BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

I'm pretty sure that my IJ's enclosure houses a colony of wood mites from the sphagnum moss used as a substrate. I think they are harmless, but there are a lot of them crawling everywhere and I see them on her as well. Could I mist the whole enclosure with mite off including the substrate or is there a better way to get rid of them? I'd like to keep the substrate since I didn't put it in there very long ago. I think the wood mites have been helping with her feces actually, they don't seem to bother her from what I can tell, but I don't think I should leave them in there. Thanks!

If they are wood mites, they are completely harmless to your skink and can be left in the enclosure.
If you do however want to get rid of them, I believe simply freezing the substrate is enough to kill them, which would be better/safer than using a poison ...not sure on that though as I've never dealt with them... .

If you do decide to use a poison, regardless of which kind, make sure to follow all instructions to ensure your skink's safety.

Hey Jess. Have you seen this thread on mites?
What makes you think they are wood mites and not snake mites?

alichamp wrote:Hey Jess. Have you seen this thread on mites?
What makes you think they are wood mites and not snake mites?

I've dealt with snake mites before and these ones are tiny little white things that crawl around the substrate and sometimes on my skink. I googled it and from what I found, they are wood mites from the substrate. It makes sense since they only appeared after I switched my skink over to a larger enclosure with new Sphagnum moss.

Let us know how you deal with them for info.