# Mites in the Terrarium



## aSpiderificGirl (Apr 5, 2013)

This may be a stupid question, but I am new to the hobby.  When a tarantula's terrarium gets infested with mites, where do the mites come from?  I recently bought an Avic from my local pet store.  It seemed comfortable in it's terrarium there, since they already had it in a proper arboreal set up, so I bought the terrarium and left the tarantula in it's home.  This was about a month ago.  I just went in it's enclosure to get out a cricket on the substrate that had died, and I put the cricket into a container.  When I looked closer at it, it had 2 tiny white mites crawling on it.  I'm not sure what to do.  The T doesn't seem to be affected, and it never sits on the substrate.  It has built a web in the top corner.  

What do I have to do to get rid of these mites?  Also, where do these mites come from?  The substrate? Inside the house? Outside?  Obviously, they can't just appear out of nowhere.  Is it possible the enclosure already had mites when I got it?  They have used this enclosure for many Ts before.  They kept it very warm and wet there, but I don't.  Is my T going to be okay?  Can and will these mites infest my home?

Sorry about all these questions, but I'm really upset and not sure what to do. HELP!!!!

As a side note, not sure if this is significant or not, but the cricket had died with it's mouth (mandibles) stretched wide open.  I have never seen a cricket die like this.  Could the mites have attacked it?


----------



## EightLeggedFreaks (Apr 5, 2013)

They get the mites from the wild.  That is why I never buy Tarantulas from the pet store.  Most of the time your tarantula is wild caught.  As for getting rid of them I'm not sure.


----------



## aSpiderificGirl (Apr 5, 2013)

So the tarantula is the one infested with mites? Not just the enclosure?


----------



## Stan Schultz (Apr 5, 2013)

aSpiderificGirl said:


> This may be a stupid question, but I am new to the hobby. ...


[SIZE=+1]*BINGO!*[/size]

First, read this. Also read all the subsidiary links.


[SIZE=+1]*WELCOME TO THE HOBBY!

:biggrin:

WELCOME TO THIS FORUM!*[/SIZE]

:laugh:

*DID YOU HEAR THAT? THAT WAS THE NEWBIE ALARM!*

Ah! So we're a newbie. You've done what everybody else does: Read all the Internet care sheets. Listened attentively to everything the expert down at the local pet shop told you. Spent a lot of money on things you shouldn't have. Incorporated a lot of things that were useless or even dangerous. Stressed out over meaningless details while ignoring the real issues. Way overkill. That's not a criticism; I'm just delineating the problems. It's just the way humanoids are, I suppose. We can deal with all that.

There's nothing wrong with being a newbie as long as you do something about it. After 45 years of keeping tarantulas, I still consider myself a newbie. We can trace a tarantula's ancestry back over *HALF A BILLION YEARS*. They've had that long to develop and fine tune their lives and lifestyles. They're incredibly complex and detailed creatures. We're gonna be playing catch-up (that's the newbie part) for a long, LONG, *LONG* time!

The first thing you need to understand is the *KISS principle*, not to infer that you're stupid. Inexperienced, maybe. Stupid, I don't think so. As proof, you can speak, read, and write English (arguably one of the more difficult languages on Planet Earth), and use a computer just fine. But, I digress. As long as you supply the basic necessities of life for your captive tarantula, the less you incorporate into its cage and care regimen, the less there is to go tragically *haywire*. KISS, indeed!

The second thing you need to understand is that tarantulas are like no other creature you've ever kept or even heard of before. All the ingrained assumptions and prejudices that you've been taught since childhood don't apply, and may even be dangerous to them. They're neither tropical fish, reptiles, canaries, nor gerbils, and you don't take care of them like any of those animals. One of the biggest problems with newbies is trying to get them to abandon all their prejudices and begin to look at the world from the vastly alien perspective of a huge, fuzzy spider.

*FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELT.
MAKE SURE YOUR SEAT BACK AND TRAY TABLE ARE SECURED IN THEIR UPRIGHT POSITIONS.
THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE H*** OF A RIDE!*​
Because tarantulas are so bizarre and unique, you have a lot of homework to do. To begin, you need to read the following webpages.

1) *Stan's Rant*. *ESPECIALLY, READ THE PART ABOUT NOT TRUSTING ANYTHING A PET SHOP TELLS YOU! AND ESPECIALLY, [Strike]READ[/Strike] STUDY THE FOUR RECOMMENDED BOOKS.*

2) *Myths...*. Read the entire webpage tree.

3) *Care and Husbandry of the Chilean Rose Tarantula*. *IF YOU HAVE A CHILEAN ROSE TARANTULA (Grammostola rosea) YOU NEED TO READ THIS WEBPAGE!* If you don't have a Chilean rose you can safely ignore this one for now. Just remember that it's here for whenever you do get a rose. Or, you can read it out of curiosity. It contains a lot of hints applicable to other arid species.

4) *Substrate*. Because you need to know about this very basic, underlying part of a tarantula's existence.

5) *Growing Your Own*. This is a global, game plan for caring for your newfound little buddy. You need to figure out where it is in the vast scheme of growth and development, then start taking care of it properly from that point onward.

6) If you can possibly spare the time, at least skim through the entire *Spiders, Calgary* website.

Lastly, be aware that this system is not the only one available. Neither is it necessarily the best one. You'll see and hear all sorts of other ideas as you go along. But, Marguerite and I have spent decades selling tarantulas to all kinds of people of all ages, and fine tuned this system so as to make it pretty much as bullet proof as it can get. Use our system at first, until you begin to understand these weird animals. Then maybe you can experiment with some of the not-so-conservative approaches recommended by others.

You need to learn to look at the world from the vastly alien perspective of a huge, fuzzy spider. *READ THE BOOKS! READ THE WEBPAGES!*


Best of luck. Remember, your little 8-legged Yoda is going to be giving you pop quizzes daily!




aSpiderificGirl said:


> ... When a tarantula's terrarium gets infested with mites, where do the mites come from? ...


Sorry to hear you have a problem. Read *Mighty Mites* for a lot of useful information.

Then, if you have any further questions don't hesitate to ask.

*THE ONLY DUMB QUESTIONS ARE THE ONES YOU DON'T ASK.

DUMB QUESTIONS ARE ALWAYS EASIER TO DEAL WITH THAN DUMB MISTAKES.*


We're at your service!


----------



## aSpiderificGirl (Apr 5, 2013)

One thing that has changed recently, is the crickets.  I have never seen mites before these new crickets came.  I usually order my crickets online, but I ran out, so I went to Petsmart.  They didn't have the usual crickets I get, they only had "Field Crickets".  I have only seen these mites since getting these new crickets.  Could it be them?

Thank you so much for that Mighty Mites link and the other links as well..very informative!


----------



## Marijan2 (Apr 5, 2013)

If you really hate mites you can get rid of them by drying terrarium for a week, and just keep water in water dish, with no misting substrate at all.
However, mites in reasonable number can be usefull to your T in which they eat food remnants(boluses) and other bad things like mould or funghi.
I have them, but they never seem to make any problems, they live in my hisser and helloween hisser tanks, in pretty nice numbers, and occasionally 
go to my T enclosures, but never had any problems with them whatsoever. They seem to prefer my roaches cause of humidity


----------



## The Snark (Apr 5, 2013)

I've mentioned this elsewhere but... Around here, Thailand, mites are endemic to an extreme degree. They often take over almost any other animals habitat, sometimes benign but often a nuisance or even a severe health hazard. The locals have come up with a very simple solution that they use as matter of fact when keeping almost any animal. They take a piece of screen that has holes too small for the kept animal to get through and use it to cover a sticky trap. These are placed on the walls of the enclosures. The greater the mite infestation, the more traps used. The mites in their meanderings go through the screens and get stuck. With insect colonies for human consumption, they might cover the entire walls of the enclosures with screen traps just to ensure they can offer a quality good looking food stuff in the market place. 
It isn't the ultimate solution but over a period of time the attrition rate definitely takes it's toll on those invasive beasties.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Exoskeleton Invertebrates (Apr 5, 2013)

This is what I do for tarantulas that are in high humidity. When it is time to feed do so when she or he is done eating take the spider out and put it in a different container with some humidity in it. In his or her original enclosure clean the left over or any dead crickets left. Than take his or her enclosure and put it in the freezer, anything that is living in there will parish. Do it over night if you have to. Once you take the enclosure out of the freezer let it sit for a few hour so it is no longer freezing. Put your spider back in. Your spider will most likely have mites inside of her, book lungs and around the fangs without you seeing it. But if you do this frequently it will help her environment. It sounds like a lot of work but its not, it is better than spending more money and cleaning the enclosure not to much time wasted. I have a big freezer and I use it for that purpose. I hate mites they give me the chills just thinking about them. Hope this helps.....


Jose 
Exoskeleton Invertebrates
hombrearania1@hotmail.com

---------- Post added 04-05-2013 at 06:09 PM ----------

If you don't do anything to keep the enclosure clean you will notice that once your spider molts you will see mites inside the molt. That is why I say that your spider might already have mites inside of her.



Jose


----------



## Marijan2 (Apr 5, 2013)

jose said:


> This is what I do for tarantulas that are in high humidity. When it is time to feed do so when she or he is done eating take the spider out and put it in a different container with some humidity in it. In his or her original enclosure clean the left over or any dead crickets left. Than take his or her enclosure and put it in the freezer, anything that is living in there will parish. Do it over night if you have to. Once you take the enclosure out of the freezer let it sit for a few hour so it is no longer freezing. Put your spider back in. Your spider will most likely have mites inside of her, book lungs and around the fangs without you seeing it. But if you do this frequently it will help her environment. It sounds like a lot of work but its not, it is better than spending more money and cleaning the enclosure not to much time wasted. I have a big freezer and I use it for that purpose. I hate mites they give me the chills just thinking about them. Hope this helps.....
> 
> 
> Jose
> ...


no offense but i think you overreact a bit xD but hey, everyone have their own ways!
mites cannot harm your T in any possible way, they only can help keep cage clean. 
and unless your cage is for a blondi there shouldnt be infestation at all (unless we europeans have different mites then you muricans).


----------



## Exoskeleton Invertebrates (Apr 5, 2013)

Marijan2 said:


> no offense but i think you overreact a bit xD but hey, everyone have their own ways!
> mites cannot harm your T in any possible way, they only can help keep cage clean.
> and unless your cage is for a blondi there shouldnt be infestation at all (unless we europeans have different mites then you muricans).


 So if you think they don't harm your spiders than what's the point to this? The point to this thread the member is asking for advise in case you have not notice, and yes everyone has their own ways. I gave my input if you don't like it than dont do it, it's that simple. And no I'm not offended, that would be pointless....



Jose
Exoskeleton Invertebrates 
hombrearania1@hotmail.com


----------



## Silenus (Apr 6, 2013)

Remove the Avic from the current enclosure, clean it thoroughly using safe methods for the T. Then rehouse it, Avic's are an interesting T because they don't require substrate since they rarely venture to the bottom of their enclosure! You can simply leave out the substrate if you use a large water container to create humidity and mist as needed. Or use fake grass such as moss mat if you like the appearance. That should eliminate the risk for an issue with mites.


----------



## Marijan2 (Apr 6, 2013)

jose said:


> So if you think they don't harm your spiders than what's the point to this?
> ...
> hombrearania1@hotmail.com


I don't think, i know they cant harm your sider(well, unless it is already dead). They don't eat live prey, they scavenge. I have never heard any tarantula die from mites. They will regulate their number as they won't have infinite food in tank, occasional bolus in 1-2 weeks should keep them in reasonable numbers. I just gave my opinion on this, is this forum or it isn't? I agree they can be eye sore and some people don't want them in their tanks, but tarantula health-wise they do not make any threats. If OP still wants to get rid of them he will, i just showed him another side of the coin.


----------



## Storm76 (Apr 6, 2013)

Marijan2 said:


> I don't think, i know they cant harm your sider(well, unless it is already dead). They don't eat live prey, they scavenge. I have never heard any tarantula die from mites. They will regulate their number as they won't have infinite food in tank, occasional bolus in 1-2 weeks should keep them in reasonable numbers. I just gave my opinion on this, is this forum or it isn't? I agree they can be eye sore and some people don't want them in their tanks, but tarantula health-wise they do not make any threats. If OP still wants to get rid of them he will, i just showed him another side of the coin.


The problem is they irritate the T - they can also start infesting booklungs, legjoints and so on. All of it will irritate the T more or less which is why people try to get rid of them....
On a sidenote - is the OP sure it's not sprintails?


----------



## Exoskeleton Invertebrates (Apr 6, 2013)

Marijan2 said:


> I don't think, i know they cant harm your sider(well, unless it is already dead). They don't eat live prey, they scavenge. I have never heard any tarantula die from mites. They will regulate their number as they won't have infinite food in tank, occasional bolus in 1-2 weeks should keep them in reasonable numbers. I just gave my opinion on this, is this forum or it isn't? I agree they can be eye sore and some people don't want them in their tanks, but tarantula health-wise they do not make any threats. If OP still wants to get rid of them he will, i just showed him another side of the coin.


 Yes you showed the other side of the coin as I did! Mites find ways to get inside the body of any tarantulas, can anyone tell me this is actually healthy for the spider? No I think not! I had a female once that put out a perfect egg sac a week later it was full of mites and the spider was still holding on to the egg sac. My other side of the coin is, mites are not healthy thing to have in the environment of any spiders period!!!!! Marijan2, you want to keep your mites inside your spider cage go ahead. Like you say it's not harmful...





Jose


----------



## aSpiderificGirl (Apr 6, 2013)

Definitely not springtails..I have those every summer in my house, on my house..everywhere!  I know what they look like very well, unfortunately.  Can someone tell me if these mites will infest my house as well?  And if I keep the terrarium really dry, and don't mist at all, will they die off?


----------



## Stan Schultz (Apr 6, 2013)

Marijan2 said:


> I don't think, i know they cant harm your sider(well, unless it is already dead). They don't eat live prey, they scavenge. I have never heard any tarantula die from mites. They will regulate their number as they won't have infinite food in tank, occasional bolus in 1-2 weeks should keep them in reasonable numbers. I just gave my opinion on this, is this forum or it isn't? I agree they can be eye sore and some people don't want them in their tanks, but tarantula health-wise they do not make any threats. If OP still wants to get rid of them he will, i just showed him another side of the coin.


Man, you are so far out in left field I can't even see the emblem on your cap!

:wall:


----------



## BobGrill (Apr 6, 2013)

I've had mites in CB specimen enclosures as well. I don't think being WC has much to do with it.


----------



## Exoskeleton Invertebrates (Apr 6, 2013)

aSpiderificGirl said:


> Definitely not springtails..I have those every summer in my house, on my house..everywhere!  I know what they look like very well, unfortunately.  Can someone tell me if these mites will infest my house as well?  And if I keep the terrarium really dry, and don't mist at all, will they die off?


 Mites like humidity and warmth, so by keeping it dry it should be fine as long as your spider can handle being without any humidity. This is why I do what I said on my first post.When it comes to your house I would worry about it.

---------- Post added 04-06-2013 at 03:23 PM ----------




BobGrill said:


> I've had mites in CB specimen enclosures as well. I don't think being WC has much to do with it.


 My understanding it has to do with what the crickets are being fed before it is being sold to the pet stores, dealers and public. This is what I have heard. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong. So therefore I agree with you it has nothing to do with WC specimens since I only deal with CB. I still get mites on some species specially that requires high humidity. 



Jose


----------



## Stan Schultz (Apr 7, 2013)

Universal source for pet mites:

It's the crickets! While the cricket farms spend maybe half their payroll trying to control mite infestations in one form or another, the pet shops and even the enthusiasts themselves do little or nothing at all to keep them under control. Every time you throw a few crickets into a cage you're also throwing in a few mites and/or mite eggs.

And, even if you could find a way of sanitizing the crickets, mite eggs would still find their way into the cage as they drop out of the air. And, the very food you eat is contaminated by a small, residual mite and mite egg contamination.

And, those of you who are raising your own roaches are not without guilt! Roaches, under the best of conditions, still possess a small residual population of mites and mite eggs. If a roach can live and breed in an environment, so can a mite!

About the only way we have of controlling (but never entirely eradicating) mites and mite infestations is proper arachnid husbandry. You either must take advantage of the few critical differences between mites, tarantulas, and scorpions to make life nearly unbearable for the mites, or you need to clean the cages often.

Those of us who have had a few tarantulas for a few years soon change our arachnoculture habits to either keeping our tarantulas in dry cages, or keep several spare cages, all set up but dry, waiting patiently in a closet for the day when we find varmints with our spiders. Then we do a quick, 60 second spider shuffle to the new cage, and march the contaminated one out of the house until we have a chance to thoroughly clean it, set it up again, and store it away for the next crisis.

This system obviously pretty much precludes "toy utopia" style cages, and makes keeping adult, wild _Theraphosa blondi_ a real trial. But, you gotta do what you gotta do.

When we were keeping massive numbers of tarantulas and ordering in a thousand crickets a week, we kept the crickets in large aquariums. The cages were kept dry. We used El Cheapo wheat bran (from the bulk food section of local grocery stores) as substrate. *NOTE: DRY CAGE = DEAD MITES!* We supplied moisture to the crickets by giving them quartered oranges (Make sure that one cut is crosswise to the internal membranes. Lay each quarter on its peel so as not to dampen the bran.). When the oranges began to spoil, they were replaced with fresh.

When we emptied a cage we gave it a cursory cleaning and set it aside until the next shipment of crickets arrived. *NOTE: DRY CAGE = DEAD MITES!* We rotated between two such cages.

Once we started keeping our tarantulas *AND OUR CRICKETS* in dry cages we never had mite problems *EXCEPT* in the swampers' cages and the babies containers. And those we dealt with as described above.

Problem solved.


----------



## Exoskeleton Invertebrates (Apr 7, 2013)

Nice!


Jose


----------



## BobGrill (Apr 7, 2013)

I've had mites in dry terrariums as well...


----------



## Stan Schultz (Apr 8, 2013)

BobGrill said:


> I've had mites in dry terrariums as well...


They are everywhere. And, their universal mandate is to breed worse than bunnies and flies. Our only hope is to be able to control them. Our only defense is a blood thirsty response to their overpopulation.

This is beginning to sound like some bad horror movies I've had the extremely bad taste to watch on TV at 3:00 AM!


----------

