Wow! Thanks for all the info. I will do a careful search when I get home tonight and
let you know what I find. If I have to, I will take her to the vet.
:o) Tobey
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In a message dated Fri, 25 Jan 2002 12:25:34 PM Eastern Standard Time, "Magnus
Myklatun" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Hi!
>
> >I have not checked for anything like that, but I do hold her on a >regular
> >basis and have not noticed any little creatures on her. What >specifically
> >should I look for?
>
> Mites are blood-sucking organisms. One of the problems are that they can
> carry diseases from one reptile to another. Ticks could also be what you
> have, but they are relatively large, and stationary after they lock into the
> reptile skin, and should be easy to see. Mites on the other hand are tiny
> and very mobile. They can be found moving around on the reptile or in it's
> environment. Mites are usually black, or bright red or orange. As with most
> parasites mites and ticks do not represent a big problem in the wild, but
> they can cause big problems in the captive environment.
> On lizard you usually will find mites moving around the body, under the
> edges of scales, around eyes or ears, or any other place where the skin is
> thinner.
> It might be hard to get rid of mites, one of the reasons is that they spend
> a lot of their non-feeding time hidden away in moist, dark places. They
> reproduce quickly, and at any time you will have mites in different
> life-stages in the enclosure. This means to get rid of them, not only means
> treating the lizard, but also the environment the lizard lives in.
> One effective way to treat the lizard for mites would be to give it a warm
> (85F) bath in diluted Betadine (color of medium tea). Pour the
> water-povodine-iodine solution over the lizard, be careful (specially around
> the eyes). The water should drown the mites, and the Betadine should help
> treat the mite bites. Then, use a saturated soft cloth in diluted Betadine
> and use it between their legs and body, through the folds of skin around the
> neck etc. You can use a cotton-tipped swab to apply the dilute Betadine
> around the eyes and nose.
> Then finally rinse the lizard in a warm water bath.
> The next thing you need to do is clean the environment...
> Get rid of the stuff you change periodically (substrate etc.), wash the tank
> and everything in it with a bleach-water solution (1:30). Let all the
> accessories soak in this solution for about 8 hours. Use a no-pest strip in
> the set-up and seal it up tightly so that you keep the toxic fumes inside
> the tank where they are needed. Air out the tank when you are done for a few
> hours, make sure all the fumes are gone.
> As you see you need an alternate place to keep your lizard while you are
> doing this.
> For the next few weeks you may want to use a simple as possible set-up
> (paper towel for substrate etc.). This will make it easier to see if you got
> rid of the mites.
> Anyways, this is a subject you can write pages and pages about. :) There are
> other ways to do this, and some people prefer to use non-toxic cleaning
> stuff....
>
> Hope this helps, and I'm sorry for the long posting...
>
> Magnus
>
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