Wood Mites

[captainjack0000]

I found some wood mites today under a water bowl. I'm 99% sure they're wood mites. Small, tan or white, crawling around near water. I use Reptibark fir chips too, so it stands to reason there might be some wood mites in there. But, not a single mite on any of my snakes. I only found at most 5 and of course they got washed down the drain.

Would a good thorough cleaning and change of the substrate be enough or should I find a good anti-mite chemical like PAM, or maybe even something less powerful? I feel like I should use a weapon commensurate with the prey. No need in using a machete when a pocket knife will work.

[The Serpent Merchant]

I would change out the substrate and clean everything really well and order PAM... if the issue persists it's best to just drop the PAM bomb and end it quick.

[RichsBallPythons]

Their harmless to reptiles and warm blooded animals as well.

Have to start fresh with new bedding from a different store. You can spray if wanting but no need once you clean it all out and get fresh bedding.

[Maixx]

One thing I did when I used bark was to rinse it with boiling water, it would get all the dust and fine particles off plus kill anything living in the bark.

[captainjack0000]

I did a complete cage reset. Anything I thought could survive a dishwasher (no dish soap though) I ran through. The booster heater in there should bump the temp to at least 160 F Hopefully that killed any wood mites and/or their eggs.

Most other things were plastic and fabric (fake plants) and I suspect those are not wood mite suitable. But I really don't know.

I also did a complete substrate change for every tank.

We'll see what happens.

[kitedemon]

Wood mites cannot survive for long on plastic. They need wood so if you kill the mites and eggs on the wood any that may still be on plastic plants or enclosure with out wood.

[captainjack0000]

They need wood so if you kill the mites and eggs on the wood any that may still be on plastic plants or enclosure with out wood.

What?

The mite eggs on plastic will die anyway, or I need to washt he plastic plants before putting them back into the tank?

[kitedemon]

I would wash them off but it is very difficult to kill all the eggs unless you can submerge the plant it close to boiling water. If you use a repti carpet or something of that nature temporally. With no food source and any that did survive will die.

[captainjack0000]

I have nothing but explatives for wood mites :cens0r:

I know they're harmless to me and my pet, but they're still nasty little bugs that have no business being in my house anywhere.

I thought a complete tank reset with new substrate and washed cage furniture would be enough. But NO!

So today I took everything back out of the tanks (except one - he's in shed and I have only found 1 mite in his enclosure so far) and anything wood got baked in the oven at 300F for 15-25 minutes. Everything else took a bath in bleach water and then was thoroughly rinsed. Even the guy in shed had some cage furniture baked and/or bleached. I'm just not gonna mess with him and stress him out by removing all of his substrate.

I feel like calling in a fogger of agent orange on these :cens0r:

I'm hoping that any eggs that remained are spoiled, any mites that are left will die, and that I never have this issue again.

This has been a bigger pain in the hiney than years back when one of my corns got snake mites!

[kitedemon]

They are pervasive little buggers. I used to build boats for a living and we had a bunch of wood filler dust (epoxy additive) come in with wood mites they got everywhere. We ended up spraying insecticide everywhere. Sadly with snakes that isn't an option. I hope you can get rid of them. I never buy wood products (mulch ect.) from garden places. I have seen far too many wood mites and aphids in and on it. I personally use compressed coco coir that so far is free of extra stuff but the odd stone and seed.