# centipede mite problem



## catfishrod69 (Dec 12, 2010)

ok last night i was gonna feed my florida blue centipede, and when i opened his tub up, there was thousands of little pure white mites runnin everywhere....i looked under a peice of slate, his usual hiding spot, and he was still ok....the tub he is in, i just poked tiny holes in for ventilation, so it always stays humid, and moist in there.....what the heck should i do? and im afraid that theyll get to any of my other critters...also i read somewhere, to take and completely clean an redo his tank, then put him in a strainer of some type, and run warm water over him to wash any on him off....was my first thought as soon as i seen them....and if i make better air holes for vents, will that keep them from coming back?..thanks


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## Balkastalkman (Dec 12, 2010)

well, the first thing that you are going to want to do is remove him from the enclosure, then scrub it clean.

 Isolate the pede from the rest of you collection (in another room if possible...) and keep him on dryish (not bone dry) substrate and provide a water dish.

While you have the pede you you might want to get as many of the mites off as possible. use warm water and a strainer are you said. Right now you really should be concerned about the mites getting into everything in your collection.

I dont think in your particular situation that more or less ventilation will make a difference. But i still would try it....

Has its behavior changed at all?

Can you post pics of the pede?


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## Galapoheros (Dec 13, 2010)

I don't know but it sounds like a common grain mite species the hobby has problems with.  I'd take the pede out, move it before food runs out for the mites in the substrate.  Once the food runs out for the mites(dead bug parts and veg matter) they crawl on your pede and go into the hypopus stage where they stick.  If they "are" a grain mite sps, they aren't parasitic but seem to cause health problems if there are too many stuck to the animal.  They are almost impossible to get rid of once you have them, you can keep them under control by keeping rotting bug parts out of the cages, best to keep any protein and veg matter out your things don't eat.  Running water won't get hypopus stage mites off, you have to scrape them off or lure them off with more rotting protein or rotting veg matter, imo.  You can also try predatory hypoaspis mites.  But even then, ime, the grain mites can quickly out produce the pred mites, so it can take a long time to get it under control depending on how bad it is.  This is only my experience with some speculation so I would keep looking into it.  I'm going to get a usb micro to clear some things up for myself on this topic.


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## catfishrod69 (Dec 13, 2010)

well im gonna take the container hes in and throw it out in the snow...so im gonna put him in a critter keeper instead....will have alot better ventilation...yea i thought about moving him too....im gonna get everything ready and try the strainer thing....cant find anything to use as a strainer, so im gonna take a plastic cup, cut the bottom off, and hot glue some mesh screen on the bottom....that otta work....so far i havent seen them in with anything else i have, but nothing else stays that damp....atleast not without better ventilation...and i will try and post a pic of him......thanks



Balkastalkman said:


> well, the first thing that you are going to want to do is remove him from the enclosure, then scrub it clean.
> 
> Isolate the pede from the rest of you collection (in another room if possible...) and keep him on dryish (not bone dry) substrate and provide a water dish.
> 
> ...


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## catfishrod69 (Dec 13, 2010)

yea i am gonna him moved tonight....so hopefully that will end the prob....i have never seen any leftover food matter in there, but i am sure there is....maybe down in the soil, cause he has tunnels....




Galapoheros said:


> I don't know but it sounds like a common grain mite species the hobby has problems with.  I'd take the pede out, move it before food runs out for the mites in the substrate.  Once the food runs out for the mites(dead bug parts and veg matter) they crawl on your pede and go into the hypopus stage where they stick.  If they "are" a grain mite sps, they aren't parasitic but seem to cause health problems if there are too many stuck to the animal.  They are almost impossible to get rid of once you have them, you can keep them under control by keeping rotting bug parts out of the cages, best to keep any protein and veg matter out your things don't eat.  Running water won't get hypopus stage mites off, you have to scrape them off or lure them off with more rotting protein or rotting veg matter, imo.  You can also try predatory hypoaspis mites.  But even then, ime, the grain mites can quickly out produce the pred mites, so it can take a long time to get it under control depending on how bad it is.  This is only my experience with some speculation so I would keep looking into it.  I'm going to get a usb micro to clear some things up for myself on this topic.


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## catfishrod69 (Dec 14, 2010)

ok here is a pic of him, although it doesnt help....he was acting completely normal (psycho)....and i think i got all the mites off him...hopefully anyways....but i found some in with some of my wild caught flat millipedes....soooo im gonna rehouse them, and then come summer ill prob let em go....


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## micheldied (Dec 15, 2010)

The mites were "running" everywhere?
They were fast?
Were any of them actually attached to the pede?


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## catfishrod69 (Dec 16, 2010)

haha...yep pretty much crawling everywhere, and there was less than i first saw.....but after i washed my pede, i didnt see any on him at all....



micheldied said:


> The mites were "running" everywhere?
> They were fast?
> Were any of them actually attached to the pede?

Reactions: Dislike 1


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## micheldied (Dec 17, 2010)

catfishrod69 said:


> haha...yep pretty much crawling everywhere, and there was less than i first saw.....but after i washed my pede, i didnt see any on him at all....


Could they be springtails, and not mites?
Mites are fat, round, and slow.
Springtails look elongate and move pretty quickly.
Also, totally harmless.


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## catfishrod69 (Dec 17, 2010)

yeah i know what springtails are....but these guys are about half the size of a flea, maybe less, and pure white....they werent really runnin around, just an expression i use....i found some in my flat millipedes, and now i found some in with my female tailess whip....so now i gotta rehouse them...




micheldied said:


> Could they be springtails, and not mites?
> Mites are fat, round, and slow.
> Springtails look elongate and move pretty quickly.
> Also, totally harmless.


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## Jenny (Dec 21, 2010)

I bought some millipedes a couple of months ago and they did not have any mites. After a while I noticed the little white mites in the tank, they mostly end up on the food, so I throw out the food often and wipe the sides of the tank down to get rid of as many as possible. I haven't seen any of the brown mites on my millipedes.

One of my juvenile millipedes has finally surfaced after a month or so and has little white dots on its head, they are smaller than the white mites in the soil and on the cage and I can't see any legs on them so I wonder if they are mite eggs, or if it is a fungus.

He's only about 2 and 1/2 inches long so these white bits are very tiny...
Any ideas whether these are mites/eggs/fungus? 

It was hard to get a good photo because he kept moving. 
I think I'll not spray the tank for a few days to get the humidity down...


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## Elytra and Antenna (Dec 21, 2010)

Those are hypopus stage mites. They look like they don't move but if you rub them off they'll climb right back on. If you watch them under magnification they're actually fast little buggers.


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## Jenny (Dec 21, 2010)

Thanks for your reply! 
I think I'll try and get some off before I go away for a few days over Christmas...or I could take the pede with me to keep an eye on it. 

I think she sprayed me when I tried to get them off yesterday so she obviously didn't like being handled too much.


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## Jenny (Mar 12, 2011)

So I let the tank dry out a bit over Christmas but when I came back one of my pink legs was dead, the mites on him were gone though. I couldn't see any mites in the tank either and the rest of my millipedes were fine. 

The other pink legs was OK but still had mites and I haven't seen him for weeks so he might be dead : / 

I now have plenty of woodlice and no unwanted bugs (apart from the odd slug and a stray garden centipede but I got rid of him because I was worried he might eat any millipede eggs). 

I also have 4 A.Gigas now and they have the brown mites and are doing well (and mating  ) but the brown mites don't seem to move onto the smaller species of millipede. 

I hope my 3 missing guys will reappear at some point!


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## catfishrod69 (Mar 12, 2011)

i had a 2 florida blue millipedes, and 2 ocola giants...and the white mites were getting in with them, my vinegaroons, and my tailless whips...i finally cut the millipedes down to just a water bowl and no spraying ever.....and my florida blue centipede got them, i took 2 plastic dixie cups, cut off bottoms, and took screen mesh and hot glued it to the bottoms, making strainers, then stuck the pede in one, and put the other one inside of the other one to keep him from getting out, and ran him under the shower with warm water, then completely cleaned his housing...they went away...but found my emperor scorps, so they got the same treatment....but really lately i havent seen a mite at all...i dont know why...but im slowly getting away from mite prone critters....just dont undertand why they got in with those certain things...i think mainly cause i misted alot....which i now do only like 1 time a week



Jenny said:


> So I let the tank dry out a bit over Christmas but when I came back one of my pink legs was dead, the mites on him were gone though. I couldn't see any mites in the tank either and the rest of my millipedes were fine.
> 
> The other pink legs was OK but still had mites and I haven't seen him for weeks so he might be dead : /
> 
> ...


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