Mouse spider has mites! Missulena insignis

[SpoopySpooda]

Hi, all
I noticed my Mouse spider, Missulena insignis, which I have named Siggy , had some strange white things all over her. They look very much like Mites to me. How do I get rid of them if they are? Does anyone know what type of mites they are? or if they are hurting my baby? I've attached some images. sorry if they are blurry, I had to take them on my phone.

 

[basin79]

Hi, all
I noticed my Mouse spider, Missulena insignis, which I have named Siggy , had some strange white things all over her. They look very much like Mites to me. How do I get rid of them if they are? Does anyone know what type of mites they are? or if they are hurting my baby? I've attached some images. sorry if they are blurry, I had to take them on my phone. View attachment 283304 View attachment 283305

Definitely mites. And a lot of them. A wet cotton bud will get a lot off. With that many I'd personal put her in a tub with bone dry substrate for a few days. Doesn't take too long usually for mites to die in dry conditions.

Keep her enclosure clean. Remove any left over food asap. Springtails put compete mites too.

 

[SpoopySpooda]

I don't want to agrivate her by using a cotton bud that is almost as big as her, mouse spiders are quite small and quick to rise Into attack position. Would just putting her in a bone dry container for a few days be sufficient?

 

[basin79]

I don't want to agrivate her by using a cotton bud that is almost as big as her, mouse spiders are quite small and quick to rise Into attack position. Would just putting her in a bone dry container for a few days be sufficient?

I'd honestly try to get some off first as they're so many. A small artists brush would work too to brush off some of the mites.

 

[The Snark]

Anyone know the temperature tolerance range for that spider? Many mite species cease breeding and some even die off below 50 F.

 

[Ellenantula]

I would also try removing the mites with a swab. My guess (which could easily be wrong) is that since the mites are on the spider, drying everything else out may make no difference. Meaning if these are predatory mites, then the spider may be the sole moisture/food source they're living on. If you just see mites around a water dish -- you assume drying things out is the solution. But these are on the spider, not just near an environmental water source. You can try drying everything out thoroughly, but if the mites remain: the spider itself is the moisture source.

I'm not a mite expert, it's just my best guess from looking at the picture. Sorry.

 

[SpoopySpooda]

I might try removing the mites with a small brush and changing the substrate. Unless anyone else has any ideas?

The snark, I wouldn't know the temperature range, mouse spiders aren't very common pets so there isn't a lot of information on them.

 

[schmiggle]

It's been collected at least once from Menindee, NSW, which regularly dips to around freezing in July, so I bet it can tolerate temps down to, say, 5C no problem. You might try keeping it at 6-7 C for a few days, it seems to me, as well as keeping it dry.

Edit: apparently there's confusion about Missulena occatoria and M. insignis, with some suggesting that the former is found in eastern Australia and the latter in western Australia. The original collection of M. insignis is from near Perth, where the weather doesn't usually get much colder than 8C. Do you have any information about where this spider was collected? Particularly if you collected her yourself.

 

[WildSpider]

I think I've heard of people putting the whole enclosure in the freezer (Don't remember how long. Guessing a day or two.) for a while to kill the mites and then taking it back out and letting it warm up to room temperature before putting the spider back in.

As far as getting them off the spider, I think I've also seen a method (on YouTube) where someone put the spider (in that case a T) in a small container with holes in it. They would reach through the hole with a cotton swab (or something along those lines I believe) and gently brush off the mites.

Edit: I've found some instructions I kept in case my spiders ever have trouble with mites. Here's what I wrote:

"Once mites have been found, take out the tarantula, empty its water and put the tarantula's enclosure (including the lid) in the freezer for 24 to 48 hours. Sanitize the area where the enclosure was kept. Take the enclosure back out of the freezer and keep the lid off to warm it back up faster. Substrate will be frozen so it will take 2 or 3 days for it to thaw out again. Once it has been warmed up, put the tarantula back in it's enclosure and refill the water."

This was the source I quoted for myself:

I had also made a note to myself that instead of putting it in the freezer, I was considering putting it in a cheap ice chest and just trying to keep that cold since we use our freezer for...you know...food.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

@boina made a whole post about this exact situation. Give her advice a shot and let us know if it works for you. Click

 

[WildSpider]

@boina made a whole post about this exact situation. Give her advice a shot and let us know if it works for you. Click

Hadn't seen this thread yet. Thanks for linking us to it! Very helpful!

 

[boina]

I would also try removing the mites with a swab. My guess (which could easily be wrong) is that since the mites are on the spider, drying everything else out may make no difference. Meaning if these are predatory mites, then the spider may be the sole moisture/food source they're living on. If you just see mites around a water dish -- you assume drying things out is the solution. But these are on the spider, not just near an environmental water source. You can try drying everything out thoroughly, but if the mites remain: the spider itself is the moisture source.

I'm not a mite expert, it's just my best guess from looking at the picture. Sorry.

I don't mean to insult you by disagreeing but what you said there is unfortunately wrong, even if you mean parasitic and not predatory mites. Grain mites will definitely sit on the spider and not cluster around the water source when the enclosure is even slightly moist and especially when there are a lot of them.

 

[The Snark]

Grain mites will definitely sit on the spider and not cluster around the water source

Moisture is often a non factor as mites can derive it from the slightest source, even each other. EX: Grains mites in hermetically sealed jars living off the moisture from dehydrated oats for months. Red mites found from Trona right into Death Valley.

 

[Ellenantula]

@SpoopySpooda I was wondering how the mite situation was going; I was also the one who had concerns re: predatory mites -- I assumed (perhaps wrongly) that this was a wild-caught specimen.

(anyway, hoping no news is good news)