Little bugs on BP

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Unless they purchased from a store that had a mite infestation.

That's the only time I've heard of bedding coming with mites, when it was later realized that the pet store had a mite problem.

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Even then, it seems pretty unlikely. Mites in a sealed plastic bag of Aspen, far away from the reptile hosts that they rely on to live. I have seen small white bugs (aphids) in multiple types of substrate including reptibark, aspen and cypress mulch. The cypress mulch was purchased at Home Depot by the way. I am not saying they weren't mites, they very well could have beeen. I am just curious if they were white bugs or black or red bugs.

Pretty sure they came in on the aspen, and were defo snake mites The bag was bought from a specialist reptile store, and they had a mite problem themselves when i went in the next week. Mites appeared 5 days or so after adding the new batch of aspen.Only had the snakes in my house for 2weeks, as i was looking after them for a friend, so never had any other pets/reptiles in the house for years, so the only logical source is the aspen, i guess??? Had them on newspaper since with no return of mites

regards Scott

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Originally Posted by scotty99

Pretty sure they came in on the aspen, and were defo snake mites The bag was bought from a specialist reptile store, and they had a mite problem themselves when i went in the next week. Mites appeared 5 days or so after adding the new batch of aspen.Only had the snakes in my house for 2weeks, as i was looking after them for a friend, so never had any other pets/reptiles in the house for years, so the only logical source is the aspen, i guess??? Had them on newspaper since with no return of mites

regards Scott

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Glad you got them taken care of! Best bet with Aspen is to get it in sealed bags from a feed store or a quality pet store. You could also pretreat it with mite spray but if you have to go through that much, you are probably better off using newspaper.

I have purchsed cypress in the past and it had so many bugs it was practically moving:O

I boiled it and it was a pain.

Aspen from an infested reptile place could have gotten on the bedding you bought or possibly even you(they can hitch a ride) but many beddings come with wood mites and critters that are probably not a threat to your snake but who wants them running around your house.

I am strictly newspaper now, much less mess IMO

Yes I did buy aspen, and now I think that it did come from the aspen. Im using paper towels and newspaper and I washed the snake twice and used mite-off. Everything looks good so far, and my snake ate a live mouse today. So I hope thats the reason. Any good ideas on substrate that wont have mites and is easy to clean?

Cheers Jglass, yeah if i decide to go back to aspen i will buy from a different source that doesn't have livestock, hopefully reduce the chances of mites hitching a lift to some fresh snake victims to munch on!!:D

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Originally Posted by PythonBlitz

Any good ideas on substrate that wont have mites and is easy to clean?

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Plain white paper towels... Or newspaper... :gj: