Mites
come in a couple different forms. The "regular" reptile mite is either black or
dark red. The adults are about the size of a pin head and the babies much
smaller. This type seems to attack snakes in general, and sometimes skinks. The
other type is the "chigger" mite, and is associated mostly with iguanas. These
are orange and a little smaller than the black mite. Although these seem to
attack mostly iguanas, they have also been seen on green snakes and garter
snakes.
If you
see any type of small bug on your reptile, you should investigate immediately!
Being infested with mites and therefore having to deal with them is not an
enjoyable routine. First, while washing hands in between, check all of your
other reptiles for the mites. Lift up scales where ever possible, under the jaw,
and especially in and around the eye sockets.
If
infestation has been established, you have a long, inevitable and tedious task
ahead.
(I will put most of this in
"singular victim" format"
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First, take your reptile out of it's enclosure. Wash him/her thoroughly
then spray with mite remover. There are two great brands, but I only use
one: Prevent-a-mite and Reptile Relief. Prevent-a-mite is stronger, but
it may hurt the reptile. I only use Reptile Relief. The stuff kills
crickets in 30 seconds, but will not hurt the reptile if sprayed right
in its eyes. Make sure to also wash your hands and then
put your herp in a tight container until you are done. If it normally
lives in a big tank, you may want to keep it in the smallest possible
container for the 10 days, or until all the mites are gone. Take out all
wood and either back at 200 degrees for two hours and put the rest of
the tank in the sun so it should heat up to at least 130 degrees, put in a freezer for
a week, or thoroughly clean, wash, and rinse in a hot bleach/water
solution. Of course, I recommend any two of the three, just to be sure. For
the rest of the elimination process, use news paper as the substrate, so
any more outbreaks will be easier to spot. It took me two hours to clean
five 10 gallon tanks, just to find I didn't do a good job and had to do
it all over again. Luckily it was only 5 small tanks, it could
have been so much worse. |
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If
you happen to see any more mites you will have to repeat the whole process over
again. If you do not and decide you would rather live with the mites, after
enough time they will eventually kill their host and move on. So don't put it
off or wait until it's too late; take care of the problem right away.
If you have any questions, feel free to call me for any help. 727-278-2055
Also you can email me at
nick@repticenter.com
-Nick
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| Dust Mite |
(Although these are not the reptile
mites, they share simple resemblance) |
Gorse Spider Mite |
Also, look
at:
|
Life Stages/ Morphs |
Environmental Temperature |
|
86 F / 30 C |
68 F / 20 C |
| Egg |
28 hours |
98 hours |
| Larva (non-feeding) |
18 hours |
47 hours |
| Protonymph (non-feeding) |
3 days |
14 days |
| Deuteronymph (non-feeding) |
13 hours |
26 hours |
| Adult (feeding, mating) |
10 days |
32 days |
