Bearded Dragon with Mites

So I believe my friends bearded dragon, Winston, has mites. She noticed these tiny little red spots all over his body, and after some researching we have come to believe they are mites. He has been frequently going outside to bask because it has been so warm out, and probably picked them up in the yard. Here are some photos so you can see for yourself. They are hard to see, but once you see them it's pretty icky. I also saved them in a really large size, so you *should* be able to right click, view image, and zoom in to see them up close.



You can especially see them around the spikes on his beard in this picture:




Here you can see what I believe are eggs. They seem to be on top of the scale instead of in between them:




You can tell poor Winston is so aggravated by them. Even as I was taking the pictures he would start scratching at his beard and my friend mentioned that he has been hanging out in his water bowl a lot, which I read that lizards to when they have mites.

So far, the battle attack against these buggers is to start giving him frequent soaks to hopefully drown all the mites. Then to completely disassemble the old tank and put Winston in a clean "emergency" tank lined with paper towels. We will go through everything in his old tank, spray with Prevent-A-Mite, and clean the crap out of every single crevice. I was also thinking we could bake the wood pieces. Winston will stay in the emergency tank until the mites are definitely gone, and that tank will be cleaned each time he takes a bath to prevent re-infestation.

Has anyone ever seen this before? We can use all the advice we can get. I also read a few owners used Betadine baths to help get rid of the mites, but I want a second opinion before trying that. Wish us luck in our fight against the mites!

EDIT 8/10/11 12:11am: If anyone is interested in doing some reading, I round this how-to article to get rid of mites on BeardedDragon.org and I am thinking that it sounds like a decent plan to try, but again, I wouldn't mind a second opinion.
http://www.beardeddragon.org/bjive/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=153056

 

Poor Winston. T3T

 

Ugh, those are definitely mites. Poor pretty beardie! I've only ever dealt with mites on a friends snake and of that it was only once so I can't comment too much on the beardie treatment itself. But I do think that you have the right out-look and how you know you will have to clean the cage out several times to eventually get rid of them all. Also, the article that you linked to does seem to be legit but I cannot comment on if it works or not... I did use the product reptile relief and it helped my friends BP but we did have to clean the cage several times and eventually just cleaned the cage with a 1:10 bleach:water solution, baked the cork bark and wood branch in the oven at 350 degrees F for 3 hours after soaking it in the bleach solution and washing it off thoroughly as well.

Good luck and I hope he gets better soon!

 

its so sad looking at him with those mites. i wish i could help

 

I know! I feel so bad for him. The poor thing looks like he has the chicken pox.

I spoke with my vet and he told me to use hydrogen peroxide and a tooth brush to help kill them, but another dragon owner told me they heard the peroxide can eat away at the scales. No idea if this is true, but I don't really want to find out. I am probably going to call around to a few more vets and see what they have to say. Hopefully I can get over to my friends house and help her out with all this cleaning before I go off on my vacation. It's funny too, I just decorated his new tank and made it all pretty, and two days after he goes in it we discover he has mites and everything has to come out and be taken apart and sterilized and so on. That's life for ya

 

Don't use any type of medicine. Put some luke warm water in your bathtub and let him soak in it (but don't let him climb out) make sure he stays in there for a good while to drown all of the mites. After that, you can use the toothbrush that your vet suggested and scrape the dead ones that are left on his body.

Sorry to hear that. It's all about cleanliness. Don't EVER let him outside unless your sure it's an environment he will be safe. Just stay positive, and he will be O.K.

 

Simply soaking the beardie in warm water is NOT the most efficient way to get rid of mites--in fact it is probably the least efficient. First, it will allow some of the mites to climb up the beardie's head to safety, where they will continue to bite and breed. Second, it will not treat the mite bites themselves. That's really the main point of the betadine bath--not only will it kill the mites, but it will disinfect the bites left by them as well. An alternative to betadine is chlorhexadine, but I believe betadine is the more common choice of treatment. I wouldn't recommend the hydrogen peroxide at all though. First of all, it's going to sting like crazy when it hits those bites. And yes, it does kill the healthy cells surrounding injuries; this is true in humans as well, so avoid using it on yourself too! I'm guessing your vet is probably old school if they recommended hydrogen peroxide...not that it wouldn't work, it's just that there are more widely used choices nowadays. Anyway, to answer your actual question, the treatment and enclosure disinfectant methods provided by Beautiful Dragons seem pretty air tight. I have had a couple customers use betadine baths with success and no apparent discomfort for the animals from the treatment, and I've read of many more cases online where the betadine treatment was used with success, so I'd say it's a good way to go.

On a side note, completely restricting his access to the outdoors seems silly to me. Things like this happen from time to time, yes, but you could have just as easily brought the mites in on your own person or clothing or via another animal. If you ask me, the benefits of natural sunlight definitely counteract the small chance of a mite infestation...

 

Thank you guys for all the responses. So we are going to go with a diluted Betadine bath to help get rid of these things. At this point, I have read about enough people using it with success and without any harm done to the dragon that I feel comfortable.

I will keep you guys updated on his treatment as much as I can. Tomorrow I am going on vacation for a week with little internet access, so it may be a little while. Now that my friend and I figured out what we are going to do, I will hopefully come back from vacation to a mite free dragon!

 

There is another product i have used with good results. Its spray on MITE OFF from Zoo Med. Its in herp stores and on line. about 11 bucks a bottle. First : Remove dragon from environment and spray him with Mite Off.. To do his face spray your finger or cloth with spray and rub on face.. Do not get in eyes! place dragon in sterile tub or new enclosure- Now Second: Remove ALL substrate and enclosure items. Immediately throw away bedding and easily replaced items. Bleach soak any ceramic, rocks etc..rinse very well after a few hours of soaking and place in oven for up to two hours at 200 degrees--make SURE TO MONITOR ITEMS!!!! (You can do this with wood too but better to replace instead). THird: decontaminate cage with bleach or vinegar solution. Include areas where you let dragon hang out! If bleach or vinegar cant be used , use the MITE OFF in the enclosure as directed. (Mite off did not burn my claw-torn skin when I applied to reptiles) . Lastly: Replace new/cleaned/sterilized things back in enclosure with dragon. Make sure water provided is just big enough to drink out of for a few days. By day 3 there should be no reappearance unless you didnt decontaminate properly. Can retreat/repeat at third day if nessisary.
These red mites are common from having pet outside here in MN too. Some areas dont have this little mite but you can even see them in picinic tables around here! There are even wood mites you can pick up or bring in from having pet out or by bringing untreated terrarium items in. (wood, porus items, rocks etc). Its work but its gotta get done right.
Soaking does send the mites to the head! Once on the head they lodge into lips, eyes, and sinuses! This can snuff out a smaller or any herp and cause respiratory infections and eye health issues as well as cause mouth infections!
IF one insists /persists to go out with their herp, inspect and bathe prior to entry into your home. Find ways/products to treat your yard first giving time for the treatments to go away first as to not poison animals. Make a perch for your herp that you can take out with you and treat/inspect it too constantly. Better yet, Keep them on you. Have mite off ready.
Also: mites can come into your house thru screens, on yard items, (shoes, clothes and self if in areas or at other herp keepers areas) and more.
****Mites can cause anemia. (blood loss iron defficiency that kills) Severely weakened animals should be vet treated IMMIDIATELY. If the pet is not well enough to travel DO A HOUSE CALL.
****ANY pesticide can kill if used inappropriately. they can also kill severely weakend pets that are distressed from parasites.
Good luck. Feed him well. Keep them healthy.

 

Thank you for the detailed advice! It was hard to find advice from people that have had this problem in the past, so all of your information is great. I had actually heard of that spray before, but we ended up doing Betedine baths and the mites are gone now, thank goodness! It is definitely something to keep in mind for the future though. My friend lives in a very wooded area, so I'm sure they will be back at some point. Again, thank you so much!

 

Ya. bugs are inevitable. But bein prepared and having knowledge makes it alot easier to deal with. Oh. Diotiaomatious earth is also a natural pesticide and more. MAKE sure its FOOD GRADE. You can use it for fleas, mites spiders, centipedes and more by a wet or dry application. I remove animals and dust things down. Returning when everything is settled as not to over breathe any in. (cough cough cough!) Ya have to let it stay for up to a week but its a pesticide free way to help your pets. I have mixed it in a spray bottle to sprits pet (mammals and reptiles) to rid them of potential pests. You can lay a layer down in cracks, gaps and any space bugs can come thru including window sills and it snuffs them out with in hours of contact!
Heres an example: (we do frontline dogs now as its safe to reptiles when its DRY and treats environment too-i called the company to find out because my herps love my dogs) But the neighbors brought fleas to our property last year and no chemicals could help. Plus only certain ones can be used in homes where herps live..So I ebay ordered d earth food grade. I dusted dogs daily for a week. Powdered my whole house well. and poured powder at doorways and entry points. with in 2 weeks the fight that had taken months was over.
another example: my Bosc's enclosure had wood mites move in. The nested everywhere in hiding. I seen one on her, looked it up. Luckilly it turned out non parasitic! And I pulled her cage apart. Washed, soaked cooked items. Dusted the cage cracks (this cage is a wood framed structure so couldnt use vinegar or bleach) and around the cage heavily. Where my Bosc hangs out I first wetted the earth down as to not mess with her and make her sneezy. And she has been lovin it.Her cage was bug free in less than 24 hours! (I kept her out for that time to just be sure). She was bathed prior to return to enclosure. I vacuumed most up a week later but left the earth in cracks and around/under cage as a preventitive measure.