MITES!! Freaking out! What do I do??

[bcr229]

Only use Nix if you can't get PAM. Nix is the same stuff, basically, but not dosed for snakes. You can get a can of pam, and some nix, and figure out how to dilute the nix to the same strength then follow the pam directions for applying the nix. You save money, but you should only do this if you have experience mixing things, and already know how to use Pam. The cost of pam is higher than nix and it is harder to get, but I recommend it over nix, since it is easier to use and has instructions for treating snakes.

David

PAM is 0.5% permethrin according to the label, which is a high concentration. Since it's applied lightly as an aerosol only a little bit of the product is used.

Two ounces of NIX (1% permethrin) mixed in one gallon (128 oz) of water yields a 0.015625% permethrin solution. It's applied using a spray bottle until the paper substrate is wet. So, even though it's a weaker product, enough permethrin gets applied to the paper to do the job.

Permethrin-10 is another option, available at farm & feed stores like Tractor Supply, and usually some sort of concentrated permethrin product is sold for agricultural use outside of the US. It's 10% permethrin so a little bit goes a long way. Diluting 3 milliliters in 2 liters of water is equivalent to the NIX solution, but the problem as Deb pointed out is that it's way too easy to make it too strong.

I've used the No-Pest strips in the past but had read that the insecticide has a high affinity for water and BRB's are particularly susceptible to problems from it, so I just pulled the water bowls for a day while using the strip, then put the bowls back after airing out the room, so my critters wouldn't risk ingesting it. Repeat treatment weekly.