Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a question regarding baking wood chips, bark and similar items. this is done to kill mites and any other organism they may contain right (who can you trust?)? well, i was wondering what temperatures are used normally when baking wood ships and bark.

does this kill the mite eggs too?

would soaking the wood in boiling water be more effective at this?

check this out it is on vpi's site but here is the link:

http://www.vpi.com/9VPITipsAndTechs/TheWarAgainstSnakeMites/TheWarAgainstSnakeMites.htm

i generally use preventomite in my collection and have had zero mite problems

What kind of mites are you worried about. Most wood chips will not have snake mites, unless you get them from a person who has a mite infestation in their collection. It just shounds like a big hastle to bake chips every week for cage cleaning.
Justin J

my concern is the snake mite. the wood chips i'd be buying would be at a pet store, but well, some pets stores have animals with mites don't they?

i just want to be safe, though if the threat of catching mites from pet store bought substrate isn't that real then perhaps i will abandon.