MITES

[kl]

After not worrying about this in over 6 yrs, I now have concerns about mites being introduced here. Today, a blotched was shipped to me to keep over the Winter for a breeding loan. Prior to shipping I asked the person if there were any mite concerns and was told no though he'd spray her with Ivermectin just to be safe. The animal was actually one of my animal's offspring from 2010. When it came today I took her out and looked her over, did not notice anything and then placed it in a large plastic tub in my reptile room. About 5 minutes after doing this I happened to notice the cloth bag it had been in had many small black dots. After looking more closely I noticed they were mites. I immediately took the entire enclosure upstairs where no other reptiles are. I ended up shipping the animal back a few hrs later. I changed all my clothes, showered, etc. I then sprayed a pet store brand mite spray over all the legs of the stands my other cages are in the room in case any mites were on the ground and then would try and get to other cages. Most of my cages are off the ground. I also threw out the plastic tub. How likely would that short period of a couple of minutes being in the reptile room could any mites have gotten out of that enclosure ( 2 1/2 feet tall) or maybe a couple falling off the cloth bag when I looked at it, and then infecting the whole room? Right now I'm so angry because I am extremely careful about introducing mites into the house which is one reason I hardly ever buy any new lizards.

KL

[Jeff]

I think you are probably ok Kim. I would re-spray all the things you already sprayed, but it sounds like you did it in time to prevent any mites that COULD have left the plastic tub from getting to your other animals. I think I would spray the floor and legs of the enclosures every other day for a week to be safe. Just try to do it in a way that doesn't let the vapors get into your enclosures.

[Lea]

Mites don't jump, although can move quickly if seeking a new host. It's unlikely, however, that you would have had mites moving so fast as to cause a problem with your existing stock. If you sprayed that quickly, I think you can safely assume you got them all, but it would still pay to be vigilant.

[kl]

Actually I did not spray for several hours as I had to do some things out of town right after I discovered the mites. As soon as I discovered the problem (less than 2 minutes after placing the animal in the reptile room), I removed the lizard and the enclosure to a room upstairs. When I came back home I packed up the animal and shipped it back. Then I went and got some spray. I did not really think the animal was down there long enough for anything to get out or I would have acted quicker. As for upstairs exposure, I'm sure the animal was there long enough for mites to crawl out if they wanted to. Interestingly, I went outside to where I threw out the cloth bag and it looked like all the mites were still there and this was a few hrs later. Hopefully any that are upstairs will die off eventually without reproducing as they won't find any reptiles there and they do require reptile blood to complete cycles to be able to reproduce. I'll have to make sure I'm not acting as a carrier when I go into reptile room. The guy who sent me the animal kept it in an outdoor enclosure and he had never noticed the problem. Tomorrow I'll redo everything in the basement.


KL

[Richard.C]

When i bring outdoors ones in i sometimes get an outbreak,i just treat them first now,a couple of times ive sold baby blotches and new ownera have complained they had mite outbreaks,yet the siblings i kept and lived with them never had outbreaks

They are a pain but easily dealt with,blotchies seem to handle them quite well compared to easterns,my issue is wild easterns are sometimes riddled wirh them,and outdoors kept ones seem to get them,but only issues is the easterns dont handle them and seem very easily infested