Mites!

[RowlandsReptiles]

Hey Guys, so, this is my first post.

But anyways, I rescued a BTS from a irresponsible owner Monday, and, it has mites. The only thing I know about the animal is that it was born in 2011, and, is a mutt ( Irian Jaya x Northern ). This is my first lizard, and need some advice on treating these mites!

[A.VinczeBTs]

About special care of the Bluey I'm not much help, wait for others. But I've dealt with mites before (year and a half, almost two years back).

First, you're going to need either PAM (provent-a-mite, not the cooking spray!) or NIX (Lice cream, and you mix it with a large amount of water). You're going to spray a temporary bin with PAM or NIX, if you use PAM wait until it's dry, if NIX you can put your skink in it right away. While he's there you have to clean the enclosure. EVERYTHING LEAVES IN GARBAGE BAGS! No substrate can be kept. Decorations can be dunked and washed/soaked in HOT water with soap.
One empty, wash the tank with HOT water and soap and rinse clean, then spray with your NIX or PAM and allow to air out as needed.

Then take paper towel, and use it as substrate, spray it with PAM or NIX too. All Hides and decorations should also be sprayed before being placed back in, and let to dry after they're washed.

NEVER spray the water dish though, wash it in hot soap water, but never spray with anything, just wash it often. You don't want him to drink the chemicals at all.

Now before you put your skink back, spray him with NIX (NEVER SPRAY PAM ON AN ANIMAL, it will kill him!! If you use PAM you don't need to anyway), and then rub with a paper towel which you'll throw out.

You'll have to do this every two weeks with PAM and every 3 days with NIX.

Now this worked great for my snakes, it may be a little different for a skink so wait for others to reply. I used the PAM method on the enclosures while using NIX on the animals themselves since it was safer.

Again, this is what I did for my snakes, so wait for others to reply for Blues. But I think it's basically the same concept. With mites the only super important thing is to be vigilant and on top of the routine.

[Fatal_S]

I use this method with NIX:
http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/general- ... mites.html

[Katrina]

Great post Avincze. Good info and you clearly explained that it works for snakes, not sure about blueys.

Welcome Rowland!! Good luck with the new one, I don't have mite experience, so all I can say is good luck getting rid of the evil creatures.

[NennaMeerkat]

Yeah let us know how the treatment you use works. And if you use the treatment suggested above (such wonderful details!) which has been used on snakes...let us know how it works for your skink. I myself have no experience with mites, thank goodness, so I can't give much more than "I hope you get this taken care of".

Also if you can get some photos of the mites I would like to see what they look like. Seen mites on snakes, wondering if it might be the same.

[Fatal_S]

I should add I used that treatment on about 20 BTS. It worked fantastically. No mites again after first treatment. Treated a week or so later (read instructions) to make sure.

Note: NIX kills all inverts around (my tarantulas died) so use some caution there.

[A.VinczeBTs]

If you use PAM or NIX, as Fatal stated, it will kill some animals that are in the area. Sensitive animals such as spiders and fogs WILL die. They need to be moved to the separate room altogether!

They can be treated easily by just cleaning the caging with hot water and some soap, and just replace substrate, no nix or pam anywhere near them.
Thanks Fatal, forgot to mention that with mine too. :O

OP, let us know how it goes!