This is another reason why I love LLL Reptile

[dgring]

The skink was my newest addition, I have had him for over a month and saw no visuals of mites, in that entire span. The mites life cycle is about 30 days so I would think they would have shown up in that time frame. The mites could have easily come from us, they can hitch a ride on clothes, from someone elses collection (our friends have reptiles as well), so it is more than likely we introducted them.

Also when I get my enclosures I Wash/bleach them and scrub them down, any decorations that are wood get baked in the oven for 2 hours after being bleached and any water bowls etc get submerged and bleached as well.

sounds valid enough to me

[muddoc]

Sounds fair enough. I guess it was my fault for not reading the thread you linked in your original post. Without reading that, this post can be misconstrued. I assumed you just added the new animal.

With that said, I can tell you that the life cycle of a mite can be 30 days, but it can also be much longer than that. It all depends on the temperature that the mite is in. In much cooler temperatures, a mite can live 45 to 60 days. They can enter a semi-dormant state in cooler temps (say below 70 degrees). I just wanted to throw that out there, so that people don't think they are free and clear just because they haven't seen a mite in 30 days. Diligence is the only way to wim the Mite War.

[jclaiborne]

Sounds fair enough. I guess it was my fault for not reading the thread you linked in your original post. Without reading that, this post can be misconstrued. I assumed you just added the new animal.

With that said, I can tell you that the life cycle of a mite can be 30 days, but it can also be much longer than that. It all depends on the temperature that the mite is in. In much cooler temperatures, a mite can live 45 to 60 days. They can enter a semi-dormant state in cooler temps (say below 70 degrees). I just wanted to throw that out there, so that people don't think they are free and clear just because they haven't seen a mite in 30 days. Diligence is the only way to wim the Mite War.

I appreciate that... I see how it can me missconstrued. I should have also stated the setup, its an IJ bluey so his temps are in the high 80s with high humidity, which is a great enviroment for mites!

On an updated side note he seems to be mite free at this point, but I plan to treat at least one more time just in case I missed something.