Oohhh.. steaming mad.. mites.

[Ginevive]

I was completely enraged a few nights ago, to the point I was in tears. I came home and noticed that Bela and Gobby were both soaking in their water bowls; definately NOT normal. Well, upon closer inspection I saw some MITES on them. I swear, I had tears in my eyes; usually I am not an emotional person but this just hit me like a ton of bricks.
I had started using aspen roughly 2 weeks ago; it could have been the cause of this. I noticed the bag was opened at the store (actually it is the best herp store in Buffalo in my opinion, not mentioning the name.) I thought nothing of it, and just asked the lady to tape the bag shut. Well that might not have been the cause; come to find out, one of the snakes I was handling at a different store, had mites.. I bet the little suckers got on my sleeve or something.. let me tell you guys, I don't claim to be perfect. But my snakes have the best care available and this just floored me. I want to tell everyone a Thousand times; don't handle snakes from anyplace, period. Look what can happen; I had no idea.
I completely tore down all four of my tanks, bleached the hell out of them, and treated everyone with Preventamite. They are all sitting on fresh clean newspaper; ugly but effective.
I never thought this could happen to me..

[Krynos]

Sounds like you are dealing with it in an effective manner.

It can happen to anyone, as long as it's taken care of everything will be okay.

[monkeywrench133]

I've know a lot of people who have "spontaneously" gotten mites, that's why I treat once a month with PAM, and everybody gets a soak once a week. It can happen to anyone, all it takes is one egg hitching a ride home on your sleeve or in the aspen or on a mouse if you feed live.

[Ginevive]

Wow, good idea there. It can't hurt to spray them once in awhile; that way, I guess if one mite rode in on, say, my shirt, that could be effective in killing it before it breeds!
Any advice on the aspen I got? I still have half a bag left; could I maybe bake it in the oven to kill off anything that might be in it? Or should I just ditch it? I already threw out the stuff that was in their cages.

[monkeywrench133]

I'd put it in the freezer for a week if you've got room, that'll kill anything any eggs that may be in it, or anything else. I would not put it in the oven, too much of a fire hazard. You could probably use it without freezing if you've sprayed the cage with PAM, but if you can take the extra precaution, I would.

[Ginevive]

Cool, so it'll definately kill off any eggs? I have a big freezer (lotta deer hunters in the family, hehe) I could put it in there. I hate to waste it. I think I'll wait till I am sure the cages now are free of the little pests; I plan on recleaning them tonight because I am just that paranoid

[monkeywrench133]

Yep, if you leave it in the freezer for a week, it will kill any eggs that may still be in there. Actually, a lot of the people I know will put the bag in the freezer as soon as they bring it home whether they're using aspen or bark or any other organic substrata.

[Ginevive]

I think I will. My boyfriend is vehemently against me putting it in the oven for some reason; then again, he has nearly burnt the house down cooking, so that shows how much he knows I think I'll stick it in the freezer to be safe.

[monkeywrench133]

I'm with your boyfriend on this one. There's a technical term for aspen shavings in the oven, it's "kindling".