possible fungus?

yeah I work in an OR so I am going to grab the betadyne tonight...They are REALLY infested and I cant believe I did not see anything moving before this my poor babies... the female is very lethargic and wouldnt eat yesterday or today..I have bathed them quite a few times today and removed a large amount of the mites but they are still covered i am really worried about my female she does not look good and it seems to be going down hill rapidly with her he is fine eating drinking playing but shes not

Gee, sorry they are so infested with mites. How old is the one that is acting lethargic? How long has she not been eating? Just in case there is something else going on besides the mites, could you fill us in on the UVB light you're using & is it a compact, coil, strip fluorescent bulb or mercury vapor bulb? What are the tank temps and what type of thermometer are you using to check them? Had you seen any dominance issues going on between the 2 of them?

We have bathed them a few times today and I went and got the betadyne. They both soaked in the betadyne baths for a while. We were able to manually remove some of the mites throughout the course of the day but some are so deeply "rooted" they are going to take a while. We also purchased Jurasi-mite spray and are trying that in combo with warm baths and betadyne we will keep you all posted

We have a compact UVB bulb by "zilla" the bigger enclosure that they will move too will have a long bulb...temps in the basking area are around 100-105 we have not had any dominance issues at all with the two dragons considering our male is now at this point slightly larger than our female_ we are concerned about the sixe difference but are just keeping our eyes on it they seem to be doing fine we got our female in september when she was six weeks and our male is about two months older our female was eating great up until last ngiht when she became lethargic after all of the bathing and treatments she has perked up a bit but is still no where near herself..our male he is fine just as fresh as ever

Sorry that you are having such a time with these mites. Did you find out where they came from, the wood or the substrates? For the stubborn areas where they like to hide, I thought this info might be helpful. Make sure the Betadine is a diluted solution though before using on these areas.

While the enclosure is being fumigated, remove the soaking lizards from the tub or holding area. Saturate a clean soft cloth in diluted Betadine and run it around the joints between their legs and body, through the folds of skin around the neck, jowls, and dewlap. Use a cotton-tipped swab to apply the dilute Betadine around the eyes and nose. If the lizard has a spiked dorsal crest, check between all of the spikes to see if any mites remain lodged in there. If you find them, you can remove them with a moistened cotton-tipped swab

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yeah thats great thank you soo much for your help...I think the mites came from the crickets they have the same bag of substrate my big boys have and they are not infected( we are being very careful and will be changing everyone to repti carpet) As for their enclosure it is being quarantined for a few days we have some spares that we are alternating in between baths so that everytime they get bathed they are going into a disinfected home

I just read your other post. I'm sure part of her concerning behavior is the mites but I also wanted to warn you about compact UVB's causing lethargy, eye problems and a multitude of other health issues, even relating to death. If you would try something, turn the compact light off for a few days and see if you notice any difference in her. Being without a UVB for days and even a wk, would be better than having that bulb turned on. I am only passing along my concerns and we have read about the damage with compact & coil bulbs way too many times on this forum. When they were changed to a good strip fluorescent like the Repti-Sun 10.0 or Arcadia D3, the owners couldn't believe the difference. Since the female is smaller, that may be why the compact is affecting her first. If you want to read about some of the problems, you could do a search on this site, just type in "compact UVB" and you will see lots of posts about them and the coil UVB's.

Also wanted to mention something else, if you are using any type of stick-on thermometer, those can be off by as much as 20 degrees. The only 2 ways to get an accurate reading are with either a temperature gun or a digital thermometer that has a long wire & probe on the end.

That's good that you are watching for dominance issues as they can start occurring very quickly and can cause one or the other to slow down in their eating and activity level.

Please let us know how things go.

cjaeschke":f334b said:

yeah thats great thank you soo much for your help...I think the mites came from the crickets they have the same bag of substrate my big boys have and they are not infected( we are being very careful and will be changing everyone to repti carpet) As for their enclosure it is being quarantined for a few days we have some spares that we are alternating in between baths so that everytime they get bathed they are going into a disinfected home

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That sounds like a good plan. :wink:

Increasing their fluid intake should help some too. Perhaps you can get them to drink water or diluted pedialtye off their noses when you offer it with a plastic medicine dropper. Dilute the Pedialyte with 4 parts water to 1 part Pedialtye. I also noticed this info on that site about the mites.

Reptiles who are moderately to severely debilitated may require fluids and nutrient supplementation to help restore fluid balance and provide energy for rapid recovery.

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good luck

So I have gotten like a thousand mites off and have a thousand mites to go but for less than 48 hours they look amazing he is still really fresh but shes not getting any better she drinks when i bathe her i tried pedialyte no luck and then i tried repta aid no luck there either making sure both times the solution was warm

Did you turn the compact UVB light off? It certainly won't hurt anything at all if it is turned off for a few days, even a wk and might even help her snap out of it. So, she got a drink from her bath but wouldn't lick the Repta-aid or Pedialyte from her nose? If she would only try the Repta-aid, I really think she would like it. Did you try putting a little on her mouth? You really need to get some food into her.

What type of thermometer are you using to check the temps? Good temps are also very important to help with appetite & activity level.

yes the bulb is in the garbage!!!! I tried getting the repta aid into her mouth but she wouldnt budge...she did drink well very welll at bath time the temps are very optimal in the enclosure i use one of those probe ones (walmart) to get accurate readings do you think i can add anything to her bath water? pedialyte repta aid calcium seeing as she drank from it?

Hi again, that's good that you threw the bulb away, thanks for taking the advice about not using it. Perhaps you can order the Repti-Sun 10.0 online, Petmountain has one at a reasonable price: http://www.petmountain.com/product/fluorescent/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-bulb.html That's too bad that she wouldn't lick the Repta-Aid off her lips. You should pick up a needle-less syringe, I just remembered that you work at a hospital, so perhaps you could bring one home, like a 3 cc.

I'm glad to hear that you're using a probe thermometer, make sure you lay the probe so that it is resting on the basking site, wait about 45 min for the temp to stop rising before you get the final reading. What are the basking & cool side temps?

Yes, you could put some Pedialyte right in the bath water that way she will get some when she drinks. Does she look any better at all today?

she is still not well but still is warm and moving when provoked. The mites are less and less and are falling right off I am about to try putting the peadialyte in her bath. Basking temp is 102 cocl temp was 87 is that ok? this tank is much smaller than theirs but we are still cleaning and disinfecting that one to make sure we do not re-infest and yes I have some needleless syringes...I also have what are called angiocaths they are what are used for IV's a small plastic catheter that can be attched to the end of the syringe to help with feeding

That's good that you're getting rid of a lot of the mites, what a tedious job. Yes, adding Pedialyte to the bath is a good idea as that will help boost her electrolytes. The basking temp is fine at 102 but the cool side is a little too warm, should be closer to 80 or even 82. Are you using a lightbulb on the cool side of the tank, if so, what wattage?

Would be a good idea to try feeding her some chicken babyfood mixed with squash and a little Pedialyte to thin it down. You could try putting drops on her nose that she will hopefully lick off. If she doesn't then would be a good idea to start the forcefeeding. Another product that would help give her a boost is Repta-aid and they usually really like it. http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=1062 What has she had to eat today?

Any new updates?