Provent-a-Mite too much or too little? How do you know?

[DustinS85]

Yeah; I left the water out last night myself, and plan on doing tonight with retreat. I drilled holes in the bin to control humidity. Glad I am not going to have too many issues with breathing it also.

[DustinS85]

Thanks for the help everyone! I would say you answered all my concerns. It wasn't a big infestation IMO. I only saw like 3 mites on my snake. I have seen some horror videos of some people's infestations. I will never buy a snake from my local pet shop anymore though. Only reputable breeders from here on out.

[Sauzo]

Thanks for the help everyone! I would say you answered all my concerns. It wasn't a big infestation IMO. I only saw like 3 mites on my snake. I have seen some horror videos of some people's infestations. I will never buy a snake from my local pet shop anymore though. Only reputable breeders from here on out.

I guarantee there is more. The thing is mites are almost invisible to see really until they are adults who have fed. Then they get the that black/red color because of the blood they fed on. Otherwise they are kind of translucent. Like I said, I would treat for 2 months as the life cycle and eggs are generally a month to month and a half. I talked to Bob at Pro Products and he told me that the eggs can last for months depending on the environment which is why he recommends wiping down the outside of the cages for 6-10 months after you have killed the mites. Much easier imo to just wipe down the outsides once a month to stem any reinfestations than it is to have to put everyone on paper towels and treat them all over again. I got 7 snakes in 2 cage stack, a T10 stack and a T8 stack. I definitely don't want to have to treat everyone so that's why I spray the bases of both my AP cage stacks once a month. I also wipe down any kind of wiring like probe wires, heat tape wires, light wires as that could be a way for them to get in too.

And even breeders can have mite outbreaks. Best advice is quarantine all new snakes in a separate cage in a separate room. I always prep the QT tank by treating it with PAM before the snake arrives. Then put him in there and see if you see any dead mites on the paper towels or in the water bowl.

[DustinS85]

My issue is that I have a 2nd snake and there is only 1 setup I own. I am gonna treat my corn snake as if it had them, even though I have seen no signs on her.

[DustinS85]

On a side note; the pet store said they get Balls in with mites often. Kinda annoyed that they didn't tell me until I found them on my snake 3 weeks later. My Aspen bedding for corn snake...can I bake it in oven? if so; how long and what temp?

[Oxylepy]

Freeze everything for 72 hours that you get from that pet store (obviously not live animals). This should kill the mites and their eggs

[DustinS85]

What if all you have is a standard fridge/freezer with no extra room for bedding? Also, it probably isn't sanitary for my food to be with bedding I assume.

[Oxylepy]

I throw fresh bags of bedding right into my freezer and it's a standard size refrigerator. Just don't keep so much stuff in your freezer XD.

About sanitary: First of all, keep things in the fridge covered in general. Second, don't just put loose substrate in your freezer, doesn't it come in bags when you get it?

As a snake keeper I highly recommend a small freezer on the side to keep frozen rodents in.

[DustinS85]

Yeah, the substrate comes in bags, but the bag is open now. I assume I can throw it in a grocery bag and put it in there. Now as for the extra freezer...yeah, when I can afford it I will.

[Oxylepy]

That works fine for now. And yeah, save up for one and get one. It doesn't need to be big like a deep freeze, just find one that can fit your rodents in and hopefully some substrate. I think mine was like 100 bucks or something.

What I do with mine is keep it in my room, where my snakes are. Good place for ice cream if you aren't squeemish. I take rodents out of it, put them on a plate or plastic tub lid and leave them for like 4-8 hours to thaw, and warm them up with a clamp lamp I keep nearby by clamping it to the little groove on the door of the freezer. Works great because the snakes are always hungry by the time I warm the rodents up with the lamp.

Another perk of the mini freezer being near the snakes is that the freezer generates heat to keep things cold inside. End result is a slightly higher ambient temp in the room