Mites?! How can this be?!

While doing a water check this afternoon, I found the dreaded little black specks in my RTB's water bowl. I was so quick to get cleaning I forgot to take pics of the stupid things.

But the thing is, how could he of gotten mites? This is the first time it's been an issue. I haven't added anything into my collection since last year at about this time. I breed and order F/T in bulk, so I don't go to pet stores. We've been in this new house for almost 2 months now and we've been having issues with dust mites and junk. It feels like I've been cleaning this house non stop since we've moved in. Could it be something in the house? The guy who lived here before us only had a dog.

I'm so confused! I have no issues with dealing with them. I worked in pet stores for almost 4 years, so been there done that. PAM is in stock at all time. But where in the world could they have come from? And I've checked all the others, and everyone else looks clean. Any ideas? Help!

Do you go to a friend's house and handle reptiles maybe? If they are snake mites they would have to have been transferred somehow. Been to a show lately?

Nope, no shows. I have no friends with reptiles and no one has handled my collection in a year. I haven't even handled other reptiles since a show I went to in Austin 2 years ago. I'm stumped!

What kind of bedding are you using?

Newspaper.

The only thing I can think of is there's something in the house? So far he looks good. He's in the middle of a good shed and hasn't been off feed. But how in the heck could there be reptile mites in the house? Unless it's something that looks like reptile mites? Bleh, I'm so lost.

Maybe it's not actually reptile mites? Sorry I can't give more suggestions, but maybe someone else will stumble in and be of some help:)
How long have you had the boa?

If you could take pictures then I could probably give you a better suggestion. I know once a friend thought he had mites, and they were actually little flies. Not saying this is the same in your case.

I've had this guy for over a year now. Not any of my herps have ever come in with mites and like I said, this is the first time I've had mites in my collection. Even after dealing with a whole store full of them!

Well, you've been helpful with getting my mind working. Maybe it's from all of the geckos I have in my backyard?

I'll try to take pictures next time. But they look just like the ones I've had to fight off when I worked at the pet store. I even saw one crawling on him and it looked just like one. I'm going to do an internet search and see what I can find.

Mite eggs can lay dormant for quite some time and all of a sudden the right temp and humidity requirements are met an BAM, they hatch. According to Bob Pound at Pro-Products, the mites usually don't lay eggs in the enclosure but look elsewhere. More than likely the eggs were on something else. The same thing happened to me and that was what he told me when I called about PAM.


Rob

Hhhhmmmm... That's very interesting.... Now the question is where could the mite eggs have come from?

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Originally Posted by spygirl

Hhhhmmmm... That's very interesting.... Now the question is where could the mite eggs have come from?

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They could have been stuck to just about anything coming from a pet store. I suspect mine may have been on a bag of substrate, or something, since the shop I bought it at has all of that stuff near the reptile cages. Or it is also possible that at some point I got them on my clothes and didn't even realize it...

Well, I'd thought I'd update this. It's been two days and I haven't seen any more black spots. My RTB is still in QT, but so far we're looking good. I'm still confused as to how he got them, since I don't go to the pet store, I use newspaper, and no one handles my collection. Maybe they came from the wild herps around the house? Who knows. But I've treated the house the same way I treat for fleas and have PAMed everyone's enclosures, whether they needed it or not. Thanks everyone for all the ideas and help. Now let's just hope this is the last time I have to do this!