Mites keep coming back!!

:rage::mad::rage::mad:
As title said, I have some mites problem. I treated my entire collection with reptile spray and PAM last week, and mites just come back in a few days! Not sure why the mites are gone for a couple of months and come back again, then gone and come back!! This is quite annoying.


Any advice and suggestions??

what are you doing with your tanks/tubs and the various things in them? Hides, plants, bedding, branches, ect...?

I don't want to sound like I think you're an idiot - because I don't, just want to cover the bases. By PAM do you mean Provent-a-mite, or PAM the actual cooking spray? Only asking because I have heard of people using cooking spray on more than one occasion.

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Originally Posted by Tragic Image

what are you doing with your tanks/tubs and the various things in them? Hides, plants, bedding, branches, ect...?

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I'm using a xpvc rack and a large melamine enclosure. Substrate for the rack is aspen. One plastic hide for each tube and a ceramic water bowl. For the large enclosure, substrate is repti bark. There is one branch, one water bowl, some fake plastic leaves and 2 hides. Pretty simple and nothing fancy. And no live plants in either one of them.

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Originally Posted by SquamishSerpents

I don't want to sound like I think you're an idiot - because I don't, just want to cover the bases. By PAM do you mean Provent-a-mite, or PAM the actual cooking spray? Only asking because I have heard of people using cooking spray on more than one occasion.

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I use provent-a-mite, not the oil spray PAM:D:D. That will be pretty funny though.

You need to thoroughly spray till the sides fog up then cover the top for half an hour. I also like to give the outside area a spray as well just to be safe. If they keep comming back its because you are not being thorough enough. If you have more than one reptile, treat them all and make sure to do it once a week for 2-3 weeks as instructed because of the life cycle of mites. LLL reptile has a good video and directional use on their site, it should pop up if you just type prevent o mite in google. Edit- also are you positive its takes several months? It's more likely thays when there's enough of them to spot, they are very small when they first hatch and when they feed they molt and get bigger. It can take 19 days for them to starve and find the way to the snake before then if im not mistaken

Don't forget to treat the racks themselves. Not just the tubs.
And wash all bowls and hides with hot water and bleach.

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Treat the room, as well.
Is there carpet in there?
Are you visiting or having someone visit you that has a collection that has mites?

Since no one mention it, I would recommend dumping any bedding you have and putting everything on paper towels until you get this taken care of. I have had a bag of litter be the source for this issue in the past. And yes, treat the racks themselves, and I would do the walls and floors at least once. Keep the cages clean and retreat everything once a week for 3 weeks, maybe 4.

Agreed on dumping the substrate currently in the tubs and going with newspaper or paper towels for a few weeks. Any time your snake makes a mess and you have to replace the paper, pre-treat the paper with PAM and allow it to dry as well. Keep some treated sheets on-hand.

If you're in a cold region you can put the bags of unused bedding outside overnight to kill the mite eggs, in case that's the source. I run bowls/hides through the dishwasher on the "sterilize" setting.

You can also treat the animals every 2-3 days with the reptile spray. I spray some on a white paper towel and then wipe them down, as my snakes hate being sprayed. Also if the mites start to come back you will know immediately because you'll see them on the paper towel.

It's not that they keep coming back, but that they have never really left!

Have you ever in your life had a run-in with lice? Terrible awful things. If you have, imagine mites like that. Especially if you have a large collection of reptiles.
You've got to clean about every surface and material in your home and car, including washing all things like clothing (alllllll of it in your home - self and other's), curtains, carpets, furniture, chairs, etc. Throw out substrate (even packaged stuff - or else quarentine it in a large plastic bag for several weeks. Several weeks because I'm sure mites can live for awhile without eating, and then their eggs hatch, and they have to die off as well... just to be absolutely sure), and buy new stuff once you are 100% sure the mites are completely gone.

Best of luck with everything!

I have read that the repti bark sometimes isn't sterile and has mites in it and eggs, a local breeder told me the same and he said he either threats his bedding when he gets it or he bakes it in the oven for a few minutes to kill all mites, aspen is prone to mites also he said so he said he would never recommend it.

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Originally Posted by ZacharyPoller

I have read that the repti bark sometimes isn't sterile and has mites in it and eggs, a local breeder told me the same and he said he either threats his bedding when he gets it or he bakes it in the oven for a few minutes to kill all mites, aspen is prone to mites also he said so he said he would never recommend it.

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I had someone at a pet store say that about snake aspen... to be honest, I had never heard of that before. I have heard of wood lice coming in sometimes (but obviously not the same thing and harmless to snakes) but not mites. Very strange.
I personally buy small animal aspen instead of the expensive snake aspen (used to have guinea pigs for 7 years, never found any mites in their substrate either). Although I did have to buy a bag of the snake stuff because that's all the store I visited recently had... so if I get mites, I'll know where from and you'll see my foot in my mouth ;)

ok thanks a lot! many great advices! i will treat the whole room and the whole collection. Did not know that I have to treat the racks as well. For the substrate, i use harlan aspen. Just wanted to know if anyone is using it and have no problem with mites?

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Originally Posted by NH93

I had someone at a pet store say that about snake aspen... to be honest, I had never heard of that before.

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The pet shops usually stock the substrates for reptiles only a few feet from the reptile enclosures, and from a retail standpoint it makes sense to keep all the reptile "stuff" in the same location for shoppers. So, it's logical to assume that if the shop has mites - and unfortunately most do because of high turnover - then the mites have travelled to the bags of substrate to lay their eggs.

We just found mites again this past weekend. The last snake to come in was an albino boa back in September and he was obviously clean, and in fact he was still clean last weekend, the one with mites I've had for over a year! I needed a bag of cypress in a pinch a few weeks ago before I got a bulk order in, so I went to a big box store, and came home with a hitchhiker. :mad:

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Originally Posted by bcr229

The pet shops usually stock the substrates for reptiles only a few feet from the reptile enclosures, and from a retail standpoint it makes sense to keep all the reptile "stuff" in the same location for shoppers. So, it's logical to assume that if the shop has mites - and unfortunately most do because of high turnover - then the mites have travelled to the bags of substrate to lay their eggs.

We just found mites again this past weekend. The last snake to come in was an albino boa back in September and he was obviously clean, and in fact he was still clean last weekend, the one with mites I've had for over a year! I needed a bag of cypress in a pinch a few weeks ago before I got a bulk order in, so I went to a big box store, and came home with a hitchhiker. :mad:

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That really stinks! I thought that because cyprus mulch is wetter it would help keep any traveling mites at bay (again, what the same person at that one pet store told me).
The store I go to doesn't keep their substrate near their reptiles... but it's a Big Al's store (if you have them/have heard of them), so the whole place is reptiles/amphibians/fish, so I wouldn't doubt that at some point - maybe in the back room - they had the bags next to the animals. Good point!

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Originally Posted by NH93

That really stinks! I thought that because cyprus mulch is wetter it would help keep any traveling mites at bay (again, what the same person at that one pet store told me).
The store I go to doesn't keep their substrate near their reptiles... but it's a Big Al's store (if you have them/have heard of them), so the whole place is reptiles/amphibians/fish, so I wouldn't doubt that at some point - maybe in the back room - they had the bags next to the animals. Good point!

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http://vpi.com/publications/the_life...of_snake_mites

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Originally Posted by NH93

I had someone at a pet store say that about snake aspen... to be honest, I had never heard of that before. I have heard of wood lice coming in sometimes (but obviously not the same thing and harmless to snakes) but not mites. Very strange.
I personally buy small animal aspen instead of the expensive snake aspen (used to have guinea pigs for 7 years, never found any mites in their substrate either). Although I did have to buy a bag of the snake stuff because that's all the store I visited recently had... so if I get mites, I'll know where from and you'll see my foot in my mouth ;)

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I havent gotten mites yet knock on wood i didn't follow his warming i use aspen also … I am going to switch it to something else tho this weekend because i finished my big bag

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Originally Posted by j94712

ok thanks a lot! many great advices! i will treat the whole room and the whole collection. Did not know that I have to treat the racks as well. For the substrate, i use harlan aspen. Just wanted to know if anyone is using it and have no problem with mites?

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Yes, do the racks. The mites can crawl out of the tubs and nest along the rack walls and shelves, which is probably why they keep coming back.

I use Harlan Aspen, haven't had any issue with mites. But I also pre-treat all new animals in quarantine for mites regardless if they have them or not.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Yes, do the racks. The mites can crawl out of the tubs and nest along the rack walls and shelves, which is probably why they keep coming back.

I use Harlan Aspen, haven't had any issue with mites. But I also pre-treat all new animals in quarantine for mites regardless if they have them or not.

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Do you also pretreat the aspen before you use it???
When i get new animals, i also spray them down with reptile spray to make sure they carry no mites.

I use paper towel as substrate, and I don't go to pet stores. This eliminates those issues, lol.

But yes, aspen can definitely carry mites. As long as you treat EVERYTHING and are diligent about it, you should be able to defeat them!

Mites are annoying! We had an outbreak once. I believe you shoukd dump all bedding go to papertowels. I also suggest not using provent a mite. Never worked for us and for $20 a can its worthless. We actually used permethrin 10. You can buy it at your local tractor supply company. The mixture you want to do is 3/4 ounce of permethrin 10 to 1 gallon of water. We spray EVERYTHING in the snake room. We spray every inch of wood racks (covering up heat tape first) then the entire floor gets sprayed down. Good thing about permethrin is you can spray it all inside the snake tub, you can spray it all over the snake not the eyes though. Its completly safe and we spray once a month. Also take the water bowl out and leave it out for 24 hours that way the snake doesnt soak in it and then later drink it. Hope this helps.

http://denardo.lab.asu.edu/publicati...snakemites.pdf

This article explains in great detail why mites "keep coming back" a month or so after you think they're gone. As was noted - it's because they never left!