# Can anyone confirm this.



## SNAKEWISPERA (Aug 27, 2007)

Right, I don't want any newbs on here saying they never done this i want someone from like 20 years ago.

I was on another forum, and they where on about old snake keeping, I said to my dad, look there on about back in your day, and my dad said yeah it was crazy back then, we use vapona to get rid of mites, When i said this in the chat, everyone said I was talking sh*t.
On Saturday, We went to see a good friend of ours whos bred snakes for over 30 years and I brought this up and he comfirmed that they done this aswell, even vets advised to do it,

So can anyone verify this ?

Joel.


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## Akua_Ko_Nalu (Feb 15, 2007)

I know of it, not used it myself as I've only been keeping 10 years.

Vapona was used to eradicate mites and other parasites, but was then a banned item due to causing cancer?!


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## acereptiles (Aug 30, 2006)

i was told to use vapona in a butter tub so the snake cannot come in contact with it around 15 years ago for snakes mites ..
its also mentioned in the old books.


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## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

Yes, it was used. But like many things, with the development of experience it was found that it had side effects and potential dangers and is no longer advised.


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## SNAKEWISPERA (Aug 27, 2007)

Ahhhh thanks people, 
I also got told, that it caused them nuero problems ?


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## Alex M (May 28, 2008)

Yep, it certainly was used as a mite treatment. I will say though that at the time not everyone thought it was perfect, many people had fears it could cause problems for the snake etc with regards to it's chemical content and wouldn't use it.


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## gaz (Oct 5, 2005)

i used it and found that if used sensibly it worked outstandly well,much better than todays safety conscious has to be tested to destruction an dont work that well anyways products,they all require several steps to achieve the success rate that a vapona strip from tesco could produce simply by unpacking it and leaving it in a room,in all the years i used it never had a single problem,its all about the user at the end of the day innit
regards gaz


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## stuartdouglas (Mar 5, 2008)

Vapona was, and in the USA, still is used as a mite treatment. The active ingredient, Dichlorvos is an organophosphate that was banned during a recent review of insecticides. Appparently if you eat a few pounds of Dichlorvos, you may get cancer. There were issues surrounding neurological problems with snakes exposed to large amounts of the stuff, but there were far more snakes that didn't develop these problems but had been exposed to smaller amounts. Some people in the UK still swear by it.


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## ogawa only (Jun 4, 2008)

i used it to , you could pick them up for less than a quid , and if used correctly was the only thing to get rid of the mite's once and for all , and you could wrap it in cling film after use, and it lasted for yonks !!


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## gaz (Oct 5, 2005)

anyone import it?
gaz


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## AZUK (Jul 9, 2007)

gaz said:


> i used it and found that if used sensibly it worked out stanley well,much better than today's safety conscious has to be tested to destruction an dont work that well anyways products,they all require several steps to achieve the success rate that a vapona strip from tesco could produce simply by unpacking it and leaving it in a room,in all the years i used it never had a single problem,its all about the user at the end of the day innit
> regards gaz


Ah them were the Days.
Vapona pest srtip....... the one method that actually worked...very well as it happens !
I never had a problem with it as well but like mentioned it was linked with Cancer and taken off sale.
Hello....... so do **** and a 1001 other things in general use !
Shame the British public are not allowed to make up their own minds on certain things.


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## Nerys (Apr 18, 2005)

vapona yes.. i was prescribed it by a vet back in 1996 to get rid of mites on a royal... the stip you hung in the tank.. and had to remember to take the water out..

i too had heard since about bad effects on reptiles tho, and there is also the fact that it is supposed to be a carcinogenic..

joel i would advise dropping maureen collinson a pm, and getting her to add her thoughts on it all..

Nerys


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## Paul Chase (Mar 7, 2007)

I used to use it for about 20 years,until it got baned, I still used it for a couple of more years after, a mate used to bring me some back from hamm.
Most snakes years ago were W.C and loaded with mites and ticks. The easiest way to rid your colection of these were to use vapona. Hang a medium sized one in my shed for a day and all ticks were gone. You did need to remove all water bowls and not feed during this time. I never had any problems.
I live near a dairy farm (well i used to work on the farm) and summer times all the houses down the road used to get swamped with flies. Every one here used to hang vaponas in our houses for the whole of the summer.


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## shep1979 (Feb 24, 2008)

i used to use it about 15 years aand ys it was great it got rid of them no problem just the usual take the water out and put a piece in a crix box and leave in for a day ,i didnt know it has been banned now tho


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## Fangio (Jun 2, 2007)

Everyone used it back in the day. I never had any problems. Had to be sensible with it's use and take precautions. Worked wonders though!


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## snickers (Aug 15, 2007)

Yes it works, very well and it's non-intrusive.

Diclorvos was banned because it might be dangerous to the people manufacturing it, not the people using it.

A 1" square in a crix tub overnight killed mites. Then again a week later after the eggs hatched.

I would use it in preference to anything else if I could find some.


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## Dan Bristow (Jan 12, 2008)

yep i used it too. it worked brilliantly and never had any probs with it!


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## medusa0373 (Mar 18, 2008)

I vaguely remember my ex using Vapona for mites, like someone said it was put in a butter/marg tub with holes in it so the snakes couldn't access it but so that it still "breathed" or whatever.

Worked excellently!


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## Robk (Feb 3, 2008)

I've used it aswell.A small piece in a 35mm film container with holes in.Took the water out and put the vapona in the viv for 8hrs a day.Worked great never had a problem.


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## SNAKEWISPERA (Aug 27, 2007)

Thanks people, 

Thanks for the replies, 

This has got me thinking - Why dont we do this anymore, if it worked so great why did we stop, anyone have more detail about the effects people have talked about ?


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## RICHARD OWEN (Oct 30, 2008)

A very good friend of mine who first got me the bug in Reptiles 30 years ago,who sadly passed away this year Jouhn Rice RIP .Always insisted in using Vapona and he was propper old school it was said he was one of the first peaople to succesfully bread captive bread Burmese in this country top man.So definetly use Vapona you carnt go wrong forget the gimicks sometimes the old ways are better


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## tarantulabarn (Apr 21, 2005)

Many moons ago, well around 24 years ago i had a 11 foot burm given me that the owner couldnt manage anymore, she was covered in mites, i put her in an 8 foot viv with half a vapona block pinned in one of the top corners of the viv inside a sock, within 2 weeks all the mites were gon and completely eradicated, you had to be very carefull with it but it was definately the best thing to use at the time


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