Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Finally realize what those mysterious red blisters were...they were actually the dreaded red mites. It's still a mystery how the mites came into the my tank, and why my female was hit so much worse than my male.

Have soaked them for 6 hours in water to drwon as much of teh cretins as possible, and also use 'Accurate' Flea, tick and mite spray on the surroundings - on tiles. Also used on dragons as the spray is a safer alternative to Frontline, can even be used on fish.

My friend who is also my dragon's breeder said that it could be due to the rock I picked up months ago. Silly me...I just washed it and then place it in the tank. Could mites come from the rock?

My girl is a tough bird - she's 7 months and a fighter so I am hopeful of a quick recovery. Just hope I can get rid of all remaining mites asap. I heard using a tooth brush to remove is an option...any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance everyone

Thankfully I have never had to deal with mites. My dragons love to be cleaned with a soft bristle toothbrush though. Guess it feels good.

For the future, if you ever find a really cool rock you'd like to add to your tank, wrap it in aluminum foil and bake it in your oven for a good while at 400 degrees or so. It should kill anything that might be on it.
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Holly

0.1 Lavender California Kingsnake (Lizzie Borden) (missing )
1.0 Florida Kingsnake possible mix (Eddie Gein)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
1.0 Egyptian Arabian (Bagan)

2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)

>>For the future, if you ever find a really cool rock you'd like to add to your tank, wrap it in aluminum foil and bake it in your oven for a good while at 400 degrees or so. It should kill anything that might be on it.
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>>Holly
>>
>>
>>
>>0.1 Lavender California Kingsnake (Lizzie Borden) (missing )
>>1.0 Florida Kingsnake possible mix (Eddie Gein)
>>1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
>>1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
>>1.0 Egyptian Arabian (Bagan)
>>
>>2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)

Hello Guys,

That is a bummer about the mites. As far as baking rocks that is a very bad idea. Rocks can explode when you bake them. The best thing to do is soak you rock in 10% bleach for an hour. After that you can soak it in water and then thoroughly rinse it with
water. At that point the rock should be sanitized.

Thanks,

Randy
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www.AlphaDragonZ.com

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Unless that rock came from somebody's house who also has dragons with mites...it won't be the source of the mites.

Nearly all species of mites are very species specific. Thus snake mites are not likely to thrive on lizards and vise versa (they may bite and attempt to feed on each other but wont' survive long as the blood won't be compatible.)

Provent a Mite or Reptile Relief are save and effective Mite killers you can use. Both can be sprayed over the entire enclosure, just remove the animal and the water bowl first.. let dry then put the animal back in. With PaM treat again in a month, repeat another 1-2 times for heavy infestations.

Cages and furniture should all be washed, and sterilized (hot soapy water to wash, then bleach solution (1/10 bleach/water) soak for 20 minutes, rinse, rinse, rinse..air dry in ventilated area. For wood cage furniture, same treatment...may even be necessary to just toss out and replace.

Soaking your bearded dragon in water with Betadine (mix till water looks like weak tea) for about 10 minutes (good ideal to soak in regular water, let the dragon drink and maybe defecate...then take it out, put fresh water, add the betadine and put the dragon in for the 10 min. soak). This will disinfect the bites and help prevent infections of the bites themselves.

Also a good ideal to keep the cage simple, with basking spot, paper towel and hide.. for the next 2-3 months...makes it easier to clean, less places for mites to lay eggs.

Use treatment for all bearded dragons you have, and other reptiles in the same room and near anywhere your dragon roams, if you take them out. Mites only 'bite' and drink blood in one stage of their life cycle..roaming mites can go far before they mate and lay eggs...and the baby mites can roam far before they need to feed.

For both Provent a Mite and Reptile Relief, follow the directions on the can.
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PHLdyPayne

I would say Reptile Relief or NIX. I would not use Provent-a-mite on your dragon or in the dragons tank. It says right on the instuctions NOT to spray on reptiles. Also. If you spray your tank you will not be able to feed any live in your tank for upwards of a month.
Reptile Relief works well. Usually in one application. NIX is cheap and works well too. With the NIX, buy one bottle, take a 4L plastic jug, fill with water, add whole bottle of NIX, shake well. You can safely use both directly on your dragons with no worries.

Jim

Another problem with mites is that they can move out of the tank into the room and lays their eggs there. It would help to disenfect the room and steam clean the carpet it may take a couple of weeks of treatment of dragon, cage and room to get all of them!