Posted by:
Terry Cox
at Sat Mar 19 04:52:28 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Terry Cox ]
I agree with your evaluation. I'm an old timer who used "No Pest Strips" in the past. I wanted to find something that was safer and easier to use. I needed it to be safe for me too, as I have asthma, and can't use chemicals that permeate the air in my Herp Room. I didn't like paying for it at first, but I know how dangerous some garden pesticides can be, etc, and refuse to have those inside my house too. Since using P-A-M, I've realized how well it works with my fairly large collection of about thirty cages, and feel it definitely pays for itself.
In this day and age we take a chance everytime we bring a new animal into our collections. I can't believe how many snakes have mites that I find at shows and sometimes ones that are delivered through the mail, etc. I insist on my collection being free of any parasites. I will not send an animal to any other person that I don't feel is absolutely clean. That's why I am constantly checking my snakes for any hitchhikers.
I've had mites in my collection before. Once I bought a baby corn snake, kept it in quarantine two weeks (not long enough), and brought it into the snake room to keep it warmer. The extra warmth caused a mite hatch and eventually I had to treat every cage in the room. It's not easy to get rid of mites, but P-A-M has worked for me. If you follow the directions, and do it right, two applications will do the job. One can will take care of my collection several times.
Now-a-days, I keep a can of P-A-M handy and use it to treat a cage anytime I get a new snake in, no matter who it's from. I treat the holding tank before getting the new snake and put it in when it arrives. In about ten days I treat the cage again. I now quarantine for at least a month. Not seeing any mites or signs of a hatch, I will then bring the animal into my Herp Room, but still keep it across the room from the others. My collection has not seen a single mite ever since I started using these methods and I rarely have to buy a new can of P-A-M.
There are lots of other products out there, but I don't think any of them work as good or are as safe as this one. I especially recommend it for hobbyists with smallish collections. I would also recommend that you treat cages in the morning, or overnight, and not use them until the evening or next day. The treatment will continue to work and kill bugs for at least a week. I do my second treatment after seven to ten days. The mites never survive two treatments this close together unless you keep the eggs cool, so they won't hatch. I always check my collection after winter brumations, just to make sure. It's a habit now.
Mites are an insidious pest. They can be almost impossible to get rid of and may last for years for some people. Every new herper should get trained on how to get rid of them and prevent further attacks. Good luck with this everybody and hope your collections stay healthy forever.
Regards...TC
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Ratsnake Haven: Calico and hypo Chinese beauty snakes, Mandarin ratsnakes, Chinese twin-spotted ratsnakes, South Korean Dione's ratsnake, leopard snakes, Great Plains ratsnakes, and corn snakes 
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Nicely said, Matt... - Terry Cox, Sat Mar 19 04:52:28 2005