I  would guess that, more than any other sector of the pet business, reptiles and amphibians require the retailer to be reasonably conversant with potential health issues regarding their own and their customers’ pets. The reason is simple: herp health issues almost always relate to husbandry mistakes and rarely require an actual medical solution. Add in that relatively few veterinarians are truly knowledgeable with reptile needs and problems, and the onus tends to fall on us, the pet sellers.

For example, I recently had a client come in with a concern. Her snake had not eaten in several months. She had been to a veterinarian who started with a blood panel, went to X-rays, and sonograms, and still could not see anything wrong. Well over $1,000 later, she came in to see me. I asked to see the snake, and she pulled it out of its bag.

“This is a hognose snake, and it’s a male” I said. “It’s January. Hognoses, especially males, never eat in the winter, and are primed for the spring and one thing: breeding. If you have a female as well, put them together in a month or two. If you don’t, be patient and try feeding him at that point anyway. He will probably start eating well in March or April. There’s nothing wrong with your snake.”

The woman was relieved, despite the beating her wallet had taken. She also had learned a lesson as to what to do when she had a problem with her pet. And I had earned her undying loyalty. Which is not to say there aren’t wonderful, capable, and knowledgeable vets out there. There are. My store has been blessed to have worked with a number of them over the years, and there are often times when the right thing to do is to refer a client to one of them. So, first lesson: see if you can find a competent herp vet in your community, and establish a good working relationship with them.

That said, the majority of issues that will come across your door are things that require simple solutions. Adjustments in diet, temperature, lighting, and humidity will often see immediate results.

One of the most common concerns with snakes and lizards is mites. Reptile mites tend to come in two styles: those that prefer lizards but will, in a pinch, parasitize snakes, and those that do the opposite. Lizard mites tend to be bright red (if you get in a shipment of wild-caught anoles, they are obvious and almost unavoidable) and snake mites tend to be dark brown to black. Terrariums will frequently be a host to a third kind of mite that tends to be white to light tan. These are wood mites, and, though they may be crawling all over your pet, are harmless to both herp and human, and of no concern. If the pet owners’ objections are purely aesthetic, simply clean out and wipe down the cage. Oh, they’ll be back, eventually. But, who are you as a shop owner to worry about somebody needing to buy fresh bedding, right? Snake mites (the little black creeps), are to me, the most worrisome of the external parasites. They are hard to eradicate, and spread easily throughout entire collections. You want to keep them out of your store. To that end, I eye customers who come in with their pets pretty carefully as they walk through the door. Any evidence of an infestation, and I politely, but firmly, ask them to step outside. I always follow them out and explain the situation, point out the problem, and discuss strategies and solutions. But first and foremost, I get them away from my own stock. Some people come in specifically because their pet has “bugs.” Once they are safely outside, we talk.

There are solutions, and we always have two of them in stock. One is a spray called Provent-a-mite. It is powerful, and needs to be used according to the instructions on the can, but it is also effective. I am a bit leery of using it directly with small snakes, hatchlings, or snakes with particularly porous skins, but you can dilute it on a cloth and wipe them down with it.

One of the “after effects” of a snake mite infestation is post-shed stuck eye caps on snakes. This tends to happen because the mites congregate in the groove between the eye and the surrounding skin and lodge there. A snake with stuck eye cups can be an indicator of an infestation or the residual telltale mark of a snake who has had a mite attack in its past. Either way, it is prudent that you manually remove the cap and relieve the snake.

The other solution is more of a prophylactic than a cure, and, oddly was never intended for snakes at all. It’s flea and tick powder for cats. We use the traditional Hartz Mountain brand, found in most grocery stores. Generally speaking, you do not apply it directly to the snake, but rather, when initially setting up a cage, sprinkle it lightly under the bedding. If in fact we have an outbreak in our own collection, we also sprinkle it liberally around the cages to prevent the mites from spreading. The little monsters can travel six feet in a day,

I would characterize a mite infestation in your store as a minor disaster. Disaster, because you cannot responsibly sell animals that might be infected, and infestations can last for weeks if not effectively eliminated. Minor, because, given time, care and persistence, you can get rid of them.

Lizard mites, the red ones, are easier to spot and less likely to explode throughout your shop. I have found the most elegant way to deal with them is also the simplest: masking tape! Masking tape is just the right level of stickiness to pull away from all but the most delicate lizard skins with no risk of damage to the animal. Do not use any other kind of tape! Simply dab the mites off once or twice a day. As they are slower to move and slower to reproduce, given a week or so of this treatment, you can effectively eliminate the problem. Unfortunately, if you are treating, say, 100 anoles, this is time-consuming and tiring work. But, with patience, it does work.

I cannot emphasize the importance of keeping your shop clean and as mite-free as you can possibly manage. Many years ago, I was working a herp expo, and across the auditorium was an ex-partner of mine, representing his own store, also there to sell animals. To be honest, he had garnered something of a bad reputation, so much so, that somebody (not me!) had taped a sign to the front of his table saying “Show Special! Snake Mites, 1,000 for $1 -or- free with any purchase!” Funny, but not the kind of reputation you want to follow your professional life.  PB

Owen Maercks has enjoyed being immersed in the world of professional herpetoculture for nearly 40 years. His store, the East Bay Vivarium in Berkeley, Calif., is one of the oldest and largest herptile specialty stores in the U.S.

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