Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,

I would greatly appreciate any advice on getting rid of mites on a chuck (Herman) and in his enclosure.

Any products or home remedies that work?

thanks very much,

apaquet
agreenmango@gmail.com

There was a good thread about this back in June/July/August that will help you. I had a massive infestation and cleared it up in no time by doing the following.

I forget whom it was that recommeded the olive oil, but it worked great!

Note: My cages are wood and screen, they are 4X2X3ft in size, and are well ventilated. I use small fans to circulate the air. I only mention this should you decide to try a no pest strip with the chuck in the cage. If you use an aquarium DO NOT USE A NO PEST STRIP WITH THE CHUCK IN THE CAGE. IT WILL PROBABLY KILL HIM.

Infested Cage

1) Remove infested Chuck from the infested cage.
2) Clean the cage. I use amonia and or bleach on everything.
3) Soak rocks in bleach, I also use really hot water.

******Optional and a potential health hazard******

4)Place a no pest strip into the cage and seal it the best you can. I used a few trash bags and duct tape. I also ran the heat lamp inside the cage. Do this at least 24-48 hours. DO NOT PUT THE CHUCK IN THE CAGE DURING THIS TIME!! IT WILL KILL HIM.

5) Let the cage air out for a day or so.

Infested Chuck

1) Give him/her a warm bath. This will wash many off quickly. I even use a little soap and a soft toothbrush. Be gentle

2) Apply some olive oil with a cotton applicator pad to the entire body. Try to avoid the eyes even though the oil will spread over every nook and cranny on it's own with time.

3) Place the chuck into a small box... Shoebox... overnight. I was told to use cardboard as it gives the mites something to bore into as they try to escape the oil! Wood may work to. Make sure to cut a few air holes.

4) Give the chuck another bath with soap and water after 24 hrs.

5) Repeat if mites are still present.

The only side effect that I noticed using olive oil is that it made it very difficult for the chuck to shed when that time came. The oil seemed to "thicken" his skin or something. He is fine and doing better than ever.

Extra step that I did but can be hazardous to you and your chuck
This step would be done after the above steps are finished and the cage is all set up with the chuck back in his home.

1) Cut a no pest strip in half and place in a coffee can. Make sure you poke a lot of holes all around the can. and place a lid on it.

2) Hang the can out of reach in the cage with the chuck in the cage. Do this only once for a 18-24 hr period. This is important, do not exceed 24 hrs!

3) Repeat this once a month or so for a a few months. It will prevent any unwanted insects in or near the cage.

I hope this helps, and I'm sure others here will pitch in their secrets of mite killing.

-Kory

Thanks!!!!

I will check the back posts and try out the olive oil

best regards,

Anna

In the last thread about mites I added that I had used reptile relief on any newcomers. Well a few months ago I took in a group of lizards that needed TLC and unknowing took in their MITES as well Reptile relief may have killed some but did not do the job at all.

I used Mineral oil, lathered them up, put in rubber maid containers overnight, while they were out of cages I cleaned all tanks, and sprayed with provent a mite, put clean newspaper in tanks, and returned all lizards the next day. You can wash oil off, and repeat if needed, this does not harm them, it can be a bit messy but better than mites.

The oil suffocates the little blood sucking buggers.
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PHEve / Eve

I also tried the Reptile Refief, and other off the shelf products with no luck. I did not spend the money for Provent-A-Mite, but have heard that it works really well.

The olive oil treatment worked almost too good. I had most of them off in about an hour with a small cotton pad. Just don't deep fry the Chuck under a heat lamp!! Couldn't resist that one... The next morning not a single mite was walking around. I repeated the treatment a few times to be sure.

I have not had any mite problems since I used the olive oil and cleaned the cages down. Not a single one !

-Kory

up. The life cycle of a mite is is fairly long. They will lay eggs in any tiny crack, crevice or hole that they can fit into. You will never see the eggs. The eggs look like little white dashes usually seen in large amounts on the bottom side of rocks and other cage furnishings. If you have drift wood with lots of cracks I would just throw it out. The best way to get rid of these eggs in the cracks is to fill a large container with a water bleach solution and soak what ever you can for about a week or so. Make sure the items are fully submerged turning them in the solution daily to make sure the all the cracks get filled with water. Remove all substrate and throw it out. Keep them on paper with a very simple set-up while treating.

Provent-a-Mite is an excellent product if used as the directions say. If not is can be a killer. DO NOT KEEP ANY WATER IN THE CAGE WHILE USING IT!. I found the best way is to spray the bottom of the cage them put the newspaper over it. Also lightly spray the bottom of any hides. I like to use the tops of sweater boxes just leaned on a good solid non-porous rock while treat not making for any mite hiding or egg laying spots. MITES SUCK and chucks are notorious for having them. Just about every wild caught chuck I have seen has had them. The seem more prevalent as you move north in the chucks range. You hardly see them down in SOuthern AZ and Mexico but very common up in NV and the northern part of their range in CA.

Good luck
Tom

In terms of porous items like drift wood etc., I bake it in the oven at 250 for 20 to 30 minutes. This pretty much cooks anything that might be hiding out (I've heard of some rocks exploding when cooked, so be careful). It doesn't get re-introduced into the cage until I'm satisfied that the mite infestation has been licked.

I haven't had to deal with mites on chucks, but have with alligator lizards. I set up a quarentine cage with a paper towel substrate and the top ringed with vasaline to prevent escapes. Paper towls are removed daily and disposed of outside. The cage and all furnishings (1 water bowl) are cleaned with bleach daily. I never had to resort to provent-a-mite.

With new wild caught aquisitions such as Sceloporus sp., Elgaria sp., or snakes I just assume they're infested and oil them and set them up in the above quarentine cage until I'm satisfied they're clean.

-Alice

The olive oil works well but they're not all gone yet. Herman needs another treatment.

Trying to clean the enclosure and soak rocks for a week will be difficult because don't have a descent spare terrarium in the apt.

I am thinking I will bake tiles/rocks in the oven to kill stuff

thanks for all the replies!!!!

y'all are awesome :0)

EVIL I say, if the devil keeps pets these have to be at the top of the list.

I have taken GROSS photos with macro of different stages, I have found absolutely SICKNING nymph stage (look like bloody liver in a sac) in lizards vents, in corners of their mouths (yes in their mouths) white tranparent mites living in thrir eyes(corners) these are the stage before they develop their shell and need to be in a damp area or they will dry out.

EVIL, EVIL, EVIL, they eat our lizards bore right through their skin, fill them with toxins as they suck the life out of them......

Shall I go on...................
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PHEve / Eve