Mites :(

[Bogertophis]

If there has been reports of sudden death it makes me wonder if instructions were not followed properly? Out of curiosity do you have any links to these incidents we could look at to better access the situation?

Your hunch on that may be correct, or mostly so. While I'm very hesitant to use any sort of pesticide for any purpose, I will say that I remember reading an account or 2 on another forum about the supposed side-effects of using PAM (Provent A Mite), but in each case, the owner had NOT followed the instructions to the letter, & had returned their snake to a slightly damp cage, whereupon the snake suffered neurological issues & nearly died. So any time the subject of mites comes up, I generally repeat the forum-accepted solutions to use PAM (along with soapy water, etc), but I always say to follow directions very carefully & that it's only for the cage, not to be used on the animal. I suspect that not everyone reads all the instructions though? I also don't doubt that some animals really ARE more susceptible to injury by PAM though. I would think that some species may be more inclined to be harmed, or maybe just the smaller, younger individuals?