Not a single mite was found, dead or alive, for four weeks. I am so relieved. Here’s how I finally beat the curse known as recurring mites.
In this picture we have:
Dawn Pure Essentials: This dishwashing liquid is super gentle, with barely any color or fragrance.
Provent-a-Mite: A mite killing spray formulated for use on reptiles.
Frontline Spray: A flea/tick killing liquid formulated for use on dogs and cats.
Gloves: Used to apply the Frontline.
Not pictured but might be useful if you have a large infestation:
Betadine: An antiseptic, you mix with water and soak your animal. Do not let your animal ingest large amounts; be sure to give your animal the opportunity to drink fresh water before treating them with betadine.
I want to discuss the battle I’ve fought against these bloodsuckers. I have been fighting them off and on for the better part of…two years? I want to say. I will think they go away, but even with continuing treatment they kept coming back in super small numbers. Sometimes if I would have a depressive episode, they would come back in large numbers because I wasn’t maintaining the collection properly.
Most likely these mites either were or became resistant to the PAM treatments. It’s incredibly important to complete a course of treatment or you will end up with resistant mites eventually.
The first line of defense against mites is appropriate quarantine procedures. Keep new animals separate from the collection for a few months, always handle their stuff last, and always change and shower if you’ve been around other reptiles (like a convention or another collection).
A typical treatment for mites is applying PAM to decor and substrate every three days until the mites have been gone for at least two weeks or more, depending on what makes you comfortable. You apply every three days because the mite reproductive cycle is three days long. The idea is that you kill any new hatches immediately thus breaking the cycle.
The typical treatment did not work for me. Here’s what I did:
PAM everything. PAM the hides, PAM the decor, PAM the substrate. It’s best to use paper, preferably white paper towels so you can see the mites easier. I usually do this the morning before I actually give them the paper. This makes it less likely they will react badly or somehow get water mixed in and ingest the PAM. The first night on treated paper they are not offered any water. Please remember to remove the water bowls, and be super careful none of these treatments get on the water bowls.
I used the Dawn and cleaned them with a gentle flow of water from my shower head. This removes any surface mites and can cause mites to start crawling along the body, making it easier to remove them. You can get the majority of the infestation off this way. The Dawn makes it a little harder for the mites to crawl on your animal, but it’s also a super gentle way to remove pee smell and blood.
Some animals had huge infestations so I offered them a betadine bath solution (a little bit of betadine in water). I didn’t leave them in the solution long; just enough to rub down their body a few times.
Be sure your animal is well hydrated before using betadine or Dawn! You don’t want them ingesting either of them.
I learned of the Frontline spray through another blood breeder who had really good success with the method. You spray the gloves with a single shot of the Frontline, coat your hands in the liquid, then rub from the neck down on the animal. Mites die from being in contact with your animal. This is not immediate. I have seen adults and babies crawling around on Jubilee after a treatment. The next day the mites were dead.
I want to make it clear that we don’t know the outcome for multiple or longer term use of the Frontline Spray. I used it three times (every 7 days), I recommend using it sparingly. Please be careful with this. Use it ONLY on animals that are of good size. Do not use on hatchlings, juveniles, or small yearlings. Do not apply on the head.
Other options are sprays like Natural Chemistry (which did absolutely nothing for me) and Nix mixed with water (please research proper mixing and concentration for Nix before using this method). Please research if your species of reptile can handle these treatments. Some are much more sensitive than others.
I am happy to say that I am finally done with the mites. I lost many battles but I have won this war. And my animals are all the better for it!
This is Angela, she’s 11 years old and unfortunately I couldn’t spay her because the vet we used to have told us she has a weak heart and wouldn’t handle it. Now the worst has happened, Angela developed Pyometra, the infection is in a very advanced stage as you can see in the picture below, she’s bloated with fluids pushing against her organs.
I took her to the emergency vet clinic and agreed to a surgery to take place, why? Because she wants to live, she’s playful, she deserves to live and I should have gone for the surgery back then instead of backing out of it.
I’m asking for any financial help, anything will help. I’m paying for the surgery regardless of the outcome, at least she has a chance, but I have to take a loan to cover for it and at least some small donations would help the financial strain that’s to come after this. Yes, I know, I deserve it, but believe me, I’m paying for it, both mentally and literally.
¨The price of the surgery is estimated to be 750 dollars, or 17 000kč.
