Lokee85
Arachnoknight
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2017
- Messages
- 195
So, I panicked and overreacted in what I can now see is a classic rookie mistake. Two days ago, during routine maintenance, I noticed some white floaters in the water caps in both my sling enclosures. Knowing T's sometimes poo in their water, I observed the white floaters, which seemed to be moving, and then noticed the same white specks moving around in the substrate underneath the water. "Oh, no!" I thought. "MITES!!" 
Convinced my poor babies were on the verge of death from these tiny lurking menaces, I set into action of gently but quickly removing my slings (stressing them out in the process, of course) and sterilizing and replacing EVERYTHING in their enclosures. After this hour-long process, I finally picked up my phone and took to AB to see how much danger my babies were in and if I caught the "problem" in time. That's when I discovered my mistake.
After searching and reading many other threads about mites with other noobs describing EXACTLY what I just saw (tiny, round white mites under the water bowl), and more experienced keepers explaining that these were actually CLEANER mites I flipped out over, I felt foolish. I just stressed out my slings and destroyed their homes for nothing.
Now, two days later, they're both staying hidden in the tiny starter holes I made for them at the corner of their enclosures (in hopes that I could possibly see them in their burrows). My B. albo, who had dug out beautiful, elaborate tunnels before (which I destroyed) just hollowed out the hole I gave her and has been sitting in the bottom ever since. No tunnels. My B. vagans, who never tunneled before, took to his new hole with gusto and hollowed it out a bit as well, then sealed himself off. I can see them moving through their "windows" so I know they're ok. But I know they're really stressed right now, too, so I'm leaving them alone for a few days before I try feeding again. I feel bad for the unnecessary stress I caused these tiny creatures, and I just thought I'd share my experience so maybe another noob can learn from this noob's mistake. In the future, ask Arachnoboards first.
Convinced my poor babies were on the verge of death from these tiny lurking menaces, I set into action of gently but quickly removing my slings (stressing them out in the process, of course) and sterilizing and replacing EVERYTHING in their enclosures. After this hour-long process, I finally picked up my phone and took to AB to see how much danger my babies were in and if I caught the "problem" in time. That's when I discovered my mistake.
After searching and reading many other threads about mites with other noobs describing EXACTLY what I just saw (tiny, round white mites under the water bowl), and more experienced keepers explaining that these were actually CLEANER mites I flipped out over, I felt foolish. I just stressed out my slings and destroyed their homes for nothing.
Now, two days later, they're both staying hidden in the tiny starter holes I made for them at the corner of their enclosures (in hopes that I could possibly see them in their burrows). My B. albo, who had dug out beautiful, elaborate tunnels before (which I destroyed
) just hollowed out the hole I gave her and has been sitting in the bottom ever since. No tunnels. My B. vagans, who never tunneled before, took to his new hole with gusto and hollowed it out a bit as well, then sealed himself off. I can see them moving through their "windows" so I know they're ok. But I know they're really stressed right now, too, so I'm leaving them alone for a few days before I try feeding again. I feel bad for the unnecessary stress I caused these tiny creatures, and I just thought I'd share my experience so maybe another noob can learn from this noob's mistake. In the future, ask Arachnoboards first.
