anybody had this experience? I took some nice flat rocks from my yard, blasted them with the hose and ran them under hot (not boiling) water. Put them in my chuckwalla's cage and an hour later there are mites darting around on the rocks. I immediately took out the rocks and crushed the little red mites that I saw running up the sides of the wood cage. That was yesterday. Today, I've only seen a couple of mites. My question is - are all mites visible to the naked eye, in which case they are definitely gone? Can a few mites do any real damage? Third, will pouring boiling water over the rock kill mites?
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red MITES on rocks from outdoors!!!
dpdesign
Apr 29, 2005 10:22 AM
Replies (3)
herpsaremylife
Apr 29, 2005 05:46 PM
and from my experience w/ mites, where there are a few, there are many. especially since its warming up season. the way i got rid of mites and an excellent way to clean stuff is to put t e rocks completely underwater in a bowl/ tub and like add vinniger so the water is foggy and let them soak for as many days possible. i dont like using bleacch, and this should kill them all along with any other nasties u can/ cant see. good luck!
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1.1 Western redback chuckwallas(philbert & unnamed)
5 green sunfish
Striped raphale catfish
Common Plecaustomouse
3 coyfish
0.1.1-sandiego gopher snakes
1.3-coturnix quail
0.1-cockatiel( R.I.P)ironic she was named casper...
1.1(fixed) cats-eddie/buzz
Where the heck would a cali. kingsnake run off to?!?!?!
aliceinwl
Apr 29, 2005 07:46 PM
There are many different kinds of mites. The vast majority are harmless and feed on things like decaying vegetaion. What you're describing sounds a lot like some kind of velvet mite. I wouldn't worry about them harming your lizards. When I want to disinfect wood and rocks I usually bake them at 250 in the oven for about 15 min.
-Alice
reptoman
Apr 30, 2005 08:30 AM
Listen I don't want to be over concerened here with your mites, but I have a question? Are your chucks wild caught? IF they are there is a possibility that the mites are living on your chuck. Red mites are common on lizards and although most of the chucks I have captures don't ususally retian them, I have found some with mites, So I would really inspect your animals, because these mites are parasitic and can cause your animls to weaken over time. If you should find them I would get a good mite spray and douse your lizards liberally and get rid of them that way as well as I would completely replace the substrate and cook the rocks so as to destroy them. This may be a little over concern, but as a safety precaution I would at least inspect your chucks. YOu probably got them from the garden but I thought I would mention this as it is not uncommon to find mites on chucks. Check the folds of skin around the neck and behind the underarms and other hidden areas.......Just being cautious---Cheers!!!!
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