Urgent Care :: TINY RED MITES ON SERRA!!

[Tenodera]

Today, Serra is basking for a very long time. She seems normal, with her legs streched out, looking very comfortable.

But then she started blinking her eyes very fast as thought sand was in them and a tiny very very tiny red dot crawled from it and wandered towards her shell. Another one was on the tip of her shell

Is this serious? Are they parasites?

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Might be, my best advice is to take it to a vet, And have them exaimine a stool stample.

[Tenodera]

I would really like to take her to a vet. But I don't know any reptile vets in vancouver..

Even if I do find a reptile vet, it'll be hard to convince my mom to take me to them. She'll probably say "Oh thats probably just nothing..the water will drown the mites."

She can be pretty stubborn sometimes...

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Try doing a complete water change and scrubbing everything down, start by ditching anything that can possibly shelter these bugs (rocks,etc). If you dont see them anymore, then good. But it bothers me that they were crawling around you're turtle.That is why i think you should take a poop sample and have a vet check it out, it shouldnt cost much at all. And if you're mom doesnt think its serious, have her talk to one of the moderators on here. Maybe then she will turn around.

[Tenodera]

I've just found this website on mites and turtles.

"Macroscopic external parasites such as mites and leeches, or barnacles along for a ride on wild caught terrapins do not usually pose as large of a problem as the fungi or bacteria. Leeches and barnacles can usually be removed carefully with tweezers or hemostats. There are several commercial reptile sprays available for mites in aquariums. The container, basking site, and the nesting areas should be sprayed with sprays approved for such. Do not spray the turtle. If necessary submerge the turtle in a 1:100 dilution of Betadine or equivalent. Most mites of aquatic turtles are only active on the basking site. When the turtle returns to the water the mites should fall off or drown, but the dry areas of the aquaria must be treated."

This is the website.
http://www.neoterrapin.com/disease/

The mites did disappear while Serra was swimming, but where could she get these mites? The only land area is a flat rock. If I see them again the next time Serra basks, I'll clean out her tank and do what you said to do in the above post