BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi all,

We bought an Irian Jaya about a month ago, he's about 9 weeks old now. We've had some teething problems with him (mites, even though we do not own any snakes and can not think how they got into his enclosure).

Currently he's living on paper towels while we demite him (using olive oil) and repeatedly clean the vivarium.

We've actually just bought him a new vivarium of 48X24X24 and want to make sure everything it right for him. When we initially got him we used a substrate of Orchid Bark (recommended by the reptile shop we got him from), but initially the humidity was about 80% (this was before we had him). After a while the humidity lowered to between 55 - 65 but still went up to 75% at night. Our understanding is that this is much too high for a skink, so we are reluctant to use it again as when we removed all the hides during the demiting process, we found one had started to grow mold on the under side!

What is the recommended humidity level and substrate for an Irian Jaya BTS?

keep it dry until u bugger mites off,also id use a dedicated mite treatment,oil is messy and a drawn out process that wont eridicate them all

you dont need snakes to get mites,also if they have one or two its hard to tell they have mites,until the mites breed and then infestation is bigger,oil wont kill mite eggs,so retreatments are needed after initial treatments,to kill what the eggs produce

a puff or two of a dedicated mite spray makes getting rid of them faster and easier in the long run,and your bluey isnt the equivelent of a wet bar of soap,lol

with humidity u dont want constant moisture in whole cage all the time,enclosed wet warmed cages allow bacteria to flourish,moulds ect

options are a dry cage with moist hide,or misting of an evening to raise humidity,but only enough so the following day heat of cage allows cage to dry out,then remist the following arvo/evening yafda yadda yadda

the drying out prevents bacteria/moulds and other nasties flourishing,the fun part with indoors keeping is providing humidity but also dryness to

Great, thanks for your help. We've got some Frontline from the vets now and applied that once to him - just keeping eyes peeled for any pesky mites (they tend to hide in his ears) but he looks clear now touch wood. No more olive oil for the poor thing.

We'll get a drier substrate for his new viv - and spray as you suggest. Is aspen or carefresh ok to use? (we're in the UK but hopefully places like Pets at Home will sell it for other pets)

Thanks :O)

Both aspen and Carefresh are fine to use, however, I would keep him on paper towels for a few weeks to make sure you're not starting a new infestation cycle.
Always when you are switching substrate, just to be safe keep an eye on your skink for a few minutes after you put him on it for the first time to make sure he's not eating a bunch of it while checking it out. After one taste they really should have figured out that it's not food, but I've heard of skinks who tend to eat some substrates.

A personal opinion regarding the use of Frontline. I wouldn't be totally comfortable using this product on a young animal. Its active ingredient Fipronil can be toxic if ingested, particularly by a young developing animal. Top of Descent (active ingredient D-Phenothrin at low volume) has already been mentioned and looks to be a safer option for younger reptiles.

I believe mites need to be looked at a little differently to fleas etc. as they are arachnids not insects.

A good, if a bit lengthy, article on the life cycle and various treatments of mite infestations, written by a vet:

http://www.karingalvet.com.au/Pet-Care/ ... -Mites.asp

Thanks for the advice guys.
We'll stop using the Frontline, we were a bit nervous and mentioned his age to the vet when she gave it to us. We have only given him one little tiny bit of the spray with a kitchen tissue applied to his back, he's seems fine since but won't use again to be on safeside.

Will keep him on kitchen roll for now, it's certainly nice and easy to clean out.

The poor little guy is definitely starting to look like he's in better spirits, he's still terrified of us tho, but hopefully with time (and a nice new big vivarium) he'll get used to his life with us.... :-)