# A. gigas Mites.



## Travis K (Apr 13, 2011)

Couple Qs...

1. How much is too much?

2. What is the best way to rid your A. gigas of this fast moving mite? (please don't answer unless you actually have experience with removing mites.

3. Does this commensal mite have a species name?


In regards to removal, I was kinda wondering if pseudoscorpions would be able to help keep things in check but worried that they may predate the baby plings.

Cheers,


----------



## Travis K (Apr 14, 2011)

45 hits and no replies?


----------



## zonbonzovi (Apr 14, 2011)

I was going to speculate, but...



Travis K said:


> please don't answer unless you actually have experience with removing mites.


I'd assume it's much like any other myriapod, if the mites are numerous enough to block sensitive areas, removal is necessary.  Don't know if these mites will abandon the milli like others in an ICU, but it might be worth the experiment.  You could use a small paintbrush or a gentle rinse, maybe?  Here's a link 'bout the mites:

http://leb.daba.lv/Mesostigmata_Diplopoda.pdf

I'm interested to see how things turn out, T...


----------



## Travis K (Apr 14, 2011)

Always a smart ass John

These mites are not slow moving or static like the ones found on WC Ts.  They almost look like very small very fast spiders, and they are not easy to get off with your fingers.  I will try a couple of different techniques but running under water makes me kinda nervous with AGBs.  It has taken me a long time to get them to bredable sizes.

Has any one run AGBs under water to remove some of the mites?

And in reference to all the internet legend about the millies needing them... I can tell the AGBs are irritated at the amount of activity happening on them.  They are constantly trying to rub these guys off as if they were relieving an itch.  I don't want to totally eradicate them per se, but I would like to thin them out by at least 90%.  I figure I have about 15-20 mites per AGB.

John thanks for the link.  I hope to have Electron Microscope images posted of these mites soon.  A good friend of mine just ordered an electron microscope for his employer, but the quake in Japan has set the delivery time back indefinitely.

Cheers,

******* I plan on giving him little bags of exoskeleton every week or so, so if any of you have something you want scanned let me know after I post my first images.


----------



## zonbonzovi (Apr 14, 2011)

Travis K said:


> ******* I plan on giving him little bags of exoskeleton every week or so, so if any of you have something you want scanned let me know after I post my first images.


Kid in a candy store.  So many neat yet tiny lifeforms up here that I'd like to know more about but that my camera skills/eyes won't or can't reveal.  Can't wait!


----------



## Elytra and Antenna (Apr 14, 2011)

Most of the captve bred AGBs don't have mites, until a few months ago I worried I'd never see an AGB mite again. Congrats!


----------



## Travis K (Apr 14, 2011)

Elytra and Antenna said:


> Most of the captve bred AGBs don't have mites, until a few months ago I worried I'd never see an AGB mite again. Congrats!


Worried?  Would you like me to send you some?


----------



## Elytra and Antenna (Apr 14, 2011)

A few months ago the answer would have been yes, most certainly, but I was able to find some.


----------



## Fyreflye (Apr 15, 2011)

Elytra and Antenna said:


> Most of the capitve bred AGBs don't have mites, until a few months ago I worried I'd never see an AGB mite again. Congrats!


I was under the assumption that they do just fine _without_ the mites!  Now i'm confused.


----------



## Travis K (Apr 15, 2011)

Fyreflye said:


> I was under the assumption that they do just fine _without_ the mites!  Now i'm confused.


Orin did not comment on whether they were beneficial or not, just that he didn't know if he would ever see them(AGB commensal Mites) again.


----------



## Fyreflye (Apr 15, 2011)

Travis K said:


> Orin did not comment on whether they were beneficial or not, just that he didn't know if he would ever see them(AGB commensal Mites) again.


You are correct there, sir!  See here i am assuming again, thinking that since Orin was interested in obtaining the mites, that meant that he would be using them on his pedes.


----------



## Travis K (Apr 15, 2011)

Fyreflye said:


> that meant that he would be using them on his pedes.


They would not survive without the A. gigas, again see my previous post.:}


----------



## Dave (Apr 17, 2011)

I once removed mites off of a hissing cockroach successfully with flour. I little flour in a zip lock bag with the roach, "shake and bake" and the mites lose their grip and stay in the flour. Brush off the flour from the roach, no more mites. 

Of course I'm not sure how this would work on an expensive millipede. lol 
Just throwing it out there.


----------



## Nikos (Apr 17, 2011)

Travis K said:


> Couple Qs...
> 
> 2. What is the best way to rid your A. gigas of this fast moving mite? (please don't answer unless you actually have experience with removing mites.
> 
> Cheers,


I just placed them in the sink and rinsed them with tap water (lots of it).

Even after 5-6 years from the day I "cleaned" them, I still believe I shouldn't have done so.
I kinda liked them but they were tooo many, maybe I should have kept some...


----------



## Travis K (Apr 19, 2011)

Nikos said:


> I just placed them in the sink and rinsed them with tap water (lots of it).
> 
> Even after 5-6 years from the day I "cleaned" them, I still believe I shouldn't have done so.
> I kinda liked them but they were tooo many, maybe I should have kept some...


Yeah,

I wont be removing all of them.  I got a 60x jewelers scope over the weekend and looked a the mites.  They are very neat.  I was sick this weekend though and only looked at them for about 15 mins.

I was watching to see just what they did on the AGB.  I am interested to see them feeding specifically.  I am thinking I will try the running water technique less one of the AGBs to keep some of the mites.

Any one know how these reproduce? Are the eggs attached to the AGB or do they just get deposited on the substrate?  I didn't notice any 'flea' like eggs on the AGB that I examined but like I said I didn't look that long.

Cheers,


----------



## Travis K (May 12, 2011)

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=208545

I am posting the above link as it pertains to this specific thread title for future searches that some may do in this forum.  Technically mites belong in the 'Other Arachnids' section.

Cheers,

---------- Post added at 10:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:27 AM ----------




zonbonzovi said:


> I was going to speculate, but...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I used to paint brush for removal of the mites to photograph in the above link and it work surprisingly well.  I will take them all out and then manually remove most of the mites at a later time(when I am not feeling lazy and have time to do it).

Cheers,


----------



## SkyeSpider (Aug 1, 2012)

Are there any updates on the removal? I'm in a similar boat and desperately need to remove a large number from my 3 A. gigas.


----------



## Galapoheros (Aug 1, 2012)

Hey enternal I was wondering if compressed air might knock some of them off, you know in the cans you can buy for blowing keyboards clean and other things.  I know it's prob some other gas but would still prob be harmless to the milli imo as long as you didn't blast the milli directly too hard.


----------



## Elytra and Antenna (Aug 1, 2012)

TheEternal said:


> Are there any updates on the removal? I'm in a similar boat and desperately need to remove a large number from my 3 A. gigas.


I'll trade you something for them, I can never keep them alive more than a year.


----------



## SkyeSpider (Aug 1, 2012)

Elytra and Antenna said:


> I'll trade you something for them, I can never keep them alive more than a year.


What, now? I'm confused


----------



## J Morningstar (Aug 1, 2012)

The last shippment of AGB's I got last week (10 of them straight from Africa 2 weeks ago) are teeming with them. The ones I have in a tank since last year have 0, none... I was wondering as well, is there a happy medium for the hosts or do they live like ramorea? (the fish that attach themselves to sharks and live by getting debree from sharks)may have spelled that wrong..


----------



## shebeen (Aug 1, 2012)

If you blast them with the canned air, you run the chance of freezing them due to adiabatic cooling.


----------



## Elytra and Antenna (Aug 1, 2012)

TheEternal said:


> What, now? I'm confused


You are looking to get rid of your AGB mites.
I am looking to get some AGB mites.


----------



## SkyeSpider (Aug 1, 2012)

Elytra and Antenna said:


> You are looking to get rid of your AGB mites.
> I am looking to get some AGB mites.


If you really want them, sure. How do I best get them off for that? Hit me up in PM and we'll talk details.


----------



## Kiteflyer (Aug 5, 2012)

Travis K said:


> Yeah,
> 
> I wont be removing all of them.  I got a 60x jewelers scope over the weekend and looked a the mites.  They are very neat.  I was sick this weekend though and only looked at them for about 15 mins.
> 
> ...


I have two AGBs who have tons of mites. Mine looked twitchy and uncomfortable too, so I tried using a paintbrush to remove the mites. I got maybe 10-12 off of each millipede, but they've both got plenty left.

I did get to see the mites feed. After I put them back, my biggest millipede got a flake of fish food stuck on its head. After a couple of minutes, I noticed mites were swarming the flake of food. I counted seven of them eating the flake at once. After a few minutes, they'd finished it off. It was interesting to watch!


----------



## J Morningstar (Aug 5, 2012)

After I fed my latest batch, they left some lettuce on the ground and it was swarming with the little guys, I would like to keep some of them going...I wonder if they live off moss or some other things in the AGB's environment when the millipedes aren't being messy.


----------



## SkyeSpider (Sep 6, 2012)

Just in case no one noticed: I never got a reply about how to remove the mites, although help seemed to be offered. I finally attempted it myself, but I went in blind on method. I ended up running the millipedes under a temperate tap. It mostly worked (I got off about 60-70% of the mites), but I really, REALLY stressed out the millipedes.

In case I need it again later, will someone please offer instructions on the method they used?


----------



## zonbonzovi (Sep 6, 2012)

Just a proposal...how 'bout a bit of ye olde CO2?


----------



## Elytra and Antenna (Sep 6, 2012)

It's not that difficult to pick them off. There aren't that many of them and they're not that small. Alternative methods risk killing your animal.


----------



## spydrhunter1 (Sep 6, 2012)

I've used the warm running water method, it seems to remove some of the mites, others take shelter around the pedes legs. Wear gloves because it truly pisses off the pedes and they start releasing the defensive secretions.


----------



## SDCPs (Sep 7, 2012)

Elytra and Antenna said:


> It's not that difficult to pick them off. There aren't that many of them and they're not that small. Alternative methods risk killing your animal.


I've read it might require 2 or 3 treatments but flicking them off with a small paint brush is the safest method...basically picking them off as *^* said.


----------



## Niffarious (Sep 7, 2012)

Is there a reason that predatory mites can't be used?


----------



## spydrhunter1 (Sep 7, 2012)

I've thought about predatory mites, but wasn't sure if they would harm the small pedelings.


----------



## J Morningstar (Sep 7, 2012)

I Don't think They wouold hurt the pedelings,  ut I don't think they could kill the mites...


----------



## Elytra and Antenna (Sep 9, 2012)

spydrhunter1 said:


> I've thought about predatory mites, but wasn't sure if they would harm the small pedelings.


 If predatory mites could eat something that large and with that thick an exoskeleton they'd eat your whole bug collection.


----------



## J Morningstar (Sep 9, 2012)

that was my thought exactally,


----------



## Travis K (Dec 7, 2012)

Update - I have noticed over time that my commensal mite population is at a stable level and I don't feel that I need to remove them now.

See also update in mite thread on true spiders forum.
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/sho...s-gigas-Commensal-Mites&p=2109564#post2109564


----------

