hey guys, i have done a forum search, and haven't quite found the information i am looking for.

last night i took out our het. pied female, and i saw a BUG on her! a teeeeeeeeeeny tiiiiiiiiiiiny white bug! and of course i started freaking out, since they had just come out of quarantine, and the whole collection is now together, in a plywood rack. AHHHHHHHHH freakin' out! no idea if i can get Provent-A-Mite here in canada, haven't looked into it yet cause i haven't confirmed if it's mites or not. i really only saw 1 or 2 bugs on her, but none on any of the other snakes.

so i checked the water dishes, and sure enough in about half of the snakes, there were black spots floating at the bottom of the dishes. however i am not sure weather or not it's dirt; we hadn't washed and replaced everyone's water in almost a week. i didn't even bother checking the brazilian rainbow boas, because they're kept in what looks like dirt anyways, so i wouldn't be able to tell weather it's mites or dirt.

what we did before bed last night was empty out all the water, and throw the dishes in the dishwasher. this morning i replaced everyones water, and i'm going to wait a day or two and check again for black spots and also try and find a magnifying glass.

the only thing that leads me to believe it's not mites, is that the bug was white, and i didn't find any on any other snakes, not even in the typical under-chin skin folds. i have read that mites are black, or red.

also about a year ago i saw a white bug on an ornament in my snow corns cage, but that was it, the only bug that i saw.

could the bug just simply be some sort of bug that came from the plywood? it's a new rack that we just built a little while ago, and the wood was obviously sitting in a warehouse at Home Depot, and then sat out some more at my boyfriends grandparents garage after we had cut the plywood.

sorry for the long-winded post, BUT what i'm really wondering overall, is WHERE DO MITES COME FROM!?!?!?

we had them all in quarantine, and inspected all of them whenever they were handled. do they just immaculately concept in snake collections or WHAT! i had a work friend come in and tell me that Repti-Bark that has been misted seems to attract tarantula mites. but...where do they "attract" from?

and also, what harm do they cause to the snakes? is it like fleas in dogs? can they wipe out a whole collection? are they really as hard to get rid of as a flea infestation?

is this due to poor husbandry? i certainly hope not, as i am SOOOO diligent about EVERYTHING.

i know, i know, "it happens to everyone" but this is really gonna suck if it happens to be mites.

does anyone have pictures of mite eggs in water dishes? or a snake that is infested with mites?

any info would be so greatly appreciated, thanks!