HELP MITES!!

[GeckoStud]

My blue tongued skink Giligan has mites!!! They are all over him! What do I do? He may have had them for a while but I never noticed because of how small they were. Please Help any suggestions would be GREAT!

 

[Mel&Keith]

That really sucks. Put his tank in another room away from any of your other animals, if you haven't all ready.

First off get rid of everything in his tank. Throw it all away if possible. If you have really expensive wood pieces or something you can try baking them at a low temperature in the oven (don't forget about it though). Clean the tank out with a water/bleach solution, rinse very well, and only put white paper towels on the bottom (so you can see the mites better).
I hope he's tame because you should give him a bath at least once a day. For snakes you would just soak them but lizards can drown more easily so you're going to have to soak him up to his neck and try to wash off as many mites as you can. If you can wash him twice a day it would be better. Watch for mites around his eyes and nostrils and clean them out with a q-tip.
You can also hang a no pest strip over his tank. (Like this - http://www.drugstore.com/qxp88409_333181_sespider/hot_shot/no_pest_strip.htm)
Don't put water in the tank while there's a no pest strip nearby, it'll poison it. You can use the strip for 2 days then remove it for 2 days and so on, you want to tox out the mites but not your skink! Just give him water outside his tank if you use the strips.

There are plenty of mite products out there so maybe you can do a little internet research and see what might help.
That's really all we can suggest but at least it's a place to start. Good Luck!!

 

[GeckoStud]

I found a very descriptive site online for getting rid of mites. I soak him in a betadine diluted solution for a while and do that every day. No worries about tank interior disposal I will get rid of all of that except for the food and water dishes which I will thoroughly clean and if possible bake. Its also a good thing that he is still a little guy and the tank he was in wasn't his permanent home anyway.

I am also going to thoroughly clean my room vaccum etc etc... Hopefully after many soakings I will be rid of this infestation... So far my other herps that were in the same room look ok... But those mites were so tiny that I wont be turning a blind eye to them any time soon.

Thanks for your help too!

 

[Mel&Keith]

Well I really hope that it all works and you can get rid of them. They tend to spread like wild fire so I'm glad it doesn't seem like anything else has been affected. Keep us posted on the progress!