I'm sorry, I don't know what QT racks are.Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl
The best way to deal with mites is proactively not reactively. If you proactively treat against mites on a month to month basis you will kill the life cycle of the mite.
I went to a seminar 25 years ago specifically about reptile mites given by Dave Barker who along with his wife Tracy have masters degrees in herpetology and are the owners of the world renowned VPI Reptiles, is an author of many reptile related journals and who has also written several books on snakes mainly boids (pythons and boas). The one thing that he kept repeating during the seminar was that there was nothing we could do as far as husbandry to prevent getting mites and there was nothing on the market at the time that would kill the mite eggs other than Provent-O-Mite and Black Night (another product that used to be on the market). After he told us about the nymph stage he mentioned that unless we were proactively treating our collection with Provent-O-Mite it would only be a matter of time before we would find mites on our snakes. He also told us that correct husbandry was no defense against them. The one thing that he kept repeating was that if nymphs are floating around in the air then mites are a constant threat. During that seminar he mentioned that mites are in the arachnid family and conveyed to us that if we ever saw spiders or any other insect any where near our collection that we probably had mites.
What most people don't realize is that mites are what's called an intermediate host for other internal parasites like whip worms and hook worms which can eventually kill our snakes.
I'm a snake hunter, I go out into the field at least once a week and catch and release wild snakes, you may have seen some of my videos on YouTube where I'm holding the snakes I've caught. I do about 300 educational reptile presentations per year in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the last 8 years I've had over 50,000 people touch and handle my snakes. I can't think of anyone that puts their reptiles at more risk of getting mites than I do and at the end of the day my collection is mite free, why is that? I don't know what else to say other than in my opinion and Dave Barker's opinion if your not using Provent-O-Mite as a preventative proactive solution then you're eventually going to have mites. You're assuming that because the reptiles at work have mites that is the reason you have mites, I'm not so sure. My guess is that you've had mites for a awhile and you just didn't know it. In my opinion using Pam, sweeping floors, cleaning cages or using any other technique or product is only putting a band aid on the issue.
So if you or anyone else that is reading this wants help with this issue just call me at 408-981-6694.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Brian Gundy
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