Mites Again..

[ZackF]

Hey Guys

Posted awhile back regarding a major mite problem. Cleaned the tank, replaced everything and it was ok... UNTIL NOW.
They seem to be back, and have infected 2 more of my dragons including the 1st one that was infected.
I've read up the on the beautiful dragons website and did everything stated there.
Really need some help here as i need an affective and foolproof way to clear these mites once and for all, on the tank and the dragons

Thanks
Zack

 

[MissT]

Have you did the betadine soaks? That usually makes the mites move upwards to their heads where you can pick them off.

 

[ZackF]

Yeap i did, they don't exactly move up to their heads. I have been picking them up slowly from their scales, but the dragons certainly don't like it.
Decided to throw the entire racking system away, really hard to get into those corners, etc.
I've been hearing a couple of things, one saying where i should bathe them in betadine every other day and one where it says i should bathe everyday.
Could someone point out to me which ones the correct one?

 

[MissT]

I would do it everyday.
Also, you might want to either bake or freeze any furniture - I had a problem with other bugs a few years ago and freezing was what finally got rid of them!

 

[ZackF]

Everyday it is then. Will get some more betadine tomorrow.
Decided to throw most of their furniture away as well. Wasn't much either.
Will have some temporary tanks for them at the moment. Hopefully they clear out fast.

 

[MissT]

Cardboard furniture would probably be good for the time being too!

 

[AprilMayJune]

I battled a small mite problem with one of my girls for 6 months. I bathed her daily in betadine baths and cleaned her enclosure with bleach daily as well. It didn`t work. In the 5th month I buckled and went to the pet store for some Mite Spray. I took her tank and sprayed it down one night and took her out and put her in a 20 gallon tank for that night. I sprayed her down thoroughly as well. We haven`t had the mited come back since. This was 6 months ago.

 

[Smoku]

Hiya,

Get Ardap, bath your dragon in warm water for 15-20 mins, this will remove the mites, open tank up, take everything out and coat with ardap, it will take 3-4 hours to air out so be prepared, hot water bottle wrapped in towel so you dont burn your baby, replace water every 30mins, spray everything that was in the tank, leave to air out, can be left outside if you wish, ardap will kill any mite that touches the surface, it is good for 6 weeks, i know snake breeders who spray the news paper they keep snakes on leave for 2 days then use that as substrate, it is possible your mites are coming from substrate, what are you using? i recommend newspaper or paper towels, easy to clean and very hygienic plus doesn't cause impaction!! i did this 7 months ago and still mite free!!!

Also spray all round the outside of viv, in glass runs, everywhere really, you might want to put viv in another room with windows open to aid airing of it, do not put babies back in viv until you can no longer smell the ardap, sometimes the smell might have gone, close your viv with heat light on check 15mins later, smell sometimes comes back, take glass out and continue to air.

 

[ZackF]

Thanks for the info guys.
The tank won't be an issue anymore, i basically threw it out. Although now i do need help with my dragons itself. Been doing the betadine baths every other day.
AprilMayJune
By any chance, was the mite spray frontline? I'm getting bloody annoyed at the mites at this point.

Smoku
Ardap? Is it formulated for animals or is it a pharmaceutical product? Iv'e never heard of it before.

 

[danab]

If nothing else works, you can try predatory mites (good mites eat the bad mites). If you do a search for Hypoaspis Miles you will find some posts where they have been used successfully to clear mite infestations in reptile enclosures. I am currently using them in my 55 gallon hermit crab tank and hoping they will do the trick since I do not want to throw away all my substrate which would be stupidly expensive and then try and sterlize everything in my hermit tank too. So far no ill effects but my innoculation was lower then normal and I am waiting for a new hypoaspis cannister to arrive. There are some videos on Youtube as well from folks safely using them on everything from snakes to centipedes.

http://store.evergreengrowers.com/prostores/servlet/Detail?no=1