Mites and things

[crocHerper]

My adult Iguana has mites (black ones). Can those mites go and infect my snakes? :(

[peterm15]

as far as i know no.. mites are host specific.. snake mites are snake mites and lizard mites are lizard mites

but be sure to was your hands as you should do anyways.. just be more careful.. and good luck gettin the mites cleared up...

[gonesnakee]

As stated mites are host specific. The only way your snakes could get them from your lizard is if they were snake mites. If the lizard just came from somewhere where it could become crawling with snake mites you would have to worry about your snakes. At this point sounds like you just need to worry about your lizard. Mark

[Linds]

Snakes mites can infect both snakes and lizards. When they are said to be host-specific, that is in reference to them being specific to reptiles only. Snake mites do appear as black specs crawling around the animal, so I would definitely treat your whole collection. Be careful what methods you use however, as lizards cannot be treated with many of the common snake remedies.

[Rikki]

Well written Linds. It is possible to spread the mites. It would be best to seperate any animal which has mites away from your remaining collection to be on the safe side. Are you treating this Iguana for mites?

[crocHerper]

Thanks for the replies.
Can i use Vapona pest strips? I have read in a veterinary book that this method is safe with minimum exposion to the product.

[Linds]

Vapona should work, but it is by no means safe. It kills bugs via toxic fumes in the air... even if it isn't strong enough to kill you or your animals right away, it sure isn't healthy to constantly be breathing that stuff in.

I would suggest thoroughly sanitizing all the cages and surrounding areas. Treat the snakes with Nix or Black Knight. You can soak your Ignuana in a very dilute solution of Ivory dishsoap and tepid water to kill any mites, but other than that I think your safest bet would be to dilligently clean the cage and occassionally soak your Ig (don't use soap every time) for the next month or two.

[crocHerper]

Thanks a lot. You realy been helpful! :)