Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently purchase some cypress mulch from a local petstore. . . . .an today i noticed some very small white bugs walking around in the cage an when i went to get my snake out two or three of the white bugs jumped off my snake. . . .are they mites??. . . . i inspected him closely an did not see anymore on him. . . if they are mites what should i do and also what can i do to the mulch before putting it in so that this will not happen again. . .thanks for all the help in advanced

I would heat treat the bedding in the oven before any future use. Just spread it out on a cookie sheet and put it in the oven at a fairly low temp for at least ten minutes.
Provent-a-mite is good for clearing any mites out of the cage. It's available over the internet. I'd sugest taking care of that asap.
Best of luck,
GratefulFred
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GratefulFred

actually, we seem to have fleas in ours (or thats what they look like)
Jumping black bugs, NOT on the snake, just in the mulch
we do have a cat, and although ashe is treated for fleas, she is an indoor, outdoor cat
my thinking is that they are atracted to the light (that is on sometimes when it is still a bit dark outside) like the flea traps with the glue U can get
I was further thinking that Fles are pretty Phylum specific (mammals only) so the snake will be safe

But I agree that baking the Mulch would be a good way to go from now on, to be sure there is nothing in it
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Elizabeth (ecb)

'Goodness gracious'
my grandma used to say
'the worlds a scarey place now
things were different in my day'
what horrors will be commonplace,
when my hair starts to grey?
-Kevin Gilbert-