A mite? Where do they come from?

[ttaylor]

Over the past week or so, I have noticed a small black bug on my senegal. It almost looked like just a dot, but I noticed it moved. I never saw it all the time, and I guess I can't be sure it was the same one, because most of the time I didn't notice anything. Today, I saw it again, and this time I was lucky enough to get it on my finger! Totally by accident, as I was just trying to knock it off.

It seemed like just brushing it off was enough to harm it to where it wasn't moving on my finger, thought with a magnifying glass I could just make out it's legs still moving. The thing is tiny!


If it is a mite, I have no idea where it would have come from. I only have just thischameleon, and I have had it since early Feb.

 

[Aminah Undone]

You could have picked up a mite in a store that sells reptiles, particularly snakes. It's hard to tell what kind of mite it is from the pic, but I'm hypersensitive to just the idea of mites.. me.

The good thing is, if it's a snake mite ..it won't stick around because your chameleon is not a suitable host for it to survive or thrive. If you have snakes or skinks, though ..you could have a situation on your hands. A nightmare, really.

 

[Alexl]

We can't see whether it's a mite or not, it's a very large pic and your "whatever it is" seems to be very tiny .

If there were mites on your chameleon, you could find more of them in the axles, around the eyes, in the corner of the mouth, near the cloaca or the dorsal crest as typical spots. Chameleon mites often look like tiny little moving reddish dots. There's never only one mite.

 

[KarmaChams]

Mites can be brought into your home with clothes, other pets, or anything really. They'll even hitch a ride on other insects! They can be picked up from the woods, a friends house, or a highly-traveled pet store aisle.

I once had bad mites on a boa I adopted, and the only thing I've found to keep them at bay... Is by basically doing everything possible to keep them at bay, haha. If there is an adult, there are probably eggs and young around, too.

Give your cham a good dose of Mite-Off, and plenty of access to water. This product tends to dry out reptile skin. I would then place your cham in seperate(temporary) housing, and DRENCH his cage and vines in his old enclosure (if fake) in a solution of 1 part bleach/20 parts water or so.

You really have to get in every tiny crevice in the enclosure - submersion in a large tub is best, if practical. After the mites are good and dead, rinse, rinse, rinse, and re-rinse his things with water. Make sure no bleach residue is left!

I would do this back and forth with the cages, maybe once a week or less - until you have seen hide nor itsy bitsy hair of the mites.

PS. this is probably overkill, but it's worth it to protect your buddies. Hopefully I didn't goof up anywhere on here. Hope it helps!

 

[mbondy]

It could be a gnat, I've a few and I mean maybe two in my room that I've constantly been killing. I'm pretty sure they came in from my plants even after I re-planted and washed them I'm cleaning and bleaching today as well...I hate gnats!

 

[Alexl]

Give your cham a good dose of Mite-Off, and plenty of access to water. This product tends to dry out reptile skin.

He better should first verify it definitely is a mite (I'm not sure...are there more than this only one? Is there any microscope picture of this little dot?) and if this is a mite whether it is a species which harms a chameleon. Not every mite you can find is a chameleon's parasite and needs to be treated.

 

[ttaylor]

Well, in light of the responses, I'm going to follow my gut instinct, which is to see if I see anything more of this.

I have had gnats fly around the cage, and I would like to re-pot my plants. This thing seemed SO tiny, though, so I felt unsure. Also, I had only noticed it ON the cham.. but I don't really sit around and observe the other parts of the cage.

Thanks for the replies! I'll update if anything more develops.

 

[Tifanydalpont]

i bought some drift wood from petco that was infested with then just boil all the decor to kill them