We have honestly found coco to be the best for our snakes regarding sheds and cleanliness. We have established a routine of cleaning and spraying mite preventative and reptile spray to prevent infestations no matter where it comes from. I have noticed the knats before and we prevent or keep those gone with a flying bug thing from HotShot, I think. Its a pest strip that hangs in our rat and snake rooms. I think most of the breeders i had spoken with narrowed it down to (suspecting) the coco as being the source of the mites due to them having no new incoming snakes, not visiting other breeders or stores due to quarantine with COVID and it depends on your area but a lot of places weren’t letting people leave their house but for essential items. It was just a thought and a discussion on if anyone else had thought they had the same experience.
I have never seen mites in any of the substrate I have bought. I just cleaned Tiberius terrarium today. This is the brand I used.
Ive had this happen 3 times now… so weird, its only ever one snake, and it never seems to.spread. just had another one tonight. Only 1 snake, nobody else affected, no new snakes in in MONTHS…
So are this is the second time I have had mites but they are a clear brown color and starting to think it’s coming from the coco substrate I’m using, I never had this problem until this year and I have had all three of my ball pythons in there tubs and seems to only happen in one of the snakes tub not the others.
I believe I’ve gotten little white mites infesting my projects directly from a bag of Zoo Med Eco Earth coconut fiber substrate. One time I was trying to use the moist substrate to germinate blueberry seeds in a sealed bag. After a few months, I noticed that mites had infested the inside of the bag!
(By the way, I know the difference between mites and springtails.)
I don’t think the mites found a way inside the bag from the outside. It was winter, and the humidity outside of the bag was under 40%! I didn’t notice any mites outside of the bag, either, at least until they started crawling out of the bag.
Another time, back at our old house, I had mites infesting my mealworm bin.
I used coconut fiber substrate for them.
I thought they came from the mealworms, but I guess I was wrong.
(At the same time, I was rearing superworms on oats. I didn’t notice any mites in their container!)
Apparently, the mites have eggs that can dry out, and then hatch when the soil is moistened. The substrate in the bag was very dry and had no mites.
I don’t know if the coconut fiber bricks are as bad as the bags.
But as for sterilizing the substrate, I doubt that even mite eggs could survive being boiled in hot water.
Please note that these are probably not parasitic mites, though. Because the bags and bricks of coconut fiber have probably never been used before being sold, they are unlikely to be carrying mites that parasitize reptiles or amphibians. Only mites that feed on dead organic matter. I also don’t know if they can actually feed on the coconut fiber substrate, but I think they only infest the soil when there are fungi, waste, dead insects, crumbs, and other things to feed on.
Seconding! The little white mites are likely Mesostigs, and while they can be plentiful, most (aside from a couple families that parasitize birds) are completely harmless to vertebrates (and large invertebrates). Mesostigs are split between eating decaying plant matter and hunting other tiny arthropods that eat said plant matter. While it’s not a good sign for them to be in unopened bags of substrate, they won’t harm your pets, and are often beneficial in bioactive setups.