Grain mites on my slings

[Rhodonite44]

Hi guys, I’m new to this site so please bare with me. I hope I put this in the right forum.

I’ve had a sudden outbreak of grain mites in about half of my sling enclosures. I know they aren’t harmful, but a few of my slings appear to be bothered by them. I’ve put the slings that are affected the worst into catch cups, and I’m about to make them brand new enclosures. Two of them (T. Albopilosum and B. Boehmei) I’ve noticed since yesterday are grooming/scratching their sides, fangs, bellies and booklungs almost every time I check on them. They look like a human helplessly scratching themselves, in a very fast manner too. Definitely doesn’t look like normal grooming, and I know they aren’t flicking hairs.

Last night, I walked into my T room and turned the light on (normally my T. Albopilosum sling will run very fast into its burrow) and it was laying on its back (that scared me because it just molted a few days ago!) and scratching its underside/book lung area like crazy.. It ran into its burrow when I picked the enclosure up and appears to be okay, just looks very annoyed...

My question is: How do I get rid of the grain mites that are ON my slings???


Any advice is much appreciated, thank you!

 

[Theneil]

I havent tried it personally, but i have heard of putting a piece if food (like a carrot) in the enclosure for an hour or two to attract the mites, and then remove it and repeat the process until most the mites are gone.

 

[Feral]

Since no one else linked it, here it is:
https://arachnoboards.com/threads/all-you-need-to-know-about-mites.309211/

It's excellent stuff from a trustworthy source.
I'm glad you know they aren't usually harmful, but that huge numbers can sometimes cause stress. Good. The link above covers that, their ecological role, and more.
And it talks about if the mite population is so big that it's actually stressing the Ts, then one of a number of things that can be done is what @Theneil said, baiting the mites with rotting veggies then removing with a spoon to contain them and repeating, so be sure to pay attention to that part. But that's not all that can/should be done, so also pay attention to the part about continuously wiping down surfaces with plain water to remove them, the part about drying the enclosure, and the part about considering adding springtails. The most important thing you can do, if it's gotten to the point where the animals are stressed, is fix the situation that let it get that bad in the first place, which also includes keeping a cleaner enclosure. But don't listen to me, I'm just an echo of the original, read the link. There's so much more you need to know, and it's always best from the source.

Good luck!