# scorpion mites?



## Princesandwich (Aug 14, 2009)

I can see tiny little brown dots all over my Emperor Scorpion, and i was just wondering if it could be mites? Also do mites hurt the scorpion? And can tarantuals get the same kind of mites?


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## calum (Aug 14, 2009)

little brown dots.. be a bit more specific. Are they all sorta huddled around your scorpions joints? 

do they look simmilar to these little suckas.. 






those are bad mites. There is another type of mite you may see wondering around your scorpions, these are white, and they move around alot more, and they are bigger. These are predatory mites, these eat the bad ones. 

and I don't think mites are harmful in small numbers, but in large populations i'd imagine they would stress the scorpion.


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## Koh_ (Aug 14, 2009)

i've seen them too.. i REALLY HATE those .
i've also seen some red(orange), brown, and white mites on desert species.


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## Kathy (Aug 14, 2009)

You know I have parakeets and when one of the birds I bought had mites, I hung up some type of mite killer in the cage that does not hurt the birds, but kills off the mites.  It worked.  It was white.  Parakeets are very sensitive to pesticides and everything - my point being, I wonder if you went to a bird store and checked one of those out to see if it could be used in the scorpion tank?


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## calum (Aug 14, 2009)

if it's used in a humid tank, it would probably spread whatever it is that's killing the mites around the tank.. I think it would be too risky using something that kills arachnids in an arachnid's enclosure.

Reactions: Like 1


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## skips (Aug 14, 2009)

If they are truly "all over" the scorpion then whatever type of mite they are, they are stressing the scorpion.  Now, when I say all over, they can truly cover the entire scorpion.  Seeing a few on its back at a time may not be a problem.  Calum asks a good question, whether they are congregating at the joints or constantly moving.


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## Galapoheros (Aug 14, 2009)

The pic is of hypopus stage grain mites imo, the most common mite prob in the hobby.  We need a pic of your scorp to get a good opinion at least.  Personally, I have some kind of predator mites in my cages that seem to take care of that prob.  I had an emp that was covered like that in the pic with hypopus stage grain mites.  I introduced these other "assumed" pred mites and the scorpion was clean in 3 months.  I'm trying to get them ID'd.  If they are proven to be beneficial, I will try to spread them around.  They do well with tropical stuff.


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## skips (Aug 14, 2009)

Galapoheros said:


> The pic is of hypopus stage grain mites imo, the most common mite prob in the hobby.  We need a pic of your scorp to get a good opinion at least.  Personally, I have some kind of predator mites in my cages that seem to take care of that prob.  I had an emp that was covered like that in the pic with hypopus stage grain mites.  I introduced these other "assumed" pred mites and the scorpion was clean in 3 months.  I'm trying to get them ID'd.  If they are proven to be beneficial, I will try to spread them around.  They do well with tropical stuff.


Do you think that's wise ecologically to spread non native mites around?  I mean, i guess we do it with H. miles, but that kind of thing freaks me out.  It's always things like mites or other parasites that start wreaking havic on areas they're not supposed to.


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## Galapoheros (Aug 15, 2009)

They are predator mites, "parasitic" shouldn't be mentioned with these but as I said, I'm still working on an ID.  People don't want them unless they are ID'd 100%, I've already experienced that.  It would be interesting to hear more about distribution after they are ID'd.  They certainly came from other pedes or from leaves I introduced to the containers.  I noticed them with my native stuff, ..before I started buying non-natives, I've had them for years.  Also, many of the things we treat for bad mites are also "non-native", it can go in a circle like that.  I know there are diff factors like the odds of infestation because of size and other things.  Anyway, that's the point of getting an ID in the first place, to know what they are before I might "spread them around


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## whitewolf (Aug 15, 2009)

It took me forever to get it under control. Anything I buy from petstores is cleaned and baked now. I've got where I keep all grain and dry goods out of the room in sealed containers. When mixing the substrate up with water I bake it till it's dried out. Expecially after I get it from pet stores since I have seen them when I mix it. Grr. That batch was near birds. Then after it abosres all the water, cool and rewet. It smells like burning wood but it's the only way I can control them. 

Any time I see them in tanks everyone comes out and take a paint brush and wipe them off lightly putting them in clean containers. 10% bleach to clean regulary. Old substrate gets baked before it goes in the trash too.   Sticky paper (like sticky tiles) or duct tape around the enclosures helps too.

I used to breed my own crickets. And their tank was the first infestation. Happened after I got crickets from petsmart to give some new blood lines. Keeping tanks at a distance from each other helps too. Usally they aren't a problem and I never see them until something dies. This made me switch to roaches. Someone said isopods help too but I haven't got them yet.


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## whitewolf (Aug 15, 2009)

Galapoheros said:


> The pic is of hypopus stage grain mites imo, the most common mite prob in the hobby.  We need a pic of your scorp to get a good opinion at least.  Personally, I have some kind of predator mites in my cages that seem to take care of that prob.  I had an emp that was covered like that in the pic with hypopus stage grain mites.  I introduced these other "assumed" pred mites and the scorpion was clean in 3 months.  I'm trying to get them ID'd.  If they are proven to be beneficial, I will try to spread them around.  They do well with tropical stuff.


I saw those once and lost the site do they pester the inverts much. I know they weren't cheap but they said something about these burrow too and the other mites don't.:?


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## Galapoheros (Aug 15, 2009)

Do the pred mites burrow or the grain mites burrow?, is that what you're asking?  Well I'll tell you what I've seen and read ..., imo and ime..  The grain mites tend to "not" hide just under the surface, they crawl on and eat decaying veg matter and rotting bug parts.  But when that stuff runs out, they attach to your inverts and go dormant there on your invert in a stage called the "hypopus" stage.  They totally transform from walking around looking like tiny, cream-colored things to smaller "limpet" looking things stuck to your invert.  But, the pred mites tend to hide just under the surface of the soil, I see pred mites immediately come up when I blow on the sub, looks like they might feel there is something moving around they could eat when I do that.  That's how it looks to me anyway.  But, know that I'm just an observer!  I have a Bio background but I didn't study mites in detail in school or out of school in a science book kind of way, so I'm not an expert on this kind of thing, ....or anything else really, it's just how it looks to me.


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## Finntroll86 (Aug 15, 2009)

Although H. Miles is a soil dweller it cant survive more than 1/2" underneath the soil, the top layer is where all the good food is(other mites, fungus gnat larva, eggs of other insects). I think any deeper and they have a hard time digging out from the weight? I know in a compost heap most things don't survive deep within(other than bacteria, some fungi, other anaerobes) b/c of the extreme heat.


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## whitewolf (Aug 15, 2009)

That answered my question. All I knew from that site was they eat other mites. These burrow while harmful one wont. Didnt but them since I wasn't sure they wouldn't hurt my inverts. So in general all of the burrow to some extent. I end up with just pesky grain mites...so far.


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## skips (Aug 15, 2009)

Good point on the use of the word parasite.  I should say it's always the tiny inverts--symbiots, parasites, or agricultural pests.  People think that shipping, say, their millipedes is just shipping their millipede when in reality they've been banned in some areas because of the mites and parasites they bring with them getting out and wreaking havoc.  

Anyway, i'm glad you're considering the consequences responsibly.  Really, it'll be the day when people can link a big negative agricultural event with the hobby that will be the day lawmakers have no problem shutting down the hobby.  I like the idea of having them identified.  The next step would be to talk to an acarologist, maybe at ohio state, to see what they think about shipping it.  After that i'd be excited to see a new cheap way to get rid of mites.



Galapoheros said:


> They are predator mites, "parasitic" shouldn't be mentioned with these but as I said, I'm still working on an ID.  People don't want them unless they are ID'd 100%, I've already experienced that.  It would be interesting to hear more about distribution after they are ID'd.  They certainly came from other pedes or from leaves I introduced to the containers.  I noticed them with my native stuff, ..before I started buying non-natives, I've had them for years.  Also, many of the things we treat for bad mites are also "non-native", it can go in a circle like that.  I know there are diff factors like the odds of infestation because of size and other things.  Anyway, that's the point of getting an ID in the first place, to know what they are before I might "spread them around


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## Exo (Aug 15, 2009)

kathy_in_arizona said:


> You know I have parakeets and when one of the birds I bought had mites, I hung up some type of mite killer in the cage that does not hurt the birds, but kills off the mites.  It worked.  It was white.  Parakeets are very sensitive to pesticides and everything - my point being, I wonder if you went to a bird store and checked one of those out to see if it could be used in the scorpion tank?


Anything that kills mites also kills scorpions, they are both arachnids.


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## skips (Aug 15, 2009)

Exo said:


> Anything that kills mites also kills scorpions, they are both arachnids.


I wouldnt go that far by any means.  The class arachnida has over 100,000 species.  That's like saying all mammals would react the same to antibiotics and not all humans even do that.  However, i'd follow that rule just out of cautiousness.  sorry, to be "that guy."


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