Hi everyone,
I want to thank you all in advance for your help. I really appreciate all the support and guidance this site offers.
I will try to be concise and still include necessary info.
I have a 10 wk old beardie (Teddy), from a breeder, for about the last month. He isn't the friendliest and doesn't like being handled but I have been been trying to take it slow and focus on helping him grow and be healthy.
He has tile floor, with wood basking logs, some fake plants and a terra cotta hide. I baked his wood at 250 degrees for 90min before using and have baked to sanitize 3 additional times over the last month. I also have the F10 Vet sanitizing spray for spot and deep cleaning.
Over last few days I have noticed 2 tiny mites crawling (1 on two separate occasions) in his tank, once on wood and once on floor. Needless to say I was freaked out but unsure where they could have been coming from. I thought maybe I didn't wash his veggies thoroughly enough.
Today I went to give food to my step-daughters tortoise in another room and saw that there were mites ALL OVER the food dish! So the background on the tortoise is that it has some cracked shell type substrate. My step daughter is only at our house 4-5 times a month and does not provide the level of cleaning that I would ever be comfortable with for my pet. However, it's not my pet, so I will give it fresh food and water daily, turn on lighting, and occasionally sanitize food and water dishes, but that is it. I'm afraid that somehow in caring for both animals I probably spread the bugs from one tank to the other. I try to be careful and NEVER share items between tanks, but I am in and out of both.
SO-tonight we will be dumping the tortoise tank, starting with all new substrate and disinfect the tank thoroughly. I have access to bleach, steaming and F10 spray. Separately I will disinfect everything from Teddy's tank as well.
My questions are: can the wood decorations be salvaged by bleaching/baking? Or should I throw then all out-from both tanks?
Which is the most effective method for killing the mites? I saw steaming as an option in another post, is this better then bleach?
I plan to soak the tortoise in betaine solution. But I am hesitant to do this Teddy unless necessary because he is so young and he gets stressed by baths at first (he eventually settles down and relaxes) and I'm afraid he may splash and get it in his mouth or eyes. Should I soak Teddy also? I have literally seen 2 mites in his tank, but I know that where there is 1 there may be many...
It is possible that we may have to re-home the tortoise if we can't this under control. I worry about the lack of sanitation that is built into having any particle substrate. If we keep it, any recommendations about how I can be sure not to pass along anything from the tortoise to beardie (other then using hand sanitizer and washing hands really well, not having any items come in contact with each other ever)?
Any other thoughts or things that I am missing please let know!
I want to thank you all in advance for your help. I really appreciate all the support and guidance this site offers.
I will try to be concise and still include necessary info.
I have a 10 wk old beardie (Teddy), from a breeder, for about the last month. He isn't the friendliest and doesn't like being handled but I have been been trying to take it slow and focus on helping him grow and be healthy.
He has tile floor, with wood basking logs, some fake plants and a terra cotta hide. I baked his wood at 250 degrees for 90min before using and have baked to sanitize 3 additional times over the last month. I also have the F10 Vet sanitizing spray for spot and deep cleaning.
Over last few days I have noticed 2 tiny mites crawling (1 on two separate occasions) in his tank, once on wood and once on floor. Needless to say I was freaked out but unsure where they could have been coming from. I thought maybe I didn't wash his veggies thoroughly enough.
Today I went to give food to my step-daughters tortoise in another room and saw that there were mites ALL OVER the food dish! So the background on the tortoise is that it has some cracked shell type substrate. My step daughter is only at our house 4-5 times a month and does not provide the level of cleaning that I would ever be comfortable with for my pet. However, it's not my pet, so I will give it fresh food and water daily, turn on lighting, and occasionally sanitize food and water dishes, but that is it. I'm afraid that somehow in caring for both animals I probably spread the bugs from one tank to the other. I try to be careful and NEVER share items between tanks, but I am in and out of both.
SO-tonight we will be dumping the tortoise tank, starting with all new substrate and disinfect the tank thoroughly. I have access to bleach, steaming and F10 spray. Separately I will disinfect everything from Teddy's tank as well.
My questions are: can the wood decorations be salvaged by bleaching/baking? Or should I throw then all out-from both tanks?
Which is the most effective method for killing the mites? I saw steaming as an option in another post, is this better then bleach?
I plan to soak the tortoise in betaine solution. But I am hesitant to do this Teddy unless necessary because he is so young and he gets stressed by baths at first (he eventually settles down and relaxes) and I'm afraid he may splash and get it in his mouth or eyes. Should I soak Teddy also? I have literally seen 2 mites in his tank, but I know that where there is 1 there may be many...
It is possible that we may have to re-home the tortoise if we can't this under control. I worry about the lack of sanitation that is built into having any particle substrate. If we keep it, any recommendations about how I can be sure not to pass along anything from the tortoise to beardie (other then using hand sanitizer and washing hands really well, not having any items come in contact with each other ever)?
Any other thoughts or things that I am missing please let know!
