white specks on my skink's head

[Y33T]

My eastern had shed a few days ago and more of those white spots appeared on her head, she had about one or two before which also appeared after her previous shed.
Does she have mites?

[Tokkay]

Could you post any pics of them? It would help us get an idea of what it could be

It doesn't sound like mites in my experience, though- mites are usually tiny black dots and you'll see them moving often

[Y33T]

Sorry for the late response, here’s a pic.

[Tokkay]

It's a little tricky to tell with the lighting. Possibly looks like bits of substrate/shed skin to me? Is it smooth if you run your finger over it, or does anything come off?

What kind of substrate is she on? How often do you clean her cage? I've sometimes seen tiny white mite-looking bugs living in the substrate in other lizard cages, especially with higher humidity species, but I don't believe they cause any harm. They sometimes crawl on the lizards but mostly stay in the substrate. I used to see it more often with cages that hadn't been cleaned in awhile (I worked at a pet store). Could be something like that?

[Y33T]

its kind of a rough-ish texture compared to the rest of her body and nothing comes off. She does get random pale and flaky spots appearing on her body but it often happens before she sheds.

She's on coir peat mixed with repti bark and I usually clean out her cage once a month and spot clean daily. So far I haven't seen any bugs in her tank. She had snail mites when she was 4 months old and I heard they don't harm reptiles. I haven't spotted any ever since.

[Tokkay]

Hmm, maybe she's rubbing her head on something in her cage? The fact that the spots feel rough make me think so. I've had similar spots on my skinks before but they usually aren't as discolored. Does she have wood/slate/rock hides? Her head rubbing on them could be doing it, but I'm no expert.

[Y33T]

I think you’re right. She has both rock and wood hides. I did see her nudging/rubbing up against them while in shed or trying to burrow under the hides. I have another bluey and he has a rock hide but I never see him try to get under it (probably too heavy for him) and he doesn’t have those spots.