Prevent-O-Mite Substitute

Adam, he said they're already cleared up. He's had his snake on white paper towels for 2 weeks and hasn't seen anything. He was saying that he wants to switch back to cypress but wants to hose down the substrate with PAM to kill anything that might come in it. That's why I was saying maybe he shouldn't use cypress at all and choose something that has less of a chance of mites coming in it.

Jglass, I've had a few friends buy Repti-Bark or cypress mulch and end up with snake mites...the only place they could have come from is the substrate...???

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Originally Posted by JenHarrison

[color=deeppink]Adam, he said they're already cleared up. He's had his snake on white paper towels for 2 weeks and hasn't seen anything. He was saying that he wants to switch back to cypress but wants to hose down the substrate with PAM to kill anything that might come in it. That's why I was saying maybe he shouldn't use cypress at all and choose something that has less of a chance of mites coming in it.

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That's fine ... cypress, aspen, carefresh ... it makes no difference ... snake mites live on "snakes" not bedding ... if they can be in cypress, they can be in anything.

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Originally Posted by JenHarrison

Jglass, I've had a few friends buy Repti-Bark or cypress mulch and end up with snake mites...the only place they could have come from is the substrate...???

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Substrate just doesn't spawn snake mites .... If they are in fact snake mites, they came from a snake (or a store with snakes infested with mites) ... if that's the case, it doesn't matter what kind of substrate he/she uses ... carefresh, cypress, aspen, etc ... if it comes from that store, it will most likely have mites.

The experienced guess would be that the mites probably didn't even come from the bedding ... they were likely transferred as eggs from either feeders, the cage, the snake, a visit to the store, etc .... snake mite eggs can take up to 3 weeks to hatch and another week for the babies to grow large enough to be visible to the naked eye ... it's most likely that the first time the OP "saw" the mites was on the bedding which led him/her to the conclusion that they came from the bedding.

-adam

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Originally Posted by JenHarrison

Jglass, I've had a few friends buy Repti-Bark or cypress mulch and end up with snake mites...the only place they could have come from is the substrate...???

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Impossible...

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

That's fine ... cypress, aspen, carefresh ... it makes no difference ... snake mites live on "snakes" not bedding ... if they can be in cypress, they can be in anything.



Substrate just doesn't spawn snake mites .... If they are in fact snake mites, they came from a snake (or a store with snakes infested with mites) ... if that's the case, it doesn't matter what kind of substrate he/she uses ... carefresh, cypress, aspen, etc ... if it comes from that store, it will most likely have mites.

The experienced guess would be that the mites probably didn't even come from the bedding ... they were likely transferred as eggs from either feeders, the cage, the snake, a visit to the store, etc .... snake mite eggs can take up to 3 weeks to hatch and another week for the babies to grow large enough to be visible to the naked eye ... it's most likely that the first time the OP "saw" the mites was on the bedding which led him/her to the conclusion that they came from the bedding.

-adam

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Gotcha. Can they be carried in on people?

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Originally Posted by JenHarrison

Gotcha. Can they be carried in on people?

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They can definitely hitchhike but as far as I am aware (as with other parasites) need a host to survive. Humans can't be that host so they wouldn't survive long.

We used to get mites at the pet store every now and then, I'd practically strip down in my backyard and immediately drop my clothes in the wash. Great mental image huh?!

Those little sons of snitches can get anywhere...tubs, clothes, snake bags, anything. I'm not even trying to risk it.

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Originally Posted by elevatethis

I'd practically strip down in my backyard and immediately drop my clothes in the wash. Great mental image huh?!
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Umm...No?

I just felt like the thread had gone far enough and needed to be retired to the gutter we always send it to. Just doing my part!!! :)