Provent a mite

I decided to treat my snakes with PAM after seeing more black bugs in her enclosure. I have no idea how she got them in the first place but it happened so I am getting PAM.

I had some confusion about instructions. I see people saying spray the tub, then put substrate(paper towel for me) over it. Some say spray on substrate. Does this really matter? I mean snakes are in contact with substrate so it makes more sense to spray substrate but some say don’t so I am confused. Also, am I suppose to spray all sides of the tubs?

My second confusion is, not feeding in the enclosure when treated with PAM. I also found different opinions on this so I am confused.. when can I feed in the enclosure after PAM treatment? I know I have to repeat process 2-3 weeks after so does that mean no feeding for months in her own tub?


Thank you all as always


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I use tubs for quarantine, I spray the empty tub (bottom, sides, lid) then let dry for 24 hours (usually 48 hours before I introduce the animal just to be safe but as long as it's dry and doesn't smell you should be fine to put the animal back in). I use paper towel for substrate, a hide and water bowl. That's it. I feed in the cage, haven't had any issues. I usually give new animals a week to settle in before attempting to feed. I only treat the one time and have brought animals into QT with mites and this eradicated them. I've heard it was fine to spray the substrate, I simply just do the tub and it's worked for me. Good luck! mites are such a pain.

I was doing research, and figured I would try out the reptile spray first since it is not a horrible infestation in my opinion. I sprayed her, and soaked for a bit. Cleaned hides and cages with reptile spray and rinsed them. She does not soak in water, however I still see little bugs crawling on the paper towel, not dead. Is it suppose to be like this? I am changing out the paper towel everyday and see couple bugs crawling live. Thought reptile spray was going to kill and I was expecting dead mites on the substrate but they are live!!!! Is this suppose to happen?

Just a heads up that the active ingredient in provent a mite is slightly bad for snakes. It is meant to treat the enclosure itself while you quarantine the actual snake in a tub and use a safe treatment for the snake like natural chemistry reptile spray.

It will take upwards of a month to fully treat and you need to completely clean and disinfect the entire cage and surrounding area with PAM and boil, dishwash, or toss the decor and get rid of existing substrate.

Mites will live for a while hence the long term treatment. Not only do you need to treat mites but the eggs and larval states. Mites are essentially killed through drowning so it will take a while and diligence in keeping things quarantined.

Once again PAM should never be sprayed directly on the snake nor should it be allowed to reside in an enclosure actively sprayed with PAM.

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Originally Posted by SDA

Just a heads up that the active ingredient in provent a mite is slightly bad for snakes. It is meant to treat the enclosure itself while you quarantine the actual snake in a tub and use a safe treatment for the snake like natural chemistry reptile spray.

It will take upwards of a month to fully treat and you need to completely clean and disinfect the entire cage and surrounding area with PAM and boil, dishwash, or toss the decor and get rid of existing substrate.

Mites will live for a while hence the long term treatment. Not only do you need to treat mites but the eggs and larval states. Mites are essentially killed through drowning so it will take a while and diligence in keeping things quarantined.

Once again PAM should never be sprayed directly on the snake nor should it be allowed to reside in an enclosure actively sprayed with PAM.

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Maybe my explanation wasn't clear enough. So I did not buy the PAM yet, but only bought the chemistry reptile spray. I am trying not to use PAM even though people have used it safely. I keep seeing couple mites on paper towel every day, not sure if they are dead or not. I will probably stick to reptile spray for couple weeks and if mites does not go away, I will probably get PAM then, to treat the enclosure and eggs. Good thing that she isn't soaking.

The reptile spray is okay, but compared to other stuff, it's not nearly as effective IMO. I've never actually had a mite outbreak, but I have done preventitive treatment on a snake that had mites on it, and it never spread to my collection. Just follow the label instructions and avoid getting it in the snakes eyes.

Also as a side note once you rinse it off the snake using lukewarm water, I would let my snake soak in a shallow tub of water just to rehydrate. This also will help kill mites as well as they'll drown.