My bluey has mites - am I handling them properly?

[Robotmenace]

First time reptile owner here, we've had our Halmahera Blue Tongue for about nine months now, and somehow she's got mites. Not sure how the exposure happened, might've come from substrate at the pet store, but I can only guess. This will be my first post here, but I've gotten lots of helpful advice from reading through old posts on these forums, and I feel like I can trust the community here. I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can for her and not making any mistakes in handling the infestation. So I'd like to walk through my process thus far, and ask for some advice on moving forward.

Yesterday morning when we discovered the mites, I ran and bought some mite spray from a local pet store. I wiped her down with a cloth and some of the spray, then put her in a bath for a bit. I broke down and cleaned her entire tank, baked her wooden pieces at 250 for an hour, and boiled everything that couldn't go in the oven. I pulled out a spare tank that we had (we only used it for the first two months or so until we could upsize, so it shouldn't be an exposure risk), cleaned it up, lined it in paper towels and put her in there with a spare hide and water dish that weren't being actively used in her main enclosure. She spent the night in quarantine. This morning she appears to be starting to shed from her armpits. I could still visibly see some mites on her, but couldn't tell if they were alive or not, I didn't see any moving. We put her in a bath again and quite a few of them came off.

So my first question is: Have I handled them properly so far? Secondly I'm looking for suggestions on a game plan going forward, especially what to do about keeping her hydrated in the barebones quarantine tank.

[kayla990]

Welcome!

It sounds like the approach you're taking is great! It sounds like in time they should go away if you keep doing what you're already doing. If they seem to grow in numbers or don't go away, a natural way to remove them is to see if you can get hold of Hypoaspis miles - they are mites that attack the bad mites.

Otherwise for hydration:

- Get hold of a large but shallow water dish and place it close to a heat source to let it evaporate. Replace it daily with new water.
- Cover up additional air holes/ventilation strips (for example, towels on top of the tank if there are holes there), but not 100% - allow a small amount of ventilation
- It's possible to attach a soaked sponge to the side of the tank to keep things humid but out of reach of your Bluey from biting it (think suction cups to hold it up or *maybe* tape if it won't leave marks on the tank).
- It may be possible to spray down the tank sides (if it's glass); as long as it doesn't make the paper towels too wet
- Otherwise, a fogger could be something to look into for long-term use (also heard that nebulizer or cigar humidifiers taped to the glass work)

Hope they'll go away asap!

[Robotmenace]

Thanks for the reply Kayla! I've been giving her daily baths, and just gave her a second wipe down with the mite spray as per instructions of once every three days. She seems to be doing well. I'm still not entirely sure what caused the outbreak, maybe a combination of the substrate and stagnant air, but they seemed to die off really quick. Haven't seen any on her the past two days, including in the bath water. I'm gonna keep her in quarantine until this weekend, my vet is due to call me tomorrow so I can ask him a few questions and see if he thinks it'd be safe to put her back in her normal enclosure.