Little bugs on BP

[jglass38]

Unless they purchased from a store that had a mite infestation.

That's the only time I've heard of bedding coming with mites, when it was later realized that the pet store had a mite problem.

Even then, it seems pretty unlikely. Mites in a sealed plastic bag of Aspen, far away from the reptile hosts that they rely on to live. I have seen small white bugs (aphids) in multiple types of substrate including reptibark, aspen and cypress mulch. The cypress mulch was purchased at Home Depot by the way. I am not saying they weren't mites, they very well could have beeen. I am just curious if they were white bugs or black or red bugs.

[scotty99]

Pretty sure they came in on the aspen, and were defo snake mites The bag was bought from a specialist reptile store, and they had a mite problem themselves when i went in the next week. Mites appeared 5 days or so after adding the new batch of aspen.Only had the snakes in my house for 2weeks, as i was looking after them for a friend, so never had any other pets/reptiles in the house for years, so the only logical source is the aspen, i guess??? Had them on newspaper since with no return of mites

regards Scott

[jglass38]

Pretty sure they came in on the aspen, and were defo snake mites The bag was bought from a specialist reptile store, and they had a mite problem themselves when i went in the next week. Mites appeared 5 days or so after adding the new batch of aspen.Only had the snakes in my house for 2weeks, as i was looking after them for a friend, so never had any other pets/reptiles in the house for years, so the only logical source is the aspen, i guess??? Had them on newspaper since with no return of mites

regards Scott

Glad you got them taken care of! Best bet with Aspen is to get it in sealed bags from a feed store or a quality pet store. You could also pretreat it with mite spray but if you have to go through that much, you are probably better off using newspaper.

[West Coast Jungle]

I have purchsed cypress in the past and it had so many bugs it was practically moving

I boiled it and it was a pain.

Aspen from an infested reptile place could have gotten on the bedding you bought or possibly even you(they can hitch a ride) but many beddings come with wood mites and critters that are probably not a threat to your snake but who wants them running around your house.

I am strictly newspaper now, much less mess IMO

[PythonBlitz]

Yes I did buy aspen, and now I think that it did come from the aspen. Im using paper towels and newspaper and I washed the snake twice and used mite-off. Everything looks good so far, and my snake ate a live mouse today. So I hope thats the reason. Any good ideas on substrate that wont have mites and is easy to clean?

[scotty99]

Cheers Jglass, yeah if i decide to go back to aspen i will buy from a different source that doesn't have livestock, hopefully reduce the chances of mites hitching a lift to some fresh snake victims to munch on!!

[Inknsteel]

Any good ideas on substrate that wont have mites and is easy to clean?

Plain white paper towels... Or newspaper...