Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am so disappointed! Awhile back I started working at this pet store and I thought they had good hygiene standards and treated the animals fairly but I have come to the conclusion they know nothing about reptiles or the transfer of diseases and mites. I purchased my two collards with the understanding that they were a little skinny and one had a bum leg, but that was fine. Come to find out a week later that they have the beginning signs of mites. So I had to then purchase all new hides and rocks for the cages and put the poor guys through unneeded stress. It really is unfortunate that two cbb babies can wind up in some unknowing hands and turn out to have a case of mites a bum leg and likely a vitamin deficiency. And this all happened in a very little amount of time that they stayed at the pet store.

So now my days are spent giving collards baths and scrubbing tanks. On the up side I quarantine all my new animals. Thank God or my days would really be awful. Having to bath all my guys and gals and disinfecting the whole room would not have been fun

Alissa

that sucks about the mites. i have heard of throwing the sand away but i have never heard of throwing the rocks and hides away. usually people just bake them at a couple hundred degrees, not that that does you any good now. but mites are easy for pet store reptile.
also i am not sure how old your lizards are or how long they were actually there but it takes awhile for MBD to fully kick in so it could have started at the breeder's house. babies have to be supplemented alot. what are you doing to correct it?
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vonnie
***There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. Mary Wilson Little ***

they are bred at the pet store. I do not know what the main store does for vitamins but at our store they had no clue about anything. So i assumed it started over at the main store.

And i usually bake all my hides and stuff. but i didn't want to chance it and just tossed it all.

Alissa

I catch most of my own lizards, and they always have the red mites on them. I use a Q-tip and some Olive oil. It kills the mites, and they never have returned. I have treated small geckos the same way that had tiny flesh colored mites. I got rid of them, and never seen them return either. I hear snake mites can be more of a nuisance though. I prefer to go non-chemical when treating...at least initially.

Best of luck with the lizards.

John E.

Yep.. I luckily have never had to deal with mites.. but i read up on it and i gave them a warm bath and used olive oil with some q-tips. It worked really well. And they were snake mites.. most likely from the cornsnake they had housed in that cage right before they got the collards.

Alissa