New Snake Owner - Lots of questions

[Pandora]

What does PAM have to do with getting rid of mites. I dont have a case of them but want to do what I can to prevent them?

Read up on some threads specifically about mites.

[shaggy0123]

a bite from a little guy is no be deal at all. my baay tried to bite me but he's so tiny that it just felt like something wet tapped my hand. my other guy, the big one in the house actually latched on like he was going to kill and eat my hand. that was pretty interesting.

[deltaneutral]

I started a thread about this very thing.
It's titled "Traumatic experience". We had a mite issue at the same time as the snake was shedding.

I never noticed any mites either when we first purchased, but we didn't do much handling for a couple weeks.

However, after a month or so of having our snake, we noticed the mites.

I don't know where they came from, but I had just switched substrates from Repti-Bark to the Eco-Earth condensed coconut husk.
A few days later we noticed the mites. Some people that responeded to my thread said they believe the Eco-Earth was responsible for their mites as well.

Anyway. Be diligent. I washed everything in the tank every week in mild bleach water. Baked it afterward in the oven. Used newsprint for substrate for a month. Soaked the snake in a lukewarm bath every few days. And best of all...I used PAM (Provent A Mite). The stuff worked great.

I now use aspen purchased at Wal Mart. They don't have reptiles, so I don't worry about mites from there. However, I still dump all the aspen in a garbage bag and spary it with PAM and then give it a good shake.

I still give the plants, hides and log a quick spray every few weeks when I'm doing tank maintenance.
It may be overkill, but I don't want to go through it again and I imagine my snake doesn't either.

[Pandora]

I started a thread about this very thing.
It's titled "Traumatic experience". We had a mite issue at the same time as the snake was shedding.

I never noticed any mites either when we first purchased, but we didn't do much handling for a couple weeks.

However, after a month or so of having our snake, we noticed the mites.

I don't know where they came from, but I had just switched substrates from Repti-Bark to the Eco-Earth condensed coconut husk.
A few days later we noticed the mites. Some people that responeded to my thread said they believe the Eco-Earth was responsible for their mites as well.

Anyway. Be diligent. I washed everything in the tank every week in mild bleach water. Baked it afterward in the oven. Used newsprint for substrate for a month. Soaked the snake in a lukewarm bath every few days. And best of all...I used PAM (Provent A Mite). The stuff worked great.

I now use aspen purchased at Wal Mart. They don't have reptiles, so I don't worry about mites from there. However, I still dump all the aspen in a garbage bag and spary it with PAM and then give it a good shake.

I still give the plants, hides and log a quick spray every few weeks when I'm doing tank maintenance.
It may be overkill, but I don't want to go through it again and I imagine my snake doesn't either.

I'll keep all that in mind. Thanks for the advice and insight!