Mites!

[saisaac]

Frustrating afternoon.

I cleaned Chewy's tank out yesterday and wiped everything down. Then I re-setup the enclosure and filled it back in with Ecoearth and some sphagnum moss to accent some areas. Apparently either the moss or the Ecoearth had dust/wood mites in it because when I came home from work this afternoon I saw tiny little bugs moving around in areas of the enclosure. So I immediately got Chewy out of the enclosure and put him in the bath with some warm water and got to work cleaning out the enclosure. I am going to run to the store and buy some tile to fit the enclosure. So frustrated. I am going to use some artificial grass and plants to still give him an area to burrow and of course still have his hides which are being cleaned as we speak.

Should I be concerned about him having mites? He was in the enclosure for less than 24 hours since I last cleaned it, and I did not see anything on him that suggested he was having any issues.

What do the experts here suggest? I have dealt with other issues with reptiles in the past such as impaction, yellow fungus, etc. but I have never dealt with mites.

Thanks everyone.

[Fatal_S]

There's a difference between reptile mites and the other random bugs that come in on substrates. Reptile mites specifically suck the blood of reptiles, while other bugs are pretty harmless (though most people aren't big on bugs indoors). Maybe do some research on reptile mites, try to have a close look at one of yours, and see if you actually have to worry about treating for reptile mites?

[donkeybuff]

Wood mites are very common with moss and Eco Earth. People usually have more trouble when they collect stuff from outside, but it's still a possibility that what you saw were reptile mites. What did the bugs look like?

[Scincoides]

Very small and white/tan are wood mites, larger and black are reptile mites. Although male reptile mites look very much like wood mites, but where you find males, you'll find females. And they are unmistakable

[Richard.C]

if u get a mite specific aerosol spray you can kill them all regardless,good for piece of mind,a follow up every week to fortnight for a month or so will kill off any that were in eggs when last treatment was done

bonus is u have mite spray handy down the track if a new outbreak hits or to spray new arrivals to keep collection clean

does sound like wood mites or just little bugs though,but better to be safe than sorry

[Dakota]

This is wood mites:

[saisaac]

Definitely wood mites. Lots of wood mites. I have everything cleaned up now though.

[Dakota]

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=24091

[saisaac]

Thanks everyone!

I loved the way a more natural looking substrate looked in the enclosure, but do you think it would actually be bad to just use tile and give him plenty of places where he can hid and some fake plants that he can burrow into?

[saisaac]

No responses? Right now I have put in textured ceramic tile (plenty grippy enough for him to "run" around). Once corner of the tank has fake plants to hind amongst and he also has some cork rounds with some fabric to burrow into. He seems to really like the shirt and has been more active lately than he was with the substrate. It has been pretty easy to keep clean so long as he poops in the middle of a tile. He pooped right along a seam and that was a pain to clean up after. Regardless, I want him to be happy and healthy. What is the concern with natural soil mixtures aside from possible impaction and cleanliness issues? I was considering giving him a dig box with a sand/topsoil mixture similar to what is often used for substrate for beardies in Europe in one area of his cage that way I could make sure it was far enough away from his food and I could remove it to clean it easily.

[Dakota]

I am a strong believer that substrate is the ultimate hide. I personally would always use substrate, unless a skink was secerely sick or something. I probably wouldn't go no less than a big dig box.

That's my opinion, anyways. They come from the wild where soil/substrate is everywhere. It is natural for them.

[saisaac]

My thoughts exactly. I want him to have a habitat that allows him to flourish with minimal health risks. I am probably just being paranoid from past experiences. I adopted a beardie when I was younger that was impacted from the substrate it had been kept on previously and it nearly died from it. Shortly thereafter it got a skin infection that likely came from the substrate as well so I am very cautious about substrate. The mites kind of freaked me out even though they were wood mites.

[Richard.C]

Plenty of people keep with no substrate with great success,offering hides they can sqeeze into or there body touches most sides and top of gives them security like burrowing in a substrate,pros and cons either way

[saisaac]

Yeah, what I ended up doing was getting a very large corner bowl that is about 3inches deep and filling it with cypress and then putting some cork bark over part of it. Super easy to take the bark out and replace and he hasn't been pooping in it. He seems very happy with my decision. It still seems like he is more active now that we have most of the tank tile instead of substrate.