# Mites on new skink - should I treat my Royal too?



## zail (Nov 30, 2008)

Hello, 

Just bought a new Blue Tongue Skink (picked her up on Monday) and she's either come with an infestation of mites or they've spread very quickly from something I didn't steralise properly (I thought I'd checked her over for them but maybe I wasn't through enough?) I'm in the process of treating her - she's had one application of Frontline so far, her viv has been well cleaned and I've just ordered some of the Callington Reptile Enclosure Spray from CPR. I've read through the stickied thread on mites plus a whole load of other stuff and am going to try the frontline /enclosure spray route and see how I get on with that.... 

I haven't handled my Royal since I got the skink, but I have changed her water so I have been in the viv... I know the snake didn't have any mites last week and she's never had any in the 6 years I've had her. She's in a viv at the other end of the living room from the skink. My questions are these:

1/ Should I handle the snake to check her for mites - running the risk of transfering them to her if she doesn't have them

2/ Should I treat her and her viv anyway?

Any help and advice welcome from you more experienced people out there


----------



## retri (Mar 5, 2008)

as far as I know snake mites and lizard mites are two different things, you shouldnt have anything to worry about.

dont handle either yet though, wait for someone to confirm this as im not 100% sure


----------



## zail (Nov 30, 2008)

Would be good news if that's the case... fingers crossed


----------



## Natrix (Dec 9, 2006)

The mite that causes the problems is Ophionyssus natricis and it effects *ALL* reptiles.
Are you sure that you have reptile mites? There are thousands of different species of mite and most are harmless and live in the substrate. 

I personally do not like using chemicals around my reptiles so I use the predatory mite Hypoaspis, you can get them from Defenders - Safe Effective Natural Biologist Pest Control for Gardeners

Just raise the humidity in the viv and add the mixture containing the hypoaspis mites to your viv. They hunt down the Ophionyssus mites and their eggs and clear things up in a few hours. 

Natrix


----------



## PsyKoViggy (Jan 6, 2008)

reptile mites have no interest in humans.. when i got my skink he was riddled with mites, and they all hid under his scales when i picked him up.. so as long as you wash your hands i don't think you run too much risk.

definatly don't treat her for them though, not if she doesn't have them..

and as for the skink, i personally wouldn't use frontline.. and im not sure about fighting mites with mites either..
mine got treated with vasaline, which obviously suffocates the mites, treated him for two weeks, to ensure any eggs hatched before the treatment had finished, so they got killed too.

make sure he's on paper towels, and if you are still keeping him in his viv, i'd give that the once over daily as well.


----------



## zail (Nov 30, 2008)

Thanks for the advice - I think the mites are 

http://www.boa-constrictors.com/Bilder/mites3.jpg

which are the Ophionyssus natricis ones you are refering to Natrix.. the adult ones I have seen certainly appear to have the white pattern on their backs... They are burrowing under her scales and when I gave her a tepid bath quite a few came out and drowned... I'm going to continue bathing her daily as that really seems to help and I'm going to treat the viv with the Callington stuff as planned (when it arrives!)... A few people on the skink forum have reccomended it - plus the fact that frontline has already been used which may prove detrimental to the predator mites if they're introduced... She's currently being kept on paper towels with minimal stuff in the viv (a basking rock, a plastic tube, plastic box and water bowl) and I'll keep that set up till I've got rid of the nasty little things... 

The snake doesn't seem to be showing signs of mites but that doesn't mean they're not going to develop does it? However, I'm not enamoured with the thought of subjecting her to chemicals though when I'm not sure. So, to be on the safe side I thought I might get some of the predatory mites and put them in with her on the grounds that if they have nothing to eat they'll just die off and do no harm anyway - this way I won't have to handle her either and won't run the risk of transfering the mites from the skink... 

What do people think?


----------



## Natrix (Dec 9, 2006)

zail said:


> Thanks for the advice - I think the mites are
> 
> http://www.boa-constrictors.com/Bilder/mites3.jpg
> 
> ...


As you say, if you have used frontline the Hypoaspis won't stand a chance either. Go with/continue the chemicals for the skink and use the Hypoaspis on the snake. You do need to treat both because your skink will most likely have infected your snake. You will then find that the snake will show signs of infection in a few weeks time by which time it will have re infected your skink. Far better to treat both now and wipe out the Ophionyssus once and for all.

Good luck
Natrix


----------



## zail (Nov 30, 2008)

That's what I'll do Natrix, just ordered the predator mites - should I just leave the snake viv as is or should I strip it out before I put the predator mites in?


----------



## dragonsRus (Jun 1, 2008)

zail said:


> That's what I'll do Natrix, just ordered the predator mites - should I just leave the snake viv as is or should I strip it out before I put the predator mites in?


 strpi it of all decoration and substrate
just have newspaper, waser bowl and hide


----------



## zail (Nov 30, 2008)

Cheers dragonsRus - she's not going to like that but I'm guessing she'll like mites even less!!!!


----------



## Natrix (Dec 9, 2006)

dragonsRus said:


> strpi it of all decoration and substrate
> just have newspaper, waser bowl and hide


Actully the predator mites are better off going onto a damp substrate like aspen. Failing that use plain white kitchen towel as many newspapers have chemicals in their print that kill mites. 
Put in several layers of kitchen towel and lightly spray (don't soak) it daily to keep up the humidity needed for the Hypoaspis.
Put any cage decor you remove into the freezer for 48 hours to kill any mites and their eggs. 
You should be able to set everything back up properly and get back to normal after three or four days.

Natrix


----------

