Please help, skink has mites....

Sophi · 04-09-15, 08:58 PM

I just noticed my poor blue tongue has mites. I'm not sure how this has happened. I've had him for a while and I've never noticed them before. What do I do? Will they hurt him? Will they make him sick? They are tiny and black but I saw one on his leg and then I found a few in his aspen bedding.

Besides rinsing the tank and adding all new bedding and seeing if I can find some sort of mite remover in the pet store, how else do I get rid of them? I have two snakes but I have never seen any mites on any of them.

He has some drift wood and a wooden hide in his tank, how do I disinfect these safely? I dont want to use anything that might be toxic to him. Would it be better to just throw his wood away and get all new stuff?

I keep all my reptiles in the same room. Two snakes, my skink and two crested geckos. Will I have to disinfect the whole room? I let my skink crawl around on my bed and floor and couches... are these likely contaminated too? Are reptile mites anything like fleas? Can they jump out of the tank and spread to other parts of my apartment? I might be being paranoid but I have had bedbugs before and I'm kind of freaking out about this.

Any advise would be amazing.

Thank you...

Sophi · 04-09-15, 09:29 PM

Is it possible they came from the bedding or hides I bought at my local reptile supply shop? They specialize in only reptiles but the place always seems immaculately clean and all their animals seem healthy. I get all of my animals from them, my skink came from them as well. I always make sure my reptiles are captive bred and not wild caught either because I'm terrified of this exact thing happening. (I do not do well with bugs. Even the thought of them crawling around on my poor baby puts me in a sick panic) but I am sure the mites are a new problem. I take my Skink out almost every day and clean his house frequently.

I sometimes buy cage decor and aspen bedding from places like petco and petsmart and I'm worried it might have come from them. I just moved him to a new and bigger tank three or four days ago because he was getting too big for his last one and I used his old tank to house my new ball python, so all his bedding is only a few days old.

Although if he had the mites before and I just didn't notice them, that means I've put my new snake into an infected tank. (I cleaned it, obviously, between skink and snake but not with any special cleaner, just hot water and some all purpose cleaner and paper towels.)

Sorry for the long post, I guess it doesnt really matter where they came from, all that matters is I get rid of them, but I really want to make sure that once I do they never come back.

Could I bake or heat his wooden hides and branches? I've got so many between all my reptiles and those things are rather expensive...

Can the mites live in my clothing?

Sophi · 04-09-15, 09:39 PM

Also just adding, my skinks tank is on a table right next to my bed.

What is the likeness that the mites are now in my bed?

pinefamily · 04-10-15, 04:02 PM

For your bluey to have mites, they must have come from something new you put in there. There are several brands of mite spray on the market. Do NOT spray your bluey. Just follow the instructions on the can. Most of the ones I've seen say to take the animal out of the tank, spray the tank, and leave it for a period of time. Then dispose of all the bedding, and wash bowls, hides, etc. in disinfectant (F10 is good for this). Personally, I would then F10 your enclosure before putting anything back. You may or may not need to do the same for the other tanks. Check the others carefully for mites with a strong torch. I would give your bluey a luke warm bath to help get them off him.
Hope this helps.

Sophi · 04-11-15, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pinefamily

For your bluey to have mites, they must have come from something new you put in there. There are several brands of mite spray on the market. Do NOT spray your bluey. Just follow the instructions on the can. Most of the ones I've seen say to take the animal out of the tank, spray the tank, and leave it for a period of time. Then dispose of all the bedding, and wash bowls, hides, etc. in disinfectant (F10 is good for this). Personally, I would then F10 your enclosure before putting anything back. You may or may not need to do the same for the other tanks. Check the others carefully for mites with a strong torch. I would give your bluey a luke warm bath to help get them off him.
Hope this helps.

Thanks, I bought something called reptile spray by natural chemistry and I ordered prevent a mite but it will take a few days to gEt Here. The reptile spray says to either spray the animal directly or to put on a paper towel and wipe the animal off. I did the paper towel because I was scared of getting the stuff in his eye, but I'm worried I didn't use enough.

I gave my skink (and my snakes, just to be safe) bathes and disinfected all of thier tanks and toys. They have wooden hides which I put in my oven at 225 degrees for a few hours and I put thier water dishes in the dishwasher on the hottest cycle twice.

They are all paper towels now. I saw a few mites fall off and drown while I was washing the skink and last night I didn't see any on him. This morning there are a few more.

I'm really worried they are going to make him sick before the prevent a mite gets here. I love this little lizard more than anything and he's such a great character, this is breaking my heart.

I recently got him a new piece of bark from petsmart and think it might have come from there.

pinefamily · 04-11-15, 05:29 PM

Did you completely strip your bluey's tank and spray it with the reptile spray? I know it says to put it on the animal, but I would give the tank a spray as well, then leave it for a day. A good F10, then put everything back.
It sounds like you are on the right track though. Give him another wipe down with the spray, and another bath. That should just about get rid of them. And throw away the new bark, just to be sure.

Sophi · 04-11-15, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pinefamily

Did you completely strip your bluey's tank and spray it with the reptile spray? I know it says to put it on the animal, but I would give the tank a spray as well, then leave it for a day. A good F10, then put everything back.
It sounds like you are on the right track though. Give him another wipe down with the spray, and another bath. That should just about get rid of them. And throw away the new bark, just to be sure.

Yes

I spent about four hours cleaning tanks. I have two snakes and the skink. I also have crested geckos. I've heard They have a low chance of getting snake mites and since they are so little I was too scared of spraying them with any chemicals but I did wash and sanitize thier tank and climbing trees and food and water bowls. I cleaned thier tanks with zoo Meds "wipe out" tank cleaner and "reptile spray" and then flushed it with lots of hot water.

I used reptile relife, zoo med wipe out and a bleach solution with my skink tank and both of my snake tanks. I baked wood toys and put plastic hides in the dishwasher. I let all the tanks dry out with the windows open and the fans on for an hour before putting the animals back in. I got plastic tubs and drilled holes in them to bathe the animals in and have put them all through the dish washer after.

My skink still has mites. I noticed them on him again this morning, only two, but I know they have impossible to see eggs. I gave him a bath again this morning and saw a few more dead in the water. This evening I pulled another one off him.

I ordered prevent a mite PAM because I have read a lot of people having great success with it with snakes.... Will it be safe for my skink? It should be here soon. I ordered two day shipping.

I'm just so anxious about spraying chemicals around my animals. I recently lost my bearded dragon soon after he was pronounced healthy by my exotics veterinarian and it absolutely crushed me. I can't stand to loose another animal, especially this guy, he's my favorite. He sleeps in my sweater and I take him everywhere and I love him like family.

I made an appointment to take him to the vet on Friday just to get him checked out and get a fecal done to make sure he doesn't have any other parasites or problems.

My boyfriend says I'm being irrational but I'm just scared he's going to get sick and die before then.

Sophi · 04-11-15, 10:35 PM

I have also read some stuff and watched anew videos of people treating thier snakes with olive oil. Is this dangerous?

Batch · 04-11-15, 10:50 PM

Never used olive oil myself.
Here's what I do.
1 Bathe the blue in dawn dish soap water mixture for about 15 min while rubbing the scales. He should tilt his head up but if not don't let him ingest soapy water. Then in plain water.
2. Place in new tub/rub cage that's REALLY easy too clean.
3. For bedding I get rid of it and keep him off for at least a month to make sure no eggs are left (probably overkill) but it sucks when everyone gets them.
4 For furniture, bake a LONG time it takes longer than you would think to ook through to the center of a 2 inch piece of wood (3 hours at 250 should do it)
5. I bleach and steam clean the container. Then wait a week and steam clean it again. (If you don't have one I highly recommend it for viruses and some bacteria that bleach can't kill)
6. After the blue gets 2 to 3 more dawn baths he goes back into the enclosure. (Be careful as the dawn can cause a bad she'd so just be on top of his next shed with warm baths.)
7. After they're gone a fecal exam at the vet is never a bad idea as mites can carry all sorts of fun stuff.

Think I got it all but I'm on my phone, so I'm sorry if it makes 0 sense.

pinefamily · 04-11-15, 11:50 PM

You're not being irrational at all. No one wants to lose a pet, and with reptiles there is less professional help out there. You are on the way to getting all of the mites off him. I wouldn't worry too much about the other reptiles, just keep an eye on them for a few weeks to be sure.

Sophi · 04-12-15, 08:38 AM

I was giving him another warm bath this morning and he started shedding. I went to rub him down and poof all his skin just came off. (except for his head and tail)

Are they more sensitive when shedding or right after? I don't want to use any chemicals on him if that's the case right now.

Sophi · 04-12-15, 03:23 PM

It just occurred to me that I have a "bug Zapp" oven I bought while battling bed bugs a few years ago. It works by heating whatever is in the bag to extreme heat for a long time. It's like a portable oven duffle bag...

Would this be a good way to eliminate snake mites? Will heat kill all life stages of these mites? If I can find my old bug Zapp oven then I can place the entire tank inside and blast it for a few hour, then by spraying prevent a mite perhaps it will help kill the remaining mites on my skink when I put him back in his tank.

Batch · 04-12-15, 04:50 PM

Yes heat or cold will kill all stages of mites. I'm not familiar with bug zapp or how you would use it on a terrarium. But if it heats it at least 130 and not over 200 (acrylic and most adhesives will begin melting at or around this point) then you'll kill all of the mites.

pinefamily · 04-13-15, 02:39 AM

Reptiles, especially snakes, don't like getting held before shedding, but are sensitive after a shed.

Sophi · 04-14-15, 04:52 AM

Thanks for all the responses, guys. I gave him another bath last night and didn't see any mites at all, so I think I'm gaining the upper hand against them. I cleaned the tank again with the reptile relife and flushed it with lots of warm water.

His appetite has been really good and his energy seemed up last night too. I'm going to keep doing the reptile relife and warm baths. I got my bugg Zapp oven up and runninf (it's a really great product actually and saved a lot of my stuff from when I got bedbugs a few years back) and it's big enough to fit the entire tank, top, and all furnishing and hides and toys inside. So I will spend the weekend heat treating all of his stuff. When I get the prevent-a-mite I will treat all the tanks with that too.

The other good news is that I havnt seen any mites on either of my snakes, or on thier paper towels.

He does have two tiny little spots which look like they might be sores or bites from where the mites were hiding. One in his neck and one on his tail. I'm doing my best to keep him clean and happy but is there anything I can do for these? I'm assuming they will heal in their own.

Ideally I'd like to save myself the veterinarian bills but I will probably still be taking him in for a check up on Friday.