Aspen

Can u get ticks or mites in a new bag of aspen? I mean can they come in the substrate?

I believe it is possible to get mites but I've never heard of ticks coming in with a new bag of substrate. Are you concerned you have mites?

Yes my snake got them somehow but Im not sure how. It was either substrate or from the live mice I buy to feed. Whats the best way to make sure you dont:( get mites from live mice and rats?

But I thought usually the mites that come in with aspen would be wood mites, which are pretty different and dont harm the snake (maybe just annoy it) unless a snake's been in close proximity with it. I'm not sure about mice or dog mites jumping over to a snake and feeding there though it may be possible, both are animals with blood to feed on.

Mites are species specific so they wouldn't have come from the feeders. As for the mites being wood mites, I don't know about that. I know it is possible to get mites from cypress mulch, so I assume Aspen would be the same.

Are you positive you have mites? I was using Aspen at one point and I was pretty sure I had mites, and I treated my tubs for it, but looking back I think it might have just been super dusty Aspen. If you have been around any other snakes then you might have picked up mites from them and brought them back with you.

If you are positive you have mites, order a can of provent-a-mite and follow the instructions. If they came from the Aspen and you want to prevent that in the future you can switch to news paper or paper towels. It doesn't look as nice, but it's easy to clean and you don't have to worry about mites.

I was told that you can always get mites from feeder mice and rats. ?? Is this true? Yes IM sure my snake had mites. Thanks

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Originally Posted by Harleyx2

I was told that you can always get mites from feeder mice and rats. ?? Is this true? Yes IM sure my snake had mites. Thanks

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I'm pretty sure the mites are species specific, that being said, if you got your rodents from a store that sells reptiles they could have possibly come in that way. If you really want to avoid ever potentially getting mites from feeders you could switch to f/t.

I never had a case of mites, but what I would reccomend is u take that aspen out clean the bin with some out out , and spray mite out on ur snake, they sell Mite off. In most pet stores try your local petsmart or petco, I hopee you can get the fixed. Best of luck

Mites can lay eggs anywhere once they leave the enclosure. I've also heard that mite eggs can lay dormant until the right temp and humidity requirements are met, then hatch. So it's possible that the eggs came in attched to the bag or from something you bought a while back. The best thing that I can recommend is Provent-A-Mite. It is highly effective for treating infestations and good to use periodically as a preventative measure. You can order it here:

http://www.pro-products.com/

Yeah I ordered some PAM. I hear its a good product but Im not to happy with customer service so far. I ordered it Monday and they just mailed it out today? I dont understand why it takes so long.

I know this thread is a few days old but I was doing a search on aspen and mites. I start acquiring snakes for my collection about 2-3 months ago. I started out with one that I had for a year and a half. So they are all 'new' and 'quarantined' all together in the same room---I don't have enough rooms in my house to quarantine each snake seperately.

I started out getting snakes and keeping them in tanks. I used ReptiCarpet and never had a problem. My collection grew and I switched to tubs with papertowels. After I got a few more snakes a reputable breeder suggested aspen bedding, that it was easy to clean, cheaper than paper towels, and he sold me a bag. Less than a month later, one of my snakes (who was one of the first of my collection) had mites. They were little black poppyseed or pepper looking bugs crawling all over him. I treated him with Mite Off, and in 24 hours he was clear of them. I have kept him on papertowels and he has been fine for about a week....and tonight I noticed 2 of my spider females now have mites as well.

So that was it, I spent the last 2 hours getting rid of ALL the aspen bedding, bathing ALL the snakes, bleaching ALL the tubs, water bowls, and hides, and getting everyone settled back in. The snakes with mites (the 2 spiders) were treated with Mite Off and I am hoping that takes care of it.

I am convinced it is the bedding. And no, these were not wood mites, they were burried inbetween the scales of the snakes, dark brown or black, gross. Totally freaked me out. I hate fleas on my dogs and cats, I sure as heck don't want mites on my snakes. I am hoping I now don't have a mite problem...but I have been researching tonight and have found MANY MANY people who swear their snakes, who have never had a problem with mites before, got mites after starting to use aspen bedding. So...I dunno....I'm pretty convinced. I am looking into unprinted newspaper tomorrow as Bounty Select-a-Size are going to get expensive wth 3 racks.

Sorry to hear you had this problem, I'm right there with you. :(