Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am having problems with mites in 2 of the last 3 bags of aspen bedding i have gotten to house my yearling boas. Do mites come from the bedding or are they coming from the rats. And what can i do to prevent this from happening again. And I am not talking about an infestation but just a few showed up so i emptied out bedding and bleached the cage. Any thoughts? Am not having these problems with my bigger boas but just the cage where i keep the 2 albino het snows from this year. I just hate teh thought of mites. How can you keep them from popping up?

Joe

I think having mites in the Aspen is pretty common. I put new Aspen in the freezer for a few days. I've never had any mite problems.
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sounddjinn@yahoo.com

Things always get cloudy just before transformation.

I had never thought of that. Will it kill the eggs also.....

I have taken all wood out of all of my enclosures. I know quite a few people that use Aspen, and I haven't heard about mites.

Freezing it isn't a bad idea, but for some people, that'd be a pretty big freezer.

ALWAYS KEEP PROVENT-A-MITE ON HAND.

I always have a couple cans sitting around. Knock on wood, but I haven't had any mites for a couple years without using Provent-A-Mite. You can never be too cautious.

The problem with wood substrates is that those nasty little boogers can hide very well. If you have mites, switch to newspaper or another paper sheet substrate. It will be much easier to treat and rid your snakes of mites. If you catch them quick, you should be fine. Once they get on the move and start dropping those eggs is when you get a problem. You may want to check out your feeder source. They can come in on the rats/mice.
Good luck treating them.

Phil Goss

I have seen little transparent bugs in the aspen, but they were
larger than reptile mites. I haven't seen any on my boas, and I
check them regularly.

They may be mites, but I don't think they are the same as
reptile mites. I hope not anyway....tc