BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hey guys, I recently got a young blue tounge skink. He has snake mites. I noticed them last night but they are definitely snake mites.

I'm on my way to the pet store to get some stuff to start treatment and I've done a lot of reasearch alralready but I'm concerned about his ears.

When I give him a bath, won't all of the mites just hide in his ears? Can they put their heads under water?

He has a vet appointment tomorrow and I'm just going to get a fecal sample done while I'm there to make sure he doesn't have any other parasites, but I'm doing everything else i can in the mean time... Including treatment for both of my snakes as well....

Thanks.

Start at the ears and move outwards

You can also liberally oil his ears and eyes with an veggy oil (not mineral oil) to help suffocate the mites and make it too slick for them to get a foot hold to travel

Don't forget his enclosure and it is probably best to keep him in a more barren tank with paper towels and a couple hiding spots that can be regularly doused in boiling water or cooked in the oven to kill any mite eggs or juviniles that might be hiding on them

If he is going to the vet tomorrow, I wouldn't worry about treating the skink. The vet can help you with that. However, you need to treat his enclosure. Remove all bedding and throw it out. It will be much easier having the skink live on paper towels,newspaper, etc for the next several weeks. The enclosure needs to be bare or with decorations that can be easily treated. All current decor and accessories need to be cleaned.

I personally had great results with Provent-a-mite spray. You may also find a lice bedding spray at local store that would also work. The spray is only skink safe once it is completely dry. Maybe con someone into cleaning cage while skink is being treated at vets tomorrow?

Throw out the substrate, disinfect the enclosure, soak the other stuff like basking spot hides etc in bleach and then in hot water.