Alternatives to treating mites?

[xmangotart]

So I need some help from people who are very experienced!
Ive been dealing with mites for a while now on my skink but it hasnt gone away yet, although the mites have become significantly less lately.
I live in a place where i cannot get these fancy reptile mite sprays so i have been trying these home remedies instead:
-Bathing in water multiple times
-Water with a drop of dish soap
-covering the skink with vegetable oil

The mites are still there so could anyone give me any more home remedies to try? Ive been wanting to try pest strips but sadly i couldnt find them (unless there are alternatives in the Philippines) I heard they are effective and safe in very small doses. I have also quarantined my skink in a plastic box and really cleaned my room, but im letting him stay there until he's better!

If ever I do find an effective method, how do I make sure he really has no mites?
and as for substrate (which i suspect is what gave my skink the mites) how do i clean it? I use aspen shavings and its really easy to use and i have tried putting it under the sun to kill anything in there, is that effective? If not, what can I use to clean the substrate?

Thanks in advance to anyone that answers my questions!!

[Bluish]

Nix is a shampoo that you should be able to buy at any pharmacy. It is used for treating head lice in humans specifically small children. I mix 1teaspoon of Nix to 1 cup of warm water and stir well until thoroughly mixed. Place it in a spray bottle and spray your skink all over. I let it sit on them for a minute or so and rinse it off. Spray the skinks cage and surrounding area with the nix. Let it sit for a few minutes and clean and rinse thoroughly. Do not give your skink water for 24 hours. I find this very effective. The mites die almost immediately. If you can it is better just to put the skink in a fresh enclosure in another room if you can. Repeat the process in a few days and your mites should be gone.

[xmangotart]

Oh cool ill try this out as soon as i find that shampoo! Thanks for the advice!
If I am unable to find Nix, will any head lice shampoo work? or just Nix?

[Susann]

The chemical in Nix that kills the lice is called Permethrin and it's a strength of 1%. As long as you find something with that strength of the chemical I think you should be fine.

[xmangotart]

Ah okay, thanks so much! I'll give it a try

[JoshChimera]

I hope you really do get rid of the mites... They are worst than ticks.. They lay eggs all night! I had a mite problem as well this past winter. I used the fancy product Prevent-O-mite aerosol can in my enclosures.. I was fortunate.. I hope Nix is something you have in the Philippines.

[Richard.C]

i was going to say what bluish said,try a nit shampoo,diluted with water,over here before the popular mite treatment aerosols became available,i used one called orange medic

diluted with water,worked quite well

just chrck out various nit shampoos,some can be stringer than others so u may need to dilute with more water,but most are very similar in strength

[RoryBreaker]

The enclosure can harbour huge quantities of mite. Placing your skink in a plastic tub is a good start. Keep it on a paper substrate with some plastic hides. The trick is definitely to kill the life cycle of the mite. Treat once a week for 3 weeks at a minimum.

As for the enclosure, go nuts. Strip it out, all substrate , bin any wood, and remove fittings eg. Lights and thermostats etc.. for cleaning , treat the cage multiple times . Mites will get into any crevice,crack which is away from any light.

[Scotts1au]

There are a proportion of mites that will wander out of your enclosure into the room that the bluey was kept. As I've written before, give a quick spray with permethrin based fly spray around the outside perimeter of your enclosure as well, this will kill wandering mites that might want to try to get back in. I wouldn't bother with suggested methods such as using petroleum jelly around the lip of the enclosure - I've watched them walk straight over it.

[Richard.C]

yeah follow up treatments are the important part,as eggs can survive mite treatments and cause reinfestation down the track,so weeklu to fortnightly treatments for at least 4 weeks even if no mites are detected is a good idea to destroy the lifecycle and stop future issues

[xmangotart]

Thanks everyone for being very supportive! im so glad theres a forum for so many kinds of reptiles haha
I couldnt find Nix but I found a nice shampoo with the same strength, hope it works