Are these mites? Wood mites? It's all over my skink

[Q.Ilyan]

There's little white things crawling all over my skink, so small you could barely see it on pictures.

He does have springtails in his tank but i'm not sure if these are springtails.

Are they mites and are they dangerous for him?


There is one better pic from another forum. Its on a bp, but that isnt mine. The bugs look like those.

Edit: here is a link to a post with a video. This is shot by me so its exactly whats crawling on him.

http://aminoapps.com/p/5boojqz

[splashy07]

I do not see anything, but snake mites, often called reptile mites are black as adults and when you squish one you'll see blood. Rub down your skink on a warm damp paper towel and see what comes off. If you see any black ones it would be cause for concern.

[Q.Ilyan]

They are all white and very very tiny. I was looking in the substrate but found none that i could see, but his wooden log had a lot of them. I threw it out in the trash.

They were all over him but not black. All of them were white and crawled very fast.

Could this be springtails? I put in a few batches of springtails but all i put were technically adults.

[Q.Ilyan]

Here is a picture of what it looks like. I found it off on another forum by a bp owner. Looks like this and moves fast.

[splashy07]

Springtails are very fast. These do not look like the type mite that is parasitic to reptiles. If they were all over the wood they're more than likely springtails or wood mites.

[kayla990]

If they looked very similar to the last image, I don't think they are springtails. They look very similar to either Predator Mites (which are beneficial, as they hunt other bad bugs) or a possibility of being spider mites - which are known to attack plants. If you have live plants in the same room, check for small webbing between the leaves. But agree, it shouldn't be an issue for your Bluey - as they don't seem to have the same body shape of reptile mites often seen online. Always good to keep watch regardless!

[Q.Ilyan]

Are they fine to keep inthe tank? I threw out the wood but kept everything else. I also don't have any live plants at all.

Is this going to invade the house like termites would?

[mb606587]

Based off the color, they should be harmless to your skink and no won't invade the house

[Q.Ilyan]

Based off the color, they should be harmless to your skink and no won't invade the house

http://aminoapps.com/p/5boojqz


Here is a link to another post i made in amino. It has a video so you can have a better view of it. I dont have a very good camera but when i looked closely they looked like the one in the picture.

I just ordered jurassimite off amazon which are reptile safe and im going to spray this on him. But it wont get here until friday.

For the meantime, just to make sure, these are not going to be an infestation in the house and hurt my skink? I'm sorry for the repetitive questions i just hope to be reassured. This is the first time ive dealt with a type of mite and its making me panic a bit.

Is it fine to leave the substrate as it is and spray the mite spray or replace everything? Its a mix of mulch, sphagnum, and eco earth. It seems the wooden half log was the cause of it, but im assuming since there is mulch that they would move there.


Thank you!

[splashy07]

I would leave everything as it is. This type mite is actually beneficial to the habitat an harmless to everything else.