Wood chips or news paper??

[Frea]

From where I bought Pi, all the snakes' terraniums had wood chips in them, so I figured I'd do the same. (Wood chips, not shavings, mind.) The wood chips have been satisfactory, though I do see a few mites from time to time. However, I've been giving Pi regular paths, and that always gets her clean of the mites. Even so, I don't like having mites in the tank, because I've heard from a few seperate and reliable sources that those mites could potentially bite and infect humans with some strange disease from the snake.
I'm told I should get rid of the wood shavings and use newspaper to line the bottom of Pi's tank, but would it be less comfortable for her? Would it be less efficient at soaking up urine or something? Less natural, or whatever? I don't mind making the change to newspaper; I just want to know whether it's better than the wood chips.

Thnx.

[JLC]

Simply changing substrates isn't going to get rid of the mites, unfortunately. You need to completely clean and disinfect the cage and the snake. I don't know how easy it would be to get this stuff in Thailand, but something like this:

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

will get rid of those mites for you. Just please, please be sure to follow instructions very closely with this or whatever product you use. Make sure it will not be harmful to your snake.

All that being said, I've never heard of a disease being passed along to humans from snake mites. And lots and lots of people use newspaper because it's very easy and inexpensive to maintain. Also, you will be able to see on the paper just how bad your mite problem really is. They are virtually invisible in the wood.

[Lobo_Reptiles]

I would suggest against using the wood chips if they have mites. I think the exposure of external parasites can lead to internal parasites. Plus, it isn't really fair to have Pi suffering from mites every now and then. And plus baths won't get rid of mite eggs still in the enclosure. Your best bet is do what JLC said and disinfect the tank. You can use a water/bleach solution but be sure to rinse very thoroughly. Vaccum out the corners of the enclosure to make sure any mite eggs are gone.

If you're having this many problems with these wood shavings, I'd go to newspaper until you can find some reliable ones. Aspen works well, and if you get it from a pet store made especially for reptiles than mites shouldn't be a problem as long as you disinfect the tank and Pi. Also trying adding some Betadine to Pi's baths to make a coffee color water. This will heal any mite bites and kill them off as well. Get around the heat pits and eye sockets well with a q-tip.

Good luck!

[Adam_Wysocki]

There is a big difference between little critters that are mixed in with some types of fibrous bedding and snake mites.

Little critters = annoying, but harmless

Snake mites = eat your snake and drink it's blood.

Big difference.

-adam