Mites???

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conradanddanielle
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Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 12:57 pm
Country: Britain
Location: Ossett

Mites???

Postby conradanddanielle » Fri Aug 31, 2018 2:17 pm

hi i recently got my blue tongue around a week and a half ago, he looked fine when i got him home, he went into a all new, clean vivarium with new substrate, hides etc and now i can see little tiny white things that look like very small mites crawling all over him, they are white not black and seem to hide in the crevices on his head mostly and crawl all over him. I have read everywhere that mites on snakes and reptiles are black so cannot understand what these could be? He doesnt seem to have raised scales or be in any discomfort? They seem to have rounded mite shape bodies and be white/transparent in colour and no bigger than a grain of salt or sugar. I read they could be soil mites but then also read that soil mites tend to not crawl on the lizard/snake so with them being on him and hiding in between the scales on his head i really do not know what they are. Please help someone!
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kayla990
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Re: Mites???

Postby kayla990 » Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:32 am

Aww, sorry to hear. For reference, mites can also be white (known as protonymph stage). Your description does sound like mites... Sadly it's a pain to fix.. it involves taking out the substrate (replacing with paper towels), cleaning the tank and objects inside vigorously (including carpets or curtains that may be close by outside the tank) along with products such as Callington spray (don't use front line since you're based in UK - it's different from the recommended versions in other countries).

Do you have an Australian or Indonesian species? As you'll need to provide a large water dish for humidity purposes if you have an Indo. Frequent bathing can help to remove mites. However it's understandable if you're wary about bathing since he's still new (instead can try wipe down with a wet paper towel).

Otherwise I would recommend doing a search on the forum for Mites - some posts that could be useful in the meantime:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=30930
viewtopic.php?t=29388

If you're able to take him to a vet it would be good to get a general health check up and to confirm it's mites (as for example, springtails are also very tiny and white.. but have a different shape).

Goodluck!
- Hons. Degree Animal Management -4 years volunteer in a Zoo -10 years volunteer in animal shelters -Enclosure enthusiast

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