Treating Reptile Beddings Such As Aspen

[Mikoh4792]

Do you have to freeze, cook, bleach or do anything to aspen before using it? Does Aspen left in the store usually come with mites?

[Terranaut]

Ok. No need to double post the same question. There is no need to treat aspen before use. If there are mites in the aspen they are most likely not snake mites and if they are never ever go back to the place you bought it from.

[Mikoh4792]

Sorry was in a rush. Have a bag of aspen and some repti bark I have already treated with bleach here and my snake is coming tomorrow. I'm deciding between which to use. If I needed to treat aspen I wanted to know asap so I could start the treating process. Thanks for the reply.

[Terranaut]

You treated with bleach? I wouldn't use it at all now. You don't want bleach on your snake.

[Mikoh4792]

Originally Posted by Terranaut

You treated with bleach? I wouldn't use it at all now. You don't want bleach on your snake.

I thought many people treated reptile bedding that way. 1:30 water to bleach solution and then when it's done being cured you soak it in hot water and rinse the bleach off.

[infernalis]

Originally Posted by mikoh4792

I thought many people treated reptile bedding that way. 1:30 water to bleach solution and then when it's done being cured you soak it in hot water and rinse the bleach off.

Once a bad idea goes "viral" too many people blindly follow.

I never boil or bake or bleach logs or rocks from outside either.

Think about it, Snakes and lizards eat some of the nastiest things on earth, including rancid carrion, Boas and Pythons frequent caves that have six feet deep guano (bat poop) all over the floor.

People who do a sloppy job on their husbandry tend to blame it on anything they can but themselves.

I have one cage set up here that has dirt from outside in it, I never clean it either. The cage is fully bio active, complete with all the bugs and germs, and those two animals are the most vibrant reptiles I have.

I also keep my gecko on lawn sod, and he is doing awesome.

[RandyRhoads]

Originally Posted by infernalis

I never boil or bake or bleach logs or rocks from outside either.

You don't worry about ticks?

[Mikoh4792]

Originally Posted by infernalis

Once a bad idea goes "viral" too many people blindly follow.

I never boil or bake or bleach logs or rocks from outside either.

Think about it, Snakes and lizards eat some of the nastiest things on earth, including rancid carrion, Boas and Pythons frequent caves that have six feet deep guano (bat poop) all over the floor.

People who do a sloppy job on their husbandry tend to blame it on anything they can but themselves.

I have one cage set up here that has dirt from outside in it, I never clean it either. The cage is fully bio active, complete with all the bugs and germs, and those two animals are the most vibrant reptiles I have.

I also keep my gecko on lawn sod, and he is doing awesome.

So what other way than keeping a "dirty" cage would cause a mites infestation? In other words, what other "sloppy jobs on husbandry" would bring in/harbor mites?

[infernalis]

Originally Posted by mikoh4792

So what other way than keeping a "dirty" cage would cause a mites infestation? In other words, what other "sloppy jobs on husbandry" would bring in/harbor mites?

Mites feed on blood, not soil. Soil is nothing to be afraid of.

Sloppy husbandry would entail lack of YOUR hygiene.

First of all, I don't handle other peoples reptiles, I keep my hands off mine unless I'm taking care of them.

Wash your hands if you simply must handle someone else's reptiles.

Mikoh4792, you don't know me yet, but I have photo galleries dating back years from me getting up close and personal with hundreds of snakes in the wild, I crawl around on the ground shoving my camera right up on them, 4000 pixels wide HD, and in all of those animals, not one displayed mites.

Reptiles have a natural defense against mites, they will shed the skin off, and leave the mites behind with the shed.

However, in captivity, we keep the snake locked in a cage WITH the shed, so the mites just go back home on the snake.

Mite infestations usually originate in hoarders and sloppy breeders collections, and then spread from there.

#1. rule, inspect any new animals very closely before bringing them home, quarantine new purchases before placing them in the same room.

I was not trying to sell anyone on the bio active cages, although you would do yourself a favor looking into it.

[infernalis]

Please stop with the bleach and paranoia.

Very rarely do mites come from a closed bag of aspen or repti bark.

To be really honest with you, in all my years of keeping reptiles I have never once boiled, baked, bleached nor sprayed anything on my brand new bags of substrate.

[infernalis]

The species of ticks here prefer a warm blooded meal, and cannot penetrate a reptiles skin to get hold.

[Lankyrob]

Mites come from other reptiles, you go to somewhere that has mites, they get on you and then you go home and handle your snakes. Personally i strip off and shower whenever i retrun from somewheree with reptiles just in case.

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

Mites come from other reptiles, you go to somewhere that has mites, they get on you and then you go home and handle your snakes. Personally i strip off and shower whenever i retrun from somewheree with reptiles just in case.

That's actually still a really rare thing to happen.

Mites, at a certain part of their lifecycle may take a trip, but most likely they do not. They prefer to eat and stay where things are good.

Not a bad idea though to be cautious but it's bad information that just because a store may have mites that you'll get it too. Don't handle the reptiles at places you go would be a better practice.

[Terranaut]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

That's actually still a really rare thing to happen.

Mites, at a certain part of their lifecycle may take a trip, but most likely they do not. They prefer to eat and stay where things are good.

Not a bad idea though to be cautious but it's bad information that just because a store may have mites that you'll get it too. Don't handle the reptiles at places you go would be a better practice.

I was a victim of this. I brought mites home from just being in the store. I handled nothing

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by Terranaut

I was a victim of this. I brought mites home from just being in the store. I handled nothing

As I said, really rare.