bakeing my substrate

[sarah]

ok first I will tell you all that I HATE mites.Ok I feel better,and my bts got mites from my local pet store's aspen bedding.So now they are mite free and only on papet towles,which they are hateing.So I was wondering does anyone bake there bedding before use and if so for how long and at what temp.Thanks in advance.Sarah

[Richard.C]

are u sure the aspen contained mites,how long have you owned the lizards?

if recentish purchased more likely had mites already and numbers have built up since in your care,unless shop has mite issues and eggs were laid in aspen,they generally prefer something they can feed off to live on,eg reptiles

im not sure about baking aspen,baking is better for more non burning type substrates,rock,sand ect,but havnt used aspen so not sure,you xould also treat the substrate for mites before use,seal it up and spray treatment inside

[Bluish]

Baking substrate is a lot of work and potentially problematic. I would try and source out my sub from a non reptile selling store or a large store where the substrates and animals are widely separated. If your only source is the infected pet store you could buy an extra bag and not use it for a couple of months to allow any mites and eggs to die. My understanding is that freezing works well.
If you feel you must bake your sub it's a lot safer if it's moist, very dry sub in an oven can be dangerous. Place it in a large lasagna type dish, cover with foil and bake at 200 to 250 until thoroughly heated. Apparently they die at anything over 115f.
I have a candy thermometer ($ store) that works well for this. I've used this method to eliminate molds and wood mites from wood substrates but it's a lot of work considering you will probably have to do a few/several batches per cage.

[Rush]

Easy Kapeesy, you can always try a different substrate.

[tylociraptor]

Or freeze it!