aspen bedding is a disaster!!!!!!!!!!!

I remember another user on here saying that the he used aspen bedding and got mites. I used aspen bedding 4 year ago after 1 month of my first use all my bp got mites, i didnt think it to be from the aspen. so i used paper towel for about 6 months to clear them up and because i got them really cheep I pretty much used them for about 3 years now. but the price on them went up so i switched back to aspen and surly enough 1 month or so later i see my bp soaking but i didnt pay it no mined but after 2 months they were all soaking so now i know there was something wrong so i checked and they had mites again and I have 5 full racks full and each rack holds 25 snakes. so know im pretty much in trouble.. I really think that the bedding has mite eggs in them and as soon as they get moist they hatch. i was mite free for 3 years and 6 months untill a month ago, but just as soon as i started using the aspen they got it again. I have them under control now about $350 later in reptile relief spray and $300 in paper towels they should be fine in about 2 months, but i advise not to use any bedding, use paper towel or unprinted newspaper sheets.

I have never heard of anyone getting reptile mites from their bedding. I hope when you switched to the paper towels that you were treating them with something other wise you were just masking the problem.

Best of luck with that.

First off... where are you getting your Aspen from? I use the Harland brand and have never had a problem. If you are purchasing from a Pet Store that has mites crawling around... there's a very good chance that they infested the bedding before you brought it home. Also, if you are attending expos, or buying rats from an infested store, it could transfer that way. Any animal introduced into your racks that has not been treated is a BIG possibility...Drop the Rep. Relief... Order a can of PAM (Prevent a Mite) or 2... it's going to work 5x better than rep. relief. Just make SURE you follow the instructions w/ the spray... it's some serious stuff, but it works great.

Best of luck eh'!

Its not the bedding, I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago when I had a couple of boas, I purchased the bedding from a pet store, not thinking about them having an ongoing mite problem, and sure enough when I put the new bedding in the enclosure the mites spread to everyone of my boas. Fortunately enough, I was able to cure the problem, get rid of the bedding, buy new bedding from another store and everything was fine. But the mites aren't in the bedding normally, it is coming from where you picked it up I am sure.

sounds like you may be getting wood mites,annoying but generally considered harmless to reptiles.are they dark red or black? are they attaching themselfs to your snakes under the chin,around the eyes or around the vent?

reptile relief is for treating the snake itself not the enclosure,for the enclosure use provent-a-mite as mentioned earlier.read the directions CAREFULLY,it works wonders as directed.

i often read posts where someone gets mites then tries to figure out where to get P-A-M fast.that's like looking to buy a fire extinguser after the fire starts.every collection should have reptile relief and P-A-M sitting on the shelf just in case.hope this helps.

I have gotten bugs from bedding but not snake mites. It is always possible that the petsore or the supplier has a mite problem which came in the bedding.

Eitherway I only use newspaper now and it is cheaper and bug free.

I'd put money on it being from the pet store and not the aspen itself. Well, it came on the aspen, but the aspen was mite free BEFORE it entered the store.

I used aspen for years with no issues.

Try freezing any bags you bring in before using them. I use aspen without any problems at all.

No troubles here with aspen.... However I have been thinking of switching to newspaper just to save money. Aspen for 2 - 40 Gal tanks starts to add up.