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

[Sauzo]

Yes you can bake it. I think anything over like 135F will kill mites and eggs. Just throw the stuff on a cookie sheet and bake it for 150F for 5 mins. Watch it though so you don't start a fire.

[Oxylepy]

This is why I don't usually suggest baking things, while freezing is nice and passive, it just takes time. With Eco Earth I add it to boiling water (which will kill everything, but you don't want to leave the burner on when you add the eco earth). Fine aspen shavings in an oven, even at a low temp, seems like asking for trouble.

And I dunno about 5 minutes. To successfully kill everything in it you would need all parts of the substrate to be 135 at least. So it may likely take longer at 150. Just don't go close to the burning point of the bedding.

With freezing it, while it takes a while, it also kills anything in the bag, saving you from mites still being in or on the bag by the time you give the bedding to the reptiles.

[Sauzo]

Well to be honest, I've never gotten mites from any substrate ever in over 10 years. Mites aren't going to want to lay eggs in a dry substrate especially if they have access to a nice warm, humid, dark cage with an easy supply of food. For them to be running around on bags of substrate, the place would need to be crawling with mites from head to toe and in that case, I would be more worried about bringing home a hitchhiker on your shoes or pants. Its the same as getting mites from feeders. I mean the chance is there but again, being mammals aren't their food source and again, comparing environments, the chances are pretty slim unless the mites are literally crawling on the walls lol. And for those types of pet shops, I avoid them.

Now the OP said the pet shop guy said they regularly get BPs with mites on them, that is a huge red flag and I would avoid that pet shop like the plague. Just going in there and looking around would put you at risk of bringing home an unwanted hitchhiker. That is the main reason I avoid most pet shops and all shows. I'm OCD about that stuff and I still managed to somehow get mites on my dumeril's. I think it was from a hitchhiker from when I did go to a reptile shop. Luckily none of my other snakes got them being in the same room but again, I wipe down the outside of all my cage stacks once a month with PAM. The dumeril's was in a glass tank waiting for her cage and I believe I forgot to wipe it back down after I washed her cage all out for a cleaning. Regardless though, I moved her to a separate room in the house and have been treating her for 2 months with PAM now. Only found a couple mites on her at the beginning and didn't find a single one in the cage after I threw out all the stuff and washed the cage out with soap and started PAM treatments. Was so weird. Figured after starting treatment I'd find at least 1 dead one on the paper or in the water bowl but nope, just the 2 or 3 in the water and 1 live on her at the very beginning.

And so far, been 2 months and not a single mite found and she had a good clean shed.

Bottom line is if you keep reptiles long enough, you will eventually have to deal with mites. They are a pain but not the end of the world.

[Oxylepy]

Pet food gave me grain mites. They're sooo hard to kill, especially when they infest your bug room. Hence my original statement of handling EVERYTHING within the room. Kill them super dead.

[DustinS85]

Now the OP said the pet shop guy said they regularly get BPs with mites on them, that is a huge red flag and I would avoid that pet shop like the plague. Just going in there and looking around would put you at risk of bringing home an unwanted hitchhiker.

Way ahead of you on that one! My issue is that I gotta figure out where to get my frozen rodents....sigh.....Any good online ideas?

[Sauzo]

Way ahead of you on that one! My issue is that I gotta figure out where to get my frozen rodents....sigh.....Any good online ideas?

Unless you are ordering in bulk or got a few buddies to all throw in together, the shipping makes ordering just a few not worth it. Perfect Prey and Big Cheese Rodents are the two best that come to mind. I would say Layne Labs too but recently I've heard their packaging quality has gone downhill but I cant actually verify that. You can also look your local herp club or local reptile club on FB. I know a few guys in my area who breed rats and do weekly meets at places to fill orders for people in the area. Saves a ton on shipping and as long as you are getting it from a quality guy, they should be fine.

[DustinS85]

Well, it's been almost a week since treatment, and the snakes haven't went in their water also I haven't seen a single mite on their bodies since. I am remaining vigilant, and going to continue treatment for months (because I have to with those devil bugs). Also, my Ball Python is much more laid back and friendly than he was before. Little buggers were upsetting him bad. (Never sexed my ball, but since I am a guy I just say him LOL).