mites and substrate

Yes, I've spotted the dreaded mite.....arrrrrgh

I've done a lot of searching this site and found a lot of information on treating both tank and snake. I'm fine there, but some information lead me to believe that if I store my unused bag of substrate near the infected snake it can contain mites. Do I need to be aware of new substrate when I bring it into my house. Should I quarantine it, or bake it in the oven to make sure no critters exist? If I can bring mites home by handling other snake that are infected, so couldn't the substrate?

Having been through the lice thing once with the kids, if you bag toys up for two weeks (stuffed animals) all lice will die. Can I do this with bedding? How long can mites live without a host?

http://tinyurl.com/2f8hyd

Super good article on life history of snake mites.

Nanci

It was this article that helped me when I found mites on my baby, Gaia.

Human head lice shampoo mixed with distilled water worked well with no side effects. It's been two week and no sign of the nasty buggers. I have my fingers crossed and I feel if nothing show within the next week, we're home free. :crazy02:

Assuming it's not an enormous bag, you could always pop it in the freezer for a week or so.

I was concerned about bugs when I bought a bag of moss at a local reptile show, so I put it in the freezer for over a week. I figure that should pretty much kill off most anything that may have been living in it.

-Janel

Thank you for the link Nanci. It was that actual article that made me think about mite infested substrate.

I'm waiting a couple of days to start the treatment, she just shed last night. I'm going to try Nix and distilled water as DAND posted. I found that during my search.

Thanks Suecornish. I worry about chemicals and the effect it might have on my snake. Hearing it worked for others does help with the anxiety. How big is Gaia. Scarlet is 17 inches long and weighs 14 grams.

I never thought of the freezer Leandrea. I think that might work. I bought 3 large bags of reptile bark from a pet store going out of business and don't want to lose any money by throwing it out.

Does anybody else worry about bringing critters home from the pet store?

Donna said:

I'm waiting a couple of days to start the treatment, she just shed last night. I'm going to try Nix and distilled water as DAND posted. I found that during my search.

Thanks Suecornish. I worry about chemicals and the effect it might have on my snake. Hearing it worked for others does help with the anxiety. How big is Gaia. Scarlet is 17 inches long and weighs 14 grams.

Click to expand...

Gaia is about 16 inches long but I haven't weighed her yet. I could not find NIX so I used the store brand. It was a four oz. bottle and I mixed it with one gal distilled water. David, Alex Hue's brother, said it would keep a year under the sink. I had Gaia swim in a soultion of 1/2 cup lice-water mixed with 1 cup lukewarm tap water for 5 minutes; then I put her in about 1/2 lukewarm water to rinse off while I cleaned her tank. After she got out of the rinse water I could see little white things in the water and I think that is either stage two or three of the mites life cycle. I was so afraid of using any type of chemical because she is so young. But she is doing great and like I said I have not seen any mites and I keep her tank between 75 and 80 degrees.

The pet store owner that I bought her from suggested useing a Pest strip - well by the time I had asked him I had done plenty of internet searching and reading plenty of articles about pest strips being responsible for hatchlings and yearlings dying that I will never ask him again for any advise.