bite marks?

[chuck]

i heard that top soil carries a lot of mites and other small bugs that could bite the T. I use top soil, but after i bake it in the oven. None of my Ts exhibit any stress, but i would still like to know what bite marks look like. can anyone help?


PS - who were the vendors at the NY Reptile Expo today (9/7). I got an A.seemanni from Vince at Regals. There was another table with a guy wearing one of the tee-shirts from this board with a woman, he had a lot of Ts and sold me a B.smithi female 1.5"er.

 

[pelo]

You shouldn't have to really worry about mites and other pests if you practice good husbandry.Make sure to always clean up any remains of dead food..don't keep the substrate wet all the time and lots of ventilation.Mites are prolific in moist stagnant conditions.Let the substrate dry out completely occasionally to help prevent infestations as they don't fair well in dry conditions.Ventilation is also a key factor.A stale stagnant moist enviroment is a welcome mat for not only pests but also molds and fungis...peace

 

[Jeff_C]

Chuck,

That long table on the side of the exhibit hall is Tommy from 8 Legs Plus. As far as I can tell he is a supplier to the trade in the NY area. I actually have quite a few specimens that came from him indirectly and also directly (from the last show).

And now back to the subject: Unless you have a major infestation of mites it is more likely that any mites you have would hang around any leftover food rather than the T itself. If I were you I would keep up the practice of baking the topsoil because I stopped doing it and I have mites in every enclosure. (I know what I'm doing next weekend)

Jeff

 

[MrFeexit]

Wow. I have been really diligent in gettting the dead food out of the cages and have had no mites to speak of in a few months. I do check often too with a bright light and a magnifying glass. I have not baked my dirt and am not sure if I will.

 

[Longbord1]

hey chuck u were there where i didn't see u did we see him jeff? hmm mayeb we did

 

[chuck]

jcohen and long - where you the couple with the bad breath? lol joking. well i wasnt wearing an archnopets.com tee so you wouldnt have noticed me, but i did notice a few other people with those tees. i saw a couple, the guy wearing the black tee and the lady was in normal clothes, petite and both of you were kinda short?



well can anyone still describe what the bites look like for future refrence? i seem to have rid my tanks of mites, but i ask b/c i heard tommy tell a customer that top soil carries mites and other pests and i wanted to make sure that i wasnt bringing them from the bag to the tank.



and on another note, if i baked the soil with "pests" in it, i will have dead pests in my tank. wouldnt mites come back to eat those baked pests? or do they like their meat raw?

 

[Jeff_C]

Actually, That couple was Scott and Debby (your hosts on this site) and I was there with my son (he was wearing a really cool hulk shirt) and I was also wearing my black Arachnopets t-shirt. Longbord was just along for the ride


Anyway, I seriously doubt that you could see a mite on a T (maybe on a small sling). Also, I was just reading on the British Tarantula Society forum that the white mites are probably 'cleaner mites' and not very harmful but the darker pink/brown seem to be a different story. But basically if you follow pelo sage advice you should be in the clear...I guess I should do the same.

Regards,
Jeff

 

[chuck]

Originally posted by jcohen9999
Actually, That couple was Scott and Debby (your hosts on this site) and I was there with my son (he was wearing a really cool hulk shirt) and I was also wearing my black Arachnopets t-shirt. Longbord was just along for the ride


Anyway, I seriously doubt that you could see a mite on a T (maybe on a small sling). Also, I was just reading on the British Tarantula Society forum that the white mites are probably 'cleaner mites' and not very harmful but the darker pink/brown seem to be a different story. But basically if you follow pelo sage advice you should be in the clear...I guess I should do the same.

Regards,
Jeff

i did see you, you walked right past me. much taller than scott and debby, thats if i you were the same guy i seen.
thanks for all the help, and thats an interesting theory on the mites.