# Mites on vermiculite... what to do??



## heathster (Jan 24, 2013)

Hi all, i am incubating a couple of beardie eggs that i got from someone on here, they are due to hatch in around 15-25 days this morning i decided to candle them to see if i could see any movement.
I saw two tiny black bugs which im guessing were mites, on the egg iiself, what is the best thing to do? Thisnis my first time incubating eggs and also my first experience with mites.
Really worried and have no idea what to do.. please help me 

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## eightball (Jan 1, 2011)

If they are reptile mites, First thing that would pop into my head is how they got there, "Do my animals have them", so check your beardies, snakes etc.
If there is the slightest indicator of mites on the animals or enclosure then i'd take everything out apart from water bowl and put white paper down and treat as appropriate.

I am not too sure in regards to them being on the eggs though, Mites usually live on the host (the actual animal itself) so if they was in the incubator then maybe they would die off, if not then I wouldn't be able to comment in regards to getting rid of them from the eggs other than killing mites you see. Chemicals such as callingtons will most definitely affect the incubating eggs.

Back to the point, 1) try and check to see if they where actually reptile mites and 2) check your collection for mites : victory:


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## heathster (Jan 24, 2013)

The eggs have all died now  no idea where the mites came from, i only have one other reptile and its a corn snake, but theres no sign of any mites? Completely cleaned his viv out anyway, all new substrate, boiled all decor and bathed the snake and scrubbed the viv.
The last egg in the incubator is still incubating but it colapsed yestersay, still white and it doesnt smell so not 100% sure ifbit has died though

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## eightball (Jan 1, 2011)

heathster said:


> The eggs have all died now  no idea where the mites came from, i only have one other reptile and its a corn snake, but theres no sign of any mites? Completely cleaned his viv out anyway, all new substrate, boiled all decor and bathed the snake and scrubbed the viv.
> The last egg in the incubator is still incubating but it colapsed yestersay, still white and it doesnt smell so not 100% sure ifbit has died though
> 
> Sent From My Galaxy S3 Using Tapatalk 2
> image


That is sad to hear, may I asked how you identified dead eggs though? Mouldy? Collapsed (if so, any pics)?

If you candle the egg (shine a powerful torch at the side of the egg), you should be able to see veins, if there are veins then it is still okay








Don't expect your veins to be as visible as on the pic, its just a good example, you only need to be able to see a few veins. If you can't see any veins then leaving them in wont do any harm, when they are clearly visibly dead eggs though then there is no more you can do unfortunately.

I wouldn't have thought mites would affect eggs so im thinking there is something else wrong if eggs are dying, check temps and humidity : victory:

If you're not 100% if an egg is dead or not then leave it in, if its away from the other eggs then it won't affect them unless mould is visible and starts to spread across the egg and substrate or something. There is always the chance that the egg is still good although it may not look it. Pics would be great


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## heathster (Jan 24, 2013)

I candled them a few days ago, and they all had veins, and i could actually see movement inside the eggs, looked like thier tiny tails flicking around.
I am absolutely gutted as these were my first ever experience for eggs, all my temps and humidity were constant, they never changed.
Unless these eggs were turned during thier transportation to me (got them from a friend who brought them round in his car) then they were just bad eggs i guess. 
I was planning to breed royals sometime this year but i think this has put me off the idea.
Sounds stupid but watching the ehgs grow and seeing the movement, i got kind of attached to them 

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## eightball (Jan 1, 2011)

heathster said:


> I candled them a few days ago, and they all had veins, and i could actually see movement inside the eggs, looked like thier tiny tails flicking around.
> I am absolutely gutted as these were my first ever experience for eggs, all my temps and humidity were constant, they never changed.
> Unless these eggs were turned during thier transportation to me (got them from a friend who brought them round in his car) then they were just bad eggs i guess.
> I was planning to breed royals sometime this year but i think this has put me off the idea.
> ...


The most probable reason then would be the transportation, If they was disturbed too much (by the shaking and bumping of the car), if the temp dropped quite a bit for a short while, if they where turned slightly, all could be contributing facts to their death.

What date did you receive the eggs? The closer to the start of incubation the eggs are, the more vulnerable they are to dying from an array of factors (e.g. temp change, disturbance), 

Don't be so down hearted about it, it is a sad loss yes but you learn from it, that is not to move eggs about. I'm sure you'll do just fine with eggs in the future providing you read up on them and if you're unsure of anything atall then someone on the forum would be glad to help, you'll be pretty much guaranteed a successful breeding by following all the advice :2thumb:


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