Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, I think the unthinkable is happening! I have noticed my poor alligator lizard with irregular breathing, possibly with some respiratory illness. Also, she has lost all appetite. Is there a cure for this?
THanks,
Jonathan

Well, after seeing a vet today, I have mis-diagnosed my alligator lizard's symptoms. Instead of a respiratory illness, she has mites and lots of 'em!! I did extensive research on the net (thanks to dsl) and have read that olive oil does a much better, cheaper, and safer job of getting mites out of alligator lizards. I dabbed some olive oil on a que-tip and cotton swab on my lizard got a majority of them dang mites off of her. I will continue to do this untill all of them mites are gone.

Also, she is finally tamed and can be held easily She is now ike a cat, she starts falling asleep when I rub her neck!

Make sure you treat the enclosure as well!

You should remove all cage furnishings. Bake all wood and rocks at 250 degrees for 15 minutes and do not return them to the tank until the infection is gone.

You can add crumpled paper towels for your lizard to hide under during this period. The paper towels should be thrown out daily (take out the trash immediately as these are problably infested with mites and eggs). The tank should be washed with a 10% bleach solution inside and out daily as well. If you have a large tank, consider purchasing a small critter keeper to use as a quarentine tank as this will be easier to wash on a daily basis. If you don't want to mess with washing the lid or outside daily, you can ring the inside rim of the cage with vasaline to keep the mites off it.

Consider soaking your lizard in water rather than using olvie or vegtable oil as these can go rancid. I used soaking to successfully treat my southern als for mites. Make sure you check the ears, vent, corners of the mouth, and underarms after these sessions.

I would also be concerned about your lizards sudden change in behavior as this could be a sympton of anemia (a lizard heavily infested with mites will often appear lethargic due to blood loss) rather than tameness.

It took me about a month to completely erradicate my mites.

Good luck!

-Alice

Alice,
Thanks for the info! I have been cleaning my alligator lizard for about 5 days now using a combination of soaking her in olive oil and water. I have noticed that a constant supply of mites are being washed out and hopefully the number will subside after more cleanings. I am a little surprised that it took you a month to fully eradicate your mites since these lizards are not that large! Mine is about 7-8 inches long and I wonder why it took you so long to get ride of your mites unless your lizards are much bigger? Also, I have several lizard cages which I alternate when cleaning. I don't bake the furnishings but leave them soaked in bleach for 24 hours and I then leave the entire cage with furnings out in the hot California sun for a couple of hours.

I am a little concerned about her loss of appetite. I have read that these types of lizards can gorge for a couple of weeks and then not eat for a couple more but if she is suffering from anemia and is lethargic, shouldn't be more hungry to replenish food and hence blood loss? She hasn't acted differently and has tried to bite me several times since she doesn't like the olive oil bath too much.
THanks,
Jonathan

My guys were about the same size as yours. I found lots of mites during the first week of soaks. In the following weeks I continued to find 1-3 mites between the three lizards (they were usually hiding in the ears). By the end of the third week I had found my last mite. I didn't declare victory and return them to their original cage until they had been mite free for three more weeks. This may seem overzealous but at the time they were housed in a room with seven uninfected (thank God!) snakes and I couldn't risk the mites spreading.

Bleaching the cage furnishings should be sufficient, as long as there are no nooks or crannys that could contain air pockets. Like I said before, I couldn't risk them spreading to the snakes so I wanted to make really sure that they were dead.

As far as eating goes, the whole treatment period is pretty stressful. The alligator lizards I treated only fed sporadically while they were undergoing treatment. As long as your lizard doesn't experience any dramatic weight loss, I wouldn't worry too much.

Good Luck
Alice

After about 6 days of vigilant olive oil bathing of my southern alligator lizard, I finally got rid of them darn mites. I noticed a total change of behavior: she is more fiesty, active, and back to her normal self. Thanks to an early diagnosis, my lizard is now back to her cricket eating ways. She is back on to her old cage running around eating as much as possible which is a good sign!