All you need to know about mites

[boina]

And that's exactly why I wanted your view on these points

I was not suggesting that the mites feed off centipedes, just that their presence could be a contributing factor in other health problems, such as the spreading of fungal infections. However, I am happy to accept that a concentration of mites (with the exception of specialised parasites) are never a cause, although they are potentially a symptom of another problem - perhaps also a fungal infection?

We throw the word "mycosis" around quite a bit whenever a centipede get humidity related health problems, most commonly black markings on the head regions, but for all we know these could be bacterial infections rather than fungal. It may be that the mites are able to scent this and therefore congregate on those areas?

Have you any thoughts or knowledge on fungal infections in arthropods? And do you think some of the anti-fungal treatments available for humans might work, or are these overly toxic?

I only really know about tarantulas and fungal infections are extremely rare there. I do know that a lot of things are mistaken for fungal infections that aren't any, though.

 

[SonsofArachne]

So, mites are bad, right?.............

 

[Torech Ungol]

So, mites are bad, right?.............

Yes, but only if you are an adherent of Nurgle, or some other god of decay.

 

[Macabre Artist]

Mighty useful information.

 

[Avictula]

Wow just read this thred for the first time, fantastic information, thank you boina.

 

[Zevil]

I have mites in all of my isopd culture. They actually help with reducing mould, just like springtails.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Something needs to be said about stating "mites are harmless" when it comes to tarantulas in captivity. Although the mites themselves are harmless and won't kill a tarantula directly, Dr. Sam Marshall in his classic tarantula pet care book "Tarantulas and Other Arachnids" states that the mites while "hitchhiking" can enter a tarantula's booklungs and cause irritation and restrict airflow. This is in direct contradiction to the link in the original post to the mite biologist who states in another forum "Because of the way Ts feed they cannot prevent it from feeding and because Ts have better mobility when it comes to self-grooming their book-lung openings I’ve so far never seen any around the booklungs. [I think it unlikely that they would ever enter the book lungs anyway.] They are probably an irritation to Ts but NOT harmful."

The Schultz and Schultz book "The Tarantula Keeper's Guide" (1998) speculates that mites are able to kill a tarantula by "fouling and plugging the tarantula's book lungs and mouth with their cast skins and feces." Like the Marshall book, Schultz never states that mites are able to directly kill a tarantula. However, Schultz has a very "enthusiastic" writing style and his statements on mites in that book can easily cause an alarmist position regarding them.

Both books are in agreement though that mites can be harmful and should be eradicated as soon as possible before the population explodes and causes issues for the tarantula.

 

[boina]

Something needs to be said about stating "mites are harmless" when it comes to tarantulas in captivity. Although the mites themselves are harmless and won't kill a tarantula directly, Dr. Sam Marshall in his classic tarantula pet care book "Tarantulas and Other Arachnids" states that the mites while "hitchhiking" can enter a tarantula's booklungs and cause irritation and restrict airflow. This is in direct contradiction to the link in the original post to the mite biologist who states in another forum "Because of the way Ts feed they cannot prevent it from feeding and because Ts have better mobility when it comes to self-grooming their book-lung openings I’ve so far never seen any around the booklungs. [I think it unlikely that they would ever enter the book lungs anyway.] They are probably an irritation to Ts but NOT harmful."

The Schultz and Schultz book "The Tarantula Keeper's Guide" (1998) speculates that mites are able to kill a tarantula by "fouling and plugging the tarantula's book lungs and mouth with their cast skins and feces." Like the Marshall book, Schultz never states that mites are able to directly kill a tarantula. However, Schultz has a very "enthusiastic" writing style and his statements on mites in that book can easily cause an alarmist position regarding them.

Both books are in agreement though that mites can be harmful and should be eradicated as soon as possible before the population explodes and causes issues for the tarantula.

No evidence has ever presented anywhere as to mites entering book lungs of tarantulas. S. Marshalls book is pretty outdated and the TKG's take on mites is completely absurd and based on a complete misunderstanding of mite biology. It's about the worst and most unscientific part of the whole book. You are aware that mites are everywhere in nature, especially in the soil?

Mites entering book lungs is a completely unsubstantiated myth, no matter how many books cite it.

 

[Paul1126]

Tarantulas entering book lungs is a completely unsubstantiated myth,

That would actually be scary. Psychopathic tarantulas killing other tarantulas by entering their book lungs

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

No evidence has ever presented anywhere as to mites entering book lungs of tarantulas. S. Marshalls book is pretty outdated and the TKG's take on mites is completely absurd and based on a complete misunderstanding of mite biology. It's about the worst and most unscientific part of the whole book. You are aware that mites are everywhere in nature, especially in the soil?

Tarantulas entering book lungs is a completely unsubstantiated myth, no matter how many books cite it.

As a complete layman in the subject of acarology, I am faced with a dilemma. There are people on the internet, like yourself, who have experience with mites and who's work in the subject I am unfamiliar with, that are making claims that mites are completely harmless to pet tarantulas. Yet, a professional arachnologist who's work I am familiar with (Dr. Sam Marshall) makes a contradictory claim. Both sides have not presented evidence either way. Who am I supposed to believe?

 

[boina]

That would actually be scary. Psychopathic tarantulas killing other tarantulas by entering their book lungs

Yeah, you are right - edited it .

Both sides have not presented evidence either way.

How am I supposed to present evidence of something that doesn't happen? Do you understand the dilemma? Presenting evidence of a negative fact is practically always impossible. If mites can enter book lungs, though, there should be evidence of it.

 

[Arachnid Addicted]

No evidence has ever presented anywhere as to mites entering book lungs of tarantulas. S. Marshalls book is pretty outdated and the TKG's take on mites is completely absurd and based on a complete misunderstanding of mite biology. It's about the worst and most unscientific part of the whole book. You are aware that mites are everywhere in nature, especially in the soil?

Mites entering book lungs is a completely unsubstantiated myth, no matter how many books cite it.

I have 2 doubts, though.
They can be around the book lungs but not actually enter in them?

Also, I have a little bit of them on some Ts I have, should it be better to stop feeding them for a while, and put the fruit on their enclo?

 

[boina]

I have 2 doubts, though.
They can be around the book lungs but not actually enter in them?

Also, I have a little bit of them on some Ts I have, should it be better to stop feeding them for a while, and put the fruit on their enclo?

Just think about it. Tarantulas live on the jungle floor. It's teeming with all kinds of small and smallest critters. If they could get into a tarantula's book lungs that easily tarantulas would be long extinct. Mites on tarantulas are harmless. They can, however, be a sign that something with your husbandry is off. Is it too moist? Can you let it dry out a little more? Otherwise I'd really recommend getting springtails and putting plenty of them in there. They'll outcompete the mites.

 

[Arachnid Addicted]

Just think about it. Tarantulas live on the jungle floor. It's teeming with all kinds of small and smallest critters. If they could get into a tarantula's book lungs that easily tarantulas would be long extinct. Mites on tarantulas are harmless. They can, however, be a sign that something with your husbandry is off. Is it too moist? Can you let it dry out a little more? Otherwise I'd really recommend getting springtails and putting plenty of them in there. They'll outcompete the mites.

Thanks for answering. I'll start the arragements asap.

 

[JPG]

I found a lot of soil mites (oribatida) in the sphagnum moss i gathered, does this mean I'm good to use it in my tarantula enclosure?

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

No evidence has ever presented anywhere as to mites entering book lungs of tarantulas. S. Marshalls book is pretty outdated and the TKG's take on mites is completely absurd and based on a complete misunderstanding of mite biology. It's about the worst and most unscientific part of the whole book. You are aware that mites are everywhere in nature, especially in the soil?

Mites entering book lungs is a completely unsubstantiated myth, no matter how many books cite it.

How am I supposed to present evidence of something that doesn't happen? Do you understand the dilemma? Presenting evidence of a negative fact is practically always impossible. If mites can enter book lungs, though, there should be evidence of it.

The claim I was referring to that lacks evidence is "mites are harmless". Not the method in which they could be harmful (by entering the booklungs), so yes, I understand my own dilemma. Why should I believe you, who has academic credentials, in saying mites are harmless over someone else with academic credentials (Sam Marshall) who said mites can be harmful?

If you make a claim you should be able to support it, which I do not see in this thread. I'm not even sure what you are basing that claim on come to think about it. If you are drawing from the biology of non-parasitic mites, then sure, they can't directly harm a tarantula. Even the Marshall and Schultz books from the 1990s state that so that isn't new information. I can't accept the argument that since tarantulas share their environment with mites in nature so to they must be harmless in captivity because captivity doesn't have the same checks and balances as nature. We don't even know if the same species of mite that appears in captivity are the same as what a wild tarantula would encounter. As far as I know, there have been no recorded observations of how non-parasitic mites and tarantula interact with each other in nature. There is plenty on parasitic mites though.

You couldn't be supporting your claim on a lack of direct evidence that mites can harm tarantulas by indirect means, because that would mean there is no proof either way. I don't think it is right to state that "mites can enter the booklungs" is a myth. The first pet care book, that I am aware of, that made that statement was "Tarantulas and Other Arachnids" by Sam Marshall who has the academic credentials and experience in arachnology to make such a claim. He wouldn't be someone to just make something up, but that part of the book would have been better if he provided the source of that information so I can't say for sure if it was conjecture or if he or someone he knew observed it first hand.

The motivation for posting contradictory information to the main idea of this thread from the two prevailing tarantula care books (no matter how old they are) is due to how the statements being made are being repeated over and over again on this site. From my perspective, "mites are harmless" (in reference to the grain mites that appear in tarantula enclosures) is too vague a claim to make for people to accept it at face value and to repeat as fact. Statements made in two tarantula pet care books that say mites can be harmful is enough for me to raise doubt that they are not. If some want to dismiss those books for some reason, fine, but hopefully people are not out there letting the presence of mites in their tarantulas' enclosures reach infestation levels.

 

[boina]

The claim I was referring to that lacks evidence is "mites are harmless".

Ok, then let me rephrase that: There's no evidence anywhere that any kind of mite living in soil etc. can harm a tarantula as an opportunistic parasite, for example. Since no scientifically sound evidence has ever been presented of mites harming tarantulas despite the huge amount of tarantulas in captivity I decided to go with the available evidence and call them harmless instead of making up possible scenarios in which they could actually harm a tarantula.

There are tarantula parasitic mites, but, as is the case with any parasite, they spread from tarantula to tarantula and therefore must come from an already infected (i.e. wild caught) tarantula. Furthermore, there is no evidence that they do apprechiable harm to a reasonably healthy tarantula, either.

As to Dr. Sam Marshall: I've worked with and among scientists all my life. Everyone makes mistakes. Name dropping is not an argument.

I found a lot of soil mites (oribatida) in the sphagnum moss i gathered, does this mean I'm good to use it in my tarantula enclosure?

Yes.

 

[Redjunior]

Would isopods be a good measure to rid large mite numbers? I know lady bugs love to munch mites but what about isopods? Has anyone tried them?

 

[Theneil]

Would isopods be a good measure to rid large mite numbers? I know lady bugs love to munch mites but what about isopods? Has anyone tried them?

Isopods probably pose a larger risk to your tarantulas than the mites do.

 

[Redjunior]

Isopods probably pose a larger risk to your tarantulas than the mites do.

okay. i was just wondering. thanks for info.