reptiles
metabolize substances at different rates than
do mammals and birds. Do not assume that what
is safe for one animal (such as a flea collar
for dogs or cats) is safe for your reptile.
A Note on Treating with Apparently Innocuous
Substances
Use of an oil, such as olive oil, mineral
oil, or baby oil, to completely coat the reptiles
is often recommended. However, a severely debilitated
animal may suffer. Indeed, some owners have reported
their reptiles dying after being liberally coated
with oil.
Other seemingly innocuous substances, such as
Listerine® mouthwash, may also be harmful
if used inappropriately. In a very dilute form
(such as 1 pint of Listerine to a standard sized
bathtub filled 1/3-1/2 with 80-84 F water), Listerine
acts as a mild antiseptic on the mite bites, similar
to the effects of the Betadine. One ball python
owner in England reported to the maker of Listerine
that his snake died after being bathed in a bath
to which Listerine was added. The unknown factors
which may have caused or contributed to this outcome,
however, are still unknown: the snake's state
of health to begin with; how much Listerine was
added; how hot or cold the water was (was the
snake blanched by hot water or did it suffer rapid
hypothermia from cold water immersion?); the residual
effects of the toxic substances used in the enclosure,
or used previously on, or injected into, the snake
itself; etc. Without some idea of the snake's
state of health before it was put into the bath,
how it was treated subsequently, and the actual
conditions of the bath, it is impossible to know
for sure whether the Listerine (or, as in the
above paragraph, the olive or other oils) were
the actual cause of death. It is more likely that
something else was going on or the owner did not
properly dilute the mouthwash.
Betadine is a topical antiseptic safe for use
on snakes and lizards. When properly diluted,
it is safe to use for bathing snakes and soakable
lizards. Used improperly (for example, forcing
a reptile to submerge fully in full strength Betadine
or other iodine product), or using the Betadine
Scrub instead of the Betadine (Betadine antiseptic
has only a fraction of the amount iodine in the
Scrub), or when other factors come into play that
have nothing to do with the safety of the Betadine,
including hypersensitivity to iodine, the reptile
may die.
For that matter, plain water may kill a reptile
if the water is too deep, too cold, too hot, the
animal too weak, or too panicked to find the surface
of the water to break through to breathe.
Finally, while the saying "if some is good,
more is better" may be a perfectly fine dictum
when applied to something like chocolate, it could
cause problems with it comes to using any substance,
toxic or non-toxic, in a manner not specifically
tested for or approved of by the manufacturer.
More is not necessarily better, and less is often
smarter.
Self-treating animals always carries the potential
for harm, even death. If you have any questions
about these or other procedures or products, they
should be discussed with an experienced reptile
veterinarian.
A Note on the use of Organophosphates
Despite growing recommendations against putting
pieces of pest strips and flea collars inside
the reptile enclosures when the reptile is in
there, herp keepers continue to recommend this
method. The reason may be that the conditions,
including death, that result from such exposures
may be subtle enough, or remote enough from the
proximity event itself, that reptile keepers whose
reptiles have been poisoned through the chemical
exposure do not associate the outcome with the
event itself.
Sue Barnard, Lead Keeper in ZooAtlanta's Department
of Herpetology, writes in her book, Reptile Keeper's
Handbook (Krieger Publishing, Malabar FL. 1996),
discusses using this to treat a room, rather than
an individual enclosure, with the reptile itself
relieve of its load of mites by soaking in water.
"[Mites] may migrate up to 15 ft a day (Lawrence,
1983), therefore it is best to treat the entire
area (room) with dichlorvos-impregnated pest strips.
To provide immediate relief to a mite infested
reptile, soak the animal in tepid water to drown
as many mites as possible. Those mites which climb
to the animal's head can be wiped off with a moistened
piece of gauze. Soaking reptiles in water, however,
does not eliminate mites altogether ."
Reptile and exotics veterinarian Douglas L. Mader,
goes into greater detail on the dangers of pest-strips
and other products containing organophosphates
in his chapter, Ascariasis, in his book, Reptile
Medicine & Surgery (ed. D. L. Mader, W.B.
Saunders Company, Philadelphia PA. pp. 341-346):
"There are a number of other mite treatments
that have been reported in both the veterinary
and herpetological literature. The more common
include placing cut pieces of either a dog or
cat flea color or insect pest strips inside or
on top of the affected reptile's cage. The pieces
are left in place for varying lengths of time
(depending on where you read the information).
"The active ingredient in these collars
and strips is dichlorvos (DDVP, Vapona), an organophosphate.
Organophosphates are cholinesterase inhibitors
and have the potential for being very toxic. In
some cases the presence of these strips can cause
the reptile to develop a rapid, progressive paralsysis.
However, what commonly occurs is a chronic, insidious
deterioration of the animal from the prolonged
contact with the poison. This may take months,
resulting in the reptile dying and showing no
outward signs [thus rarely are such deaths associated,
by the owner, with the use of the dichlorvos product].
Even on necropsy there are no obvious lesions
related to the organophosphate.
"Although many herpetologists swear by
this treatment method, the author has seen far
too many deaths resulting from pest strips, and
their use is strongly discouraged.
"There is another important medical note
regarding pest strips that should be mentioned.
Many of these pesticides have been proven to be
teratogenic in mammals. A teratogen is anything
that causes birth defects. Also, there may be
other negetive effects on reproduction and fertility
that have not been studied. To the author's knowledge,
there have been no studies performed to determine
if there are any negative effects on reproduction
and fertility in reptiles.
"DDT (a chlorinated hydrocarbon) and
diazinon 25 E have appeared in past literature
as additional treatments. It is now felt that
both are too toxic and should not be used now
that safer methods are available."
Other signs of organophosphate toxicity include
excessive salivation, ataxia (inability to right
oneself) and muscle tremors. It should be noted
that many of the pyrethrin products, touted as
being "natural" due to their being drived
from chrysanthemums, also contain organophosphates.
"Natural" pesticide products can not
be assumed to be safer or healthier than man-made
chemicals just because they are derived from plants.
References
- Barnard, Sue. 1996. Reptile Keeper's Handbook.
Krieger Publishing, Malabar FL.
- Camin, Joseph H. Observations on the Life
History and Sensory Behavior of the Snake Mite,
Chicago Academy of Sciences, Special Publications
No. 10. Reprinted from Georgia Herpnotes 13(2):6).
- Klingenberg, Roger J. 1993. Understanding
reptile parasites. Advanced Vivarium Systems,
Lakeside CA.
- Mader, Douglas L. (ed.) 1996. Reptile Medicine
and Surgery. Krieger Publishing, Malabar FL
Caresheet by Melissa Kaplan.
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