Your "recommendation" can lead to potential health problems, acute or chronic with one's reptiles.



Provent-a-mite is a unique, patented product and not the same as any other brand. Our formula is not duplicated by any other company. Making this assumption can be a deadly mistake. Not only are you wrong, but your statements could cause someone to buy these other products only to potentially create health problems and even death with their reptiles (which has happened already).



This method is what has been used by myself and others for years with no problems in my collection nor in anybodies that I have known to use this. Also I have never had anybody tell me that they had a animal die from this treatment. Further more how can you claim that no other product has the same formula as yours when as you state in your post the inert ingredients are not disclosed and are in fact guarded by the companies to protect their assets. You can't for sure because unless you have those formula you don't know



This is like saying that laundry detergent and hand dishwashing liquid are the same because they are both "soap".



Come on soap is a generic term used to desribe a ton of chemical compounds.





Different, more toxic isomers are widely used in many products as they pose no risk to humans, mammals or birds as a rule, but they are definitely more toxic to reptiles. Most of these products also use chemicals such as Piperonyl butoxide in their formula, which is a synergist that modifies and increases the toxicity of the active in various ways. One will find that most formulations use this and/or other synergists as it is much cheaper than the active and creates a more lethal product.



Though not necessarily in the product I suggest and unless you have the secret formula



Studies have been done, and products are marketed, showing that Piperonyl butoxide as well as other chemicals are definitely toxic to reptiles, regarding the killing of brown tree and other snakes, and improve the formula to do just that. You can do a search on these products used in the South Pacific and Indonesia that use various formulas to KILL snakes. They are packaged in high pressure containers (like a wasp & hornet spray) so you can hit the snake up to 20 feet away.



They also use peppers in some pepper spray but I eat them to. What is used to kill snakes in other Countries not governed by the EPA or USDA have little to do with this matter. Do they sell those products in the U.S.?









Since all formulas are proprietary and secret, no one will ever know what is really in the can and will only be sure that the product is OK to use with reptiles if that claim is specifically on the label.



Agreed but the chemical that is active is Permethrin and that is a suspected carcinogen. Food for thought







Call these companies and ask if their product is safe to use on reptiles, and to put it in writing and see what response you get.



Yours is the only product tested for reptile use so it would be stupid for them to say theirs was ok until testing was done. You helped bring herps into the mainstream business world by going through with the test and I applaud you for that.



This was after the approximately 10 years we spent developing the formula. We had to show that Provent-a-mite didn't hurt the reptile, had efficacy results per our claims and did not pose any risk or environmental hazards when used per the directions as set forth in our submittal.



Right no other company will go through this time or money spent for our industry. Thank You for doing this.



(1)"...However, it was realized that different formulations of acaricides contain different ingredients in addition to the active compound, some of which might be toxic to reptiles. For example, Piperonyl butoxide, added to some formulations as a synergist, has been associated with snake mortality.



No mention of what active ingredients where found in relation to this study. If assumed it is Permethrin than no mention of what strength nor what percentage used Piperonyl butoxide. If it was used in correlation with Permethrin at all has to be assumed from this statement. The next line backs up this statement but there seems to be a missing line between the two.



(2)Therefore, commercially available permethrin formulations were examined and only one, a patented formulation containing 0.5% permethrin called Provent-a-mite™(Pro Products, Mahopac, New York), was found which had been prepared specifically for use on reptiles and which had been marketed in the United States for several years as an acaricide for control of mites and ticks that feed on reptiles.



Note this is the next line (2) following in original post(1). This just says that you researched reptile use for your product nothing else.







People are always making claims about various pesticides and state they are OK to use with reptiles when they have no knowledge as to what chemicals are even in the formula. Even with a product that lists the same "generic" active, the active can be a different toxicity and the remainder of the formula will always be a mystery.



Unless you have some special knowledge about the secret ingredients you don't know either. The product I mentionced has the same active ingredient as yours down to the molecular structural listing. (thats all those big words after Permethrin)





Unless the product has been specifically tested and approved for use by the USEPA, no one can state whether or not it can be harmful to a reptile.



I would assume this means you as well so I would agree.



Bob I would like to say that I have no problem with you and I only broke down your statement because you wrote alot of leading statements that can lead to false impressions. I don't know why you wrote it like though I understand you defending your product. I have no problem with your product and infact think it is a great product but I also believe that is very simular to other "off brand" products and I will contiue to use those until the price of yours comes down and I can find it in any local pet store. I have seen the off brand I use over treated by a short tempered acquaintance of mine and all animals involved showed no signs of haveing problems. The individual in queastion sprayed the animals directly for about 30 seconds each with the water bowls in the cages. I showed up a half hour later and made him clean the water bowls after he told me how he used the spray. No doubt the animals should have died but they didn't. They are all still alive 1 1/2 years later. I don't ever spray the animals directly so the toxicity will never approach what it did for those animals. I know it is a smaller test group than what the EPA would like but it is enough for me with all of the other long term "proper" use I know of.

Thanks Jason

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