Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,

I am having a real problem with mites in my monitor tank. I have replaced substrate, sprayed the monitor with an anti-mite treatment spray that I'm pretty sure was completely useless, and at one point even tossed the tank and everything in it (besides my monitor of course!) and just replaced everything. He needed a larger tank anyways. That time I put him in a spare tank with only paper towels as substrate for several weeks and didn't see any sign of mites, so I thought they were all gone. Now his new tank is infested again though.

I think they may be coming in with the dirt I bought for his tank, or else they are just hiding on him around his face and reinfesting the tank that way. Does anyone have any good tips for treating mites? I have read good things about provent-a-mite, but I have never used it and I am a bit nervous about it. How would I safely treat the monitor himself? And how would you treat deep substrate if it is supposed to dry thoroughly before you put the lizard back in the tank? I plan to completely clean out his tank get new substrate, but I'd like to treat the new stuff before putting him in. I am going to buy some decomposed granite this time, after hearing good things about it.

Thank you for any good advice! I am just at my wits end with these creatures. I don't think they are actually living on my monitor, they seem to be only in the ground and branches in his tank, but I'm not certain.

Oh, and on a separate note, does anyone have any tips on how to build some stacks of retes boards for a very non-handy person? Would be much appreciated.

Hi, first of all, are you sure these are mites?
There`s no point in just replacing substrate if they are, there will still be the eggs to destroy, and if just one is left the infestation will start again, even a diluted bleach solution won`t kill those, maybe a steam-gun/machine would.(I`ve never had the problem, sorry if that`s not much help).
What species of Varanid is this, and can you show a few photos?
As far as making a Retes stack, depending on the size of the monitor, make the spacings quite tight fitting. You need to use some 1/2 to 3/4inch plywood sealed with a water based varnish for the platforms (without holes cut into the middle), then however deep the spaces between are, use that thickness of soft/hardwood as spacers, and either nail or screw together.
E.g: If this is a small animal, maybe 2 x 1 inch spacers, if larger, 3 or 4 inches, then however many layers you want (I suggest at least 3 or 4).

Oh, I guess the monitor species would be useful! I had written a post earlier with more details, but it didn't post right and I guess I missed some stuff when I rewrote it. He's a red ackie.

To be honest, I'm not positive that they are mites, but I am pretty sure. They are really, really tiny, jumping little bugs. I've never had to deal with mites before, thankfully, in the many years I've kept reptiles. When cleaning out the tank I plan to empty it completely and spray some provent-a-mite in there and seal it up empty for a couple days to hopefully kill any eggs. I am going to get rid of the branches that are in there right now, I know they aren't very good for him to regulate his temperature well, with good security sense anyhow.

Thanks for the info on the Retes stack. I made something just like that before, but used spacers that were too large, so I will fix that on this one. So is it ok for them to be evenly spaced then? I thought that it was best for the spaces to be more triangular so the monitor could wedge in there better, and that is the design I was a bit confused on how to construct best.

Any thoughts on how to best safely treat the ackie himself for any mites that might be on him before I put him in the tank again?

Hi again, if the insects are jumping I don`t think they`re mites (at least not "reptile" mites)?
I would still clean the enclosure and replace the furnishing just to be on the safe side.
As far as the monitor`s concerned, if he/she is fully acclimated and you can handle without causing too much stress, try a shallow bath (heat the water to the mid 80`s F), that should get them off the animal, then place in a quarantine tank until the other enclosure`s cleaned.
Yes, you can slope the spaces in the stack so it gets tighter, but obviously you`d need to cut the wooden dividing pieces on a slight angle from one end to the other (say from 2 inches down to 1.5inches if using 2 x 1 inch spacers).

Sounds like baby crickets(pinheads) A common happening in ackie cages.

I wish they were just pinhead crickets! We have those too These are really, really small (maybe 1.5-2mm long, very few that might be 3mm) and shaped differently. They have a fairly large (relatively speaking) abdomen and tiny head.

Mites do not jump. How about fleas? Either case, Hartz mountain, flea and tick powder for cats from your food store pet section will work great.

Oh I didn't know mites don't jump, now I'm really curious as to what they are! I had just assumed that's what they were from their size and how quickly they infested the tank. They're not fleas, at least not the common kind you see on cats. They have a flatter abdomen than fleas, and are lighter in color. I wish I had a good camera to get a picture, but mine isn't great.

Do you mean use flea/tick powder on the tank? Not on the monitor right? Pardon me if I sound terribly ignorant, but like I said I've never had to deal with anything like this with my reptiles, and I've read so many different suggestions on websites that I'm really confused as to what is safe. I am just paranoid about hurting my monitor by using a dangerous treatment...

I bet they're are Springtails from your description.
Spring tails are completely harmless to your monitor and extremely common in substrates with decent humidity.
They are light in color, and they're abdomen is much larger than their head and also jump. It's actually pretty impressive to see them jump or spring hence the name. Google Springtails and you'll find pictures and some cool super macro videos of them springing if you're interested.

No reason to get rid of them. The reason why you saw them again when you switched substrates is they came in with the new substrate. But again they're completely harmless to your monitor and I'd rather have Springtails then any chemicals you might use to get rid of them.
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Charles Koutris

That's it, thank you! I had never seen what a springtail looked like, but after I was told mites don't jump that name popped in my head, because those little suckers can JUMP! I thought they were bigger though, so didn't look up an image I was shocked the first time I saw one of them jump at how far it went. I am very glad to hear they are harmless, and that they won't infest the rest of my house as long as the tank is in a dry area.

I was gong to guess springtails as well glad thats the problem. I am very used to these little guys as they are quite common if you keep tropical tarantulas and scorpions. People are always posting about them on tarantula forums thinking they have mites as well. The best way to tell if something may be a harmful mite is to see if they are on the animal and not just the dirt.

I have never had any mites on my monitors. I actually had a terrible mite infestation with my snakes a few years ago, with several monitors in cages right beside them. They spread all around the room through the snakes like wildfire. I never saw one on any of the monitors (or the heavily keeled snakes for that matter.)

Springtails are actually great in an enclosure if they dont get out of control. They help to break down any leftover insect parts and fecal matter. I have actually added them to tarantula enclosures to help with cleanup.