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I have a question for ya out there, I was at a pet store today that is by my house, that I don't agree with at all. I dropped in just to see what they had, and I saw a huge male bearded dragon. Looks to be an awesome animal, but I was curious. The lizard has mites you can see clearly, other then that the animal is just beautiful, he looks to be a regualar dragon, but has a real yellow head and a nice black beard. I'm not for buying animls from pet stores, but this animal looks to be in good health besides the mites. My question is, how hard and long does it take to cure them, or should I say get rid of them. I have other animals so I would not want them to get them either. Any advice I would appreciate.

D

you would want to keep him from the others til he is treated, there are a variety of ways to treat...

Water... hard to drown them all as some will climb on the head and ears, but people have done it and picked of the escapees

Baby oil soaking and smothering them... ya have a nice soft dragon when done too

pest strips (i don't like this one, I worry about it being in with the dragon)

Black Knight- just make sure the dragon does have fresh air and does not breathe it in.. but again, I don;t like putting chemicals in or near them. SOme breeders feel this one is effective and not harming
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www.reptilerooms.com

I like provent a mite over black nite. A note spray the cage and substrate with it, no dragon or food in the cage. Soak the dragon while the tank airs out. Once the tank is done airing out put the dragon back in. On a side note can mites infest a bearded dragon? I had thought that they could hitch rides on dragons and infest snakes but that they could not complete their life cycle on a dragon.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

Where can you get black Knight? I've never heard of that one. Also if you put oil on him, like baby oil? And how long do you keep it on before you get it off, I have never done this before?

D

for black knight got to www.proexotics.com it is a very high strength roach killer so be careful. There is also provent a mite meant to kill mites, so might be a little safer and has instructions for treating www.pro-products.com Another type of mite killer is reptile relief, check out the classifieds for this. I do not know if any are truely safe for lizards though.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

What about the oil, how do you do that? I would not want to hurt the animal?

D

I would bring the animal home, soak it in realitively deep water. The mites should most likely come off. I really do not think that snake mites infest and reproduce on beardies. however they can be spread to any snakes you have. so you must be careful. I have been told that snake mites can not reproduce on lizards and just die off with a little time. so after that soak I would keep them as far away from your snake are as possible. stay away from no pest strips. and the oil thing doesn't always work. but if the person (a well respected friend) told me is true they will just die off.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

first try to drown the little pest (mites, not dragon) it does not take too long in a tub of water and the dragon will probably like the soak and getting clean.

The oil also only takes a few minutes, the only problem with both is watching and cathcing the escapees.
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www.reptilerooms.com

Cheri do the reproduce on dragons? I have heard otherwise in which case a few soaks and careful husbandry and all the bastards die.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

but not thrive on them.

Anytime I know anyone that has got them, its been right after the dragon was bought and they had no problem getting rid of them.
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www.reptilerooms.com

I would tell the petstore you would buy the dragon but it has mites. Maybe they will get rid of the mites, or give you the stuff needed to kill the mites at a discount or free, to get the sale. personally though the mites may be carrying diseases that can appear in the dragon after the mites are gone, especialy considering the environment. Also, you have no ideal how old this dragon is, he may wind up dying from old age in a few months etc even if he does look healthy now.

when my beardie had mites, I purchased a treatment spray from the pet store, specifically for beardies. I treated his cage and him, soaking and rinsing him well afterward. It's best not to spray your beardie directly -- I used a cloth to apply the treatment.

Another good idea is to lay newspaper down (if you use a substrate) for a few days just to make sure the little buggers are all gone. There were even mites hiding in the rock crevices! The newspaper just makes it easy to clean and re-treat if necessary until you know they are gone. That way you don't have to keep replacing your substrate (if you use any).
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