Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, I used the provent-a-mite a bit over two weeks ago. Now I know I killed most of the bastards, but I'm still finding mites from time to time. Usually only one or two when I take the snakes out to feed.

Am I being too impatient?

>>Ok, I used the provent-a-mite a bit over two weeks ago. Now I know I killed most of the bastards, but I'm still finding mites from time to time. Usually only one or two when I take the snakes out to feed.
>>
>>Am I being too impatient?

I gotta say I have never found a living bug within a week of using Provent a Mite. I don't have a can in front of me, but aren't you supposed to retreat?
If you are using it right I would take the question to the Pro Products people.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

It is possible that mite eggs existed outside the cage, hatched then the mites got back to the cage. That explains the 2-week interval.

Lightly spray the area around the cage too, going out about 3-4ft from the cage. Doing that with another cage treatment should do the trick. Mites can travel across a room in just one night. They typically stay close to the snake, but will sometimes lay eggs at a distance away, outside the cage. I read a report stating that eggs were as much as 3ft away from the cage. That means the eggs hatch and the mites will be back.

Like you, I had one case (new arrival) where I had to do two applications weeks apart. Once I started spraying the area around the cages too, no more mites.

>>Ok, I used the provent-a-mite a bit over two weeks ago. Now I know I killed most of the bastards, but I'm still finding mites from time to time. Usually only one or two when I take the snakes out to feed.
>>
>>Am I being too impatient?
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Mark

Actually my math was off...it was 3 weeks.

I can't spray in the room unfortunately (also have birds and insets/arachnids), so I made up some of my own 'pest strips' by spraying strips of newspaper and put that all over the room. I also applied the stuff around ALL openings on every cage.

After further checking, I still only found that single mite on my boa. My carpet python had mites REAL bad those 3 weeks ago, but I didn't see a single on on her when i took her out to feed yesterday.

So I'm pretty sure I got 99.9% of them...but I'm still wary about that single one that survived somehow...

And I don't think they are migrating...

Sounds like things are in good shape . Spraying around the cage opening was a good idea. At most you'll need 1 more treatment, only if you see another mite. Homemade pest strip lol.
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Mark