BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I recently discovered a few reptile mites on one of the snakes in my collection, and his enclosure was within 6 inches of my BTS's enclosure. I have physically examined my Northern and do not see any mites, but I want to treat him as though the mites may have migrated to his enclosure nonetheless. My question is what is the recommended procedure for treating a Northern BTS for reptile mites? Is It an different than what I would do for my snakes?

Just as a point of reference, for my snakes I do the following:
1) Remove the snake and place it in a critter keeper and spray the enclosure with Provent-a-mite
2) Spray the snake directly with reptile relief, leave it alone for 20 minutes
3) In the same critter keeper, add water and allow snake to soak for 30 minutes
4) Once Provent-a-mite is dry (I allow about 30 minutes), I return the snake to its enclosure
5) Repeat about once a week for at least a month (water bowl big enough for the snake to soak in is provided at all times, refreshed daily)

I just had my first hit of mites on my blue tongue skink last week. I never had mites on any of my reptiles before! What product I used: Zoomed Mite off. I removed all bedding and cage furniture and soaked the cage furniture in very hot water submerged for at least two hours and spray my product in the enclosure. I used my product on my skink and soaked him in warmer than average water. I used as directed the product on my skink spraying him and wiping the dead and live crawling mites from his body. I repeatedly removed mites for two days. The second day letting running water hit his body, drowning the ugly bloody mites! My skink was mite free in two nights.

one thing with the spray is that, unlike snakes, skinks don't have the protective membrane over their eyes to protect them, so be careful spraying around the head and eyes. you can use a towel or q-tip moistened with the anti-mite spray to wipe around the head and ears without having to spray there.

i used a somewhat different method for my skink, because i also keep tarantulas and needed to keep the use of insecticide sprays to a minimum. also, my skink was very young and only in a 20-gal tank at the time, i couldn't have used this method with a larger tank. i used a diluted ivermectin spray once a week for a month, spraying the skink directly, and let him sit in a separate tub for about an hour before bathing and rinsing him off, and meanwhile i thoroughly cleaned his enclosure. i did not use spray on the enclosure itself. i had two cages, and switched them every week, putting the extra cage in a large freezer for the week it wasn't used. afterwards i thoroughly rinsed the tub out, washed all my clothes, and showered to remove any trace of insecticide (also wore latex gloves during treatment so it wasn't getting directly on my hands). of course, if you don't keep inverts as pets, you don't need to go nearly that far in precautions.

timisimaginary wrote:one thing with the spray is that, unlike snakes, skinks don't have the protective membrane over their eyes to protect them, so be careful spraying around the head and eyes. you can use a towel or q-tip moistened with the anti-mite spray to wipe around the head and ears without having to spray there.

This is a good point about their eyes that I hadn't considered. I was also wondering how long to soak a Northern, could it be harmful to them if it's done for too long (i.e. respiratory issues)?