Preventing mites, "old school" method?

So while on vacation down in Florida, I got to meet a few different breeders. One guy kept baby food jars with holes poked in the lids in each tub. I asked him about it and he had told me something along the lines....

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Well, back in the old days of snake collecting, we had a lot of WC snakes which would often carry mites. The jar has a little piece of flea collar in it. The snakes can't get to it so it doesn't bother them and if any mites go into it, they die.

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He went on to say that it's a great method of preventing mites from taking over and now that everything that comes into his collection is CH, he probably doesn't need to do it anymore.

I don't think I have ever read this in any FAQ. Does anyone here do this, or is it something that has died over the years?

ive never herd of it being put in a jar but i have spoke to a local vet who use to use flea powder or a small piece of the flea collar

I have heard of people with glass enclosures putting flea collars on top of the screen and covering it with newspaper...no idea if it works or not...and as long as them make PAM I wont!! :)

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Originally Posted by FatBoy

I have heard of people with glass enclosures putting flea collars on top of the screen and covering it with newspaper...no idea if it works or not...and as long as them make PAM I wont!! :)

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I have also heard of people using "No-Pest"strips on top of glass enclosures. I will also stick with Provent-A-Mite...

Thanks for the info guys. It wasn't something I read, so I wanted to get some more info.

This is interesting! I have heard of people throwing a flea band for dogs in their snake tubs.

Some of our first snakes were infested with mites from the stores we bought them from (this was like 10+ years ago) and we tried everything to get rid of them. For some reason PAM wasn't available at any store near us (come to think of it I'm not even sure it was available period). We ended up using one inch pieces of cat flea collars enclosed in deli cups (with holes to allow the chemical to escape) and placed in the cages. The deli cup was to keep the collar piece from coming into contact with the animal. I was also told to use the no-pest-strips found in local hardware store but could never find it. Using the flea collar and cleaning the cages every 3 days with 1:10 bleach/water mixture eventually killed off all the mites. Plus, we soaked each snake in a betadine/water mixture to help ease the irritation from the mites (it also helped kill adults on the snake by drowning them) once a week.

I wouldn't suggest that method now however because Prevent-a-Mite is so much easier, more affordable and less stressful on the animal. :gj:

This method works well to control mites and fleas around the entire house...my family has done this for years, hiding pieces of flea collar in each room. We barely even get spiders anymore :D

PAM for the specific problem/specific cure win, though. One of my snakes came home with a couple mites, and a week or two of treatment worked that right out; never even thought about using a flea collar, though.

Its same as the No Pest Strips sold at stores. They kill insects very well

http://www.growkind.com/gallery/data...m/IMG_2982.JPG

Ive got few around house for killing insects during summer months and it kills large amount

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Originally Posted by BallsUnlimited

ive never herd of it being put in a jar but i have spoke to a local vet who use to use flea powder or a small piece of the flea collar

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I just noticed the flea powder comment and it reminded me of this thread from a while back in which that recommendation sparked a highly spirited debate...

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ht=flea+powder