Mites/prevention/overkill

[cecdog]

I have noticed small white mites on the faces of a few of my new millipedes, they sometimes seem stressed and continually try to clean themselves. I have springtails, and a group of new millipedes I bought separately; quarantined until I get another enclosure setup.

My question relates to how I can create an enclosure that is "mite proof", my thinking is to coat any decorative drift wood in shellac, introduce a booming springtail population, and any other suggestions you guys might think would help. I would like to avoid using predatory mites. I would like to add some moss and plant life but I feel like that is what introduced the mites in my first enclosure.

As for my current tank, 4 out of 5 of the pedes have burrowed and not made an appearance for 8 days, and one of them has a translucent white ring after it's last segment, he is mostly burrowed but I saw that after gently lifting up some moss. I have avoided the urge to look for them, but I doubt they would all go to molt at the same time like that? Why the sudden disappearance?

 

[davehuth]

I'm sorry I don't have any surefire mite-proofing methods for you. I'm pretty sure there probably aren't any 100% solutions. However, because it's related – I keep Harvestmen with many of my inverts, and I think they may reduce the mite population somewhat. In my millipede enclosures, the Harvestmen will occasionally graze along the exoskeletons of the millipedes, and all I can think is that they're picking mites? The millipedes seem completely unbothered by this, and I really enjoy the interesting appearance and behaviors of Harvestmen. Good luck in the endless struggle, and let us know if you hit upon any novel solutions.

 

[BoyFromLA]

Springtails!

 

[REEFSPIDER]

I would not worry too much over mites in small numbers. As long as they are not parasitic mite (which they may be but is unlikely considering the vast amounts of mites) they are likely just scavenger mites that hitch a ride on other creatures until a new food source is found. You can get a wet qtip or paint brush and try removing all you can see physically on your pede and then do a substrate change/bin cleaning before rehousing the cleaned pedes in the new sub. You can go one step further by placing the pedes in quarantine and waiting to see if more mites appear on them, and removing those mites as well. But unless you start seeing population explosions in the enclosure or on the pedes i would not worry that bad.

 

[basin79]

Don't have millipedes but keep centipedes and springtails are unreal.

They out compete mites. Unreal little guardians.

 

[REEFSPIDER]

I 100% Agree with basin, i recently actually got into springs after being a strictly iso guy for a while. They out compete mites, and isopods!

 

[mickiem]

I vote for springtails also. I think my hypoasis (predatory) mites came from some dried moss. Everything else I had used was sterile. But I think it would impossible to exclude them. Springtails!

 

[MintyWood826]

This is about tarantulas and mites, but mites are mites. http://arachnoboards.com/threads/all-you-need-to-know-about-mites.309211/

 

[the league of shadows]

I personally like isopods especially the common and orange ones as ALWAYS witness them eating mites.just today one of my peppered roaches was upside down melting and they was eating the mite underneath it.i love them plus the great food source of mites in my opinion is why my isopod colony in exploding.

 

[mickiem]

I love isopods and I keep many species, but I don't keep any with my millies. I had a bad experience and I just don't think it is optimal.

 

[the league of shadows]

I love isopods and I keep many species, but I don't keep any with my millies. I had a bad experience and I just don't think it is optimal.

Noted since I never kept any with millipedes myself...do they nibble on them or something?

 

[mickiem]

Yes. They nibble and they will eat babies. I had Dwarf Whites in with N. americanus and they ate every baby. I also saw a lot of scars on adults in that enclosure so I am sure they damaged them as they molted.

 

[the league of shadows]

Yes. They nibble and they will eat babies. I had Dwarf Whites in with N. americanus and they ate every baby. I also saw a lot of scars on adults in that enclosure so I am sure they damaged them as they molted.

Wow...thanks

 

[cecdog]

Thank you all so much, I feel much more confident with my springtails now. I'll keep a close eye but maybe things are only at code Yellow right now, hopefully I can keep it from turning to code Orange haha.

 

[Exoskelos]

A major cause of those small mites is food left in too long. I tend to feed a lot of cucumber and dog food. If I don't remove it after a day or two, the mites appear and wreak havoc. I don't know what kinds of supplemental foods you give your millis, but that may be the cause of your mite problem. I have an ongoing war against snails myself, be glad you don't have any of those in with your millipedes, they're far more annoying in the long run.