Eve, I read your section on mites. Bought a beautiful female Sceloporus o. occidentalis last March...Daisy. Quarantine consisted of doses of Albon, (coccidia), and Panacur, (pinworms). She was also LOADED with mites, (all Sceloporus seem to be a mite's lunchbox). Learned a very sorry lesson. In the past, I used rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip quickly followed with cool water to kill the mites. It worked, but I was worried about any toxic effects of the alcohol. I went to Vaseline to smother the little (you fill in the word; I can't think of a nice one at this point), and dotted her body wherever I saw them. About a month ago, I saw what looked like a sore on her belly. I picked at it a little with a fingernail, (thought she'd had a splinter), and before I knew it, the skin had turned black and scaly around it. Took her to the vet...not knowing what this was, he gave me Baytril. More little abscesses popped up here and there, and I let them alone figuring that the Baytril would work. Closer inspection showed that there was an actual little hole into the skin at each abscess. Apparently, the mites burrowed into her, and her internal organs then became their lunchbox. Now this lizard showed no signs of apparent bad health. Studies show that Sceloporus are pretty tolerant of heavy mite loads, but still we do like to eradicate them. Daisy was eating well, was active, and interacted with my husband and me on a daily basis. She unexpectedly died yesterday. My husband was home at the time, called me at work, and said she had appeared a bit limp. When he picked her up, she kicked a few times, and died. I got home, and found that the inside of her mouth was filled with blood. From the gular area outward. The mites probably got to an internal organ, (stomach?, lungs?), and caused a massive internal hemmorhage. So...oil or alcohol...what do you think?

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