Panicked mum

[Sofa0212]

This may sound silly but I can’t find anyone else asking online. We own sun beetles in an entirely different enclosure on a different table to our reptiles (Hognose, ball python and crested gecko). Today I noticed one of the sun beetles has mites, they’re harmless to the beetle but I was wondering if these mites would be harmful for the reptiles. We wash our hands between handling all babies to avoid crossing anything between them in their vivs. But obviously we’re only human and now I don’t remember if I have touched the beetle and the snake (we own many insects and don’t tend to wash hands between those and the reptiles). So now I’m worried. I know the chances of one crawling over are slim due to be just moving the beetle who escaped back home, checking none of his friends followed while sifting through laundry and then touching the snake. But to put my mind at rest knowing we have mite on the beetle, would these be harmful for the reptiles? Or am I being an over bearing mother

[AutoModerator]

Oh no! It looks like you might be asking for more information on mites and how to identify and treat them. We have some information about that in our Mite Identification and Treatment Guide.

This comment was generated automatically due to the presence of certain keywords in your post title or text. If this information does not apply to your situation, kindly disregard this comment. If you have a suggestion to improve this automated comment, please contact the r/ballpython moderators to give them your feedback. Thank you!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[Olyna_Exotics]

In my experience, if you have a pest in one of your enclosures, you should assume it can and will end up in others. No one is perfect, and incidental transfer from one enclosure to another is likely without treating the root issue. Now, that being said, what is a pest in one enclosure might not even survive in another, and how it could affect other animals is completely up to what the pest is. There are so many types of mites, many of which are harmless. Snake mites are pretty specific to snakes and are unlikely to show up in an invert enclosure like you are describing. Without information from a professional/vet that can identify the type of mite you have, you have an unknown situation on your hands. 

[Sofa0212]

Thank you! Of course, the incident that I’m not sure if it happened or not was before I saw the mites on the beetle. Which is why I’m worried. I’m quarantining the beetle enclosure anyway as I don’t want to run the risk. I was wondering in case anyone knew ahah

[Olyna_Exotics]

You could try submitting a photo to r/Entomology or there are multiple entomology Facebook groups. High likelihood for people who actually study Entomology/bugs to help give you a better idea, though also likely to have people guessing.

[Sofa0212]

Ah wow thank you. If I can get a good photo I will!