Mites

Hi,

We have a Bluey who has a mite infestation and a pretty bad one too. I have been doing some research and came across this info on your forums from 2010.

Definitely looks like a very big mite infestation, and the animal is probably dehydrated because of the drain they place on the animal's blood supply. There are lots of articles on mite management on this site, but one thing you must do is kill all the mites which will have moved out of the enclosure and into the surrounding area. Remove the animal into a clean plastic tub, and leaving ALL enclosure materials in place in the OPEN enclosure, use a flea/cockroach bomb from the supermarket to fumigate the room and the enclosure, this will kill all mites in the substrate and cage decorations as well. If you remove and discard the substrate without first killing the mites, all you will do is spread them over a wider area as you trash the substrate - kill them in place before removing it. Treat the animal separately with an insecticide such as Orange Medic and place in a white or pale pillowcase so you can see if the mites are still alive a day or two later - you can see them moving on the pale fabric. Discard all substrate (must) and cage decorations (or clean in hot water).

The flea bomb won't leave a toxic residue once it has done its job, but it leaves a hormone residue which stops mites (& fleas, cockroaches...) from developing into breeding adults, so as long as you've treated the animal thoroughly and effectively, you should have no more problems. Make sure you follow the instructions on the flea bomb can - remove fishtanks etc.

Jamie

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Our Bluey is housed on the patio, so we will bomb the actual cage. We have taken Jengo (the bluey) out and he is living in a plastic tub for a while. I can't find Orange Medic, so is there any other ways to treat him? We also have cats and dogs and other furry animals so we have to find a product that is not harmful to them all...

any info on how to care for Jengo and make in more comfortable in the mean time is appreciated. I am a first time reptile owner so this is all new to me.

Cheers Donna

I have had to treat for mites in the past. If mites you might notice the scales lifted up a bit and not smooth going one direction as the mites burrow under the scales to get to the skin. Also look for tiny white spots over the skink, this is the mite pooh, and small black bugs crawling around on the skink, especially around face and head.

I use a reptile specific spray for snake mites from the reptile/pet store.

This is what I did:
- spray everything in enclosure including bluey - IF USING REPTILE SPECIFIC SPRAY - for first spray. After a couple of days, remove everything and keep accessories out for a few weeks and treat them weekly by washing and spraying with the spray. Clean enclosure thoroughly.
- use newspaper or paper towels as substrate for the next several weeks, you can add things like empty tissue boxes, cardboard rolls and old cardboard tea boxes in the meantime. These are easy to throw away if they get soiled.
- for my glass enclosure, I cleaned it every week with a bleach and water solution, leave for 15 minutes then rinse with water and dry off thoroughly. Spray around the outside surrounding area of the enclosure with the same spray or with a general fly spray as mites can travel. This is also a consideration if you move the bluey that has mites. You may also spread the mites, but sounds like you have no other reptiles.
- once it is completely dry, use the reptile spray inside the enclosure with the reptile inside it once a week, although I did use it every 3-5 days for the first couple of treatments because I wanted to treat aggresively.
- continue treatment for at least 30 days, as I believe that is the approximate life cycle of mites.

A bath might help soothe and drown mites on the skinks body if particularly irritated or infested but otherwise not necessary. You might find he is a bit more grumpy than usual and may not be that into food but should go back to normal once mites are treated.

VERY IMPORTANT:
I don't know about your particular product but I was told the spray can be toxic when in contact with water, so ensure your reptile and the enclosure is absolutely completely unquestionably dry before you spray anything, and remove all water and food from the enclosure before spraying and don't return it to the cage for 24 hours after spraying.

I hope this makes sense!

Never had to deal with mites but I most commonly hear of a product called Top Of Descent.
It seems easy enough to get hold of but for application in your case I can't help so you will need to do some research or wait for someone else to advise.

Oh I will just add that if the infestation is a "bad" one like you say it is important to treat aggressively as above and even over 6 weeks to make sure you get rid of it all. Mites can become a big problem for the health of the animal if not treated effectively.

You might need to consider where the mites came from. Being housed in an open area such as the patio it may well be impossible to treat the source which is more than likely a passer by which may revisit. Maybe you should consider using a systemic treatment such as Ivermectin to kill any mites which reinfect Bluey, as well as the environmental treatment suggested by Jamie, by covering the cage and stand with plastic or a tarp before bombing it.
i don't think mites cause major problems in the wild as the animal can escape and move to "clean' ground , however in captivity the occupants are confined in their environment and easy targets for the multipying mites.

Thanks guys for all the treatment ideas. Sadly I had been on holidays for quite some time and the family thought he was just shedding. He passed away over night.

Oh I'm so sorry Donna.

That's terrible Donna Sorry for your loss

Thanks again guys, for your help and taking the time to write all the treatments, you guys are a very friendly bunch

Difficult to treat outdoor areas with chemicals.You might want to check out hypoaspis mites as an alternative.

Mac Mite for next time - Sorry to hear of poor Blueys passing