Help! Mites In room!

[Beggottenson]

Thank you all for taking your time to read my post, I had 13 tarantulas living on my dresser in my bed room and upon the discovery of some mites I moved them all into my garage, I panicked because I am not a fan of them and wiped and dusted everything down until I saw none left, two weeks later I noticed they were next to and on my bed where I had two death feigning beetles in a small kritter keeper, I dusted vacuumed and cleaned all surfaces (my room was a dusty) and now I still see them how can I get rid of them!?

 

[cold blood]

Mites are literally, everywhere...they are basically unavoidable.

They are of little concern, they are not much different than springtails....detrivores that act as a clean up crew. Don't over-react to mites...just dry things out from time to keep numbers low.

 

[Vanessa]

I still see them how can I get rid of them!?

I have grain mites, soil mites, and springtails in all of my enclosures. I have never seen any on the tarantulas and I have never witnessed any behaviour that would suggest that my tarantulas even know that they're there... let alone that they're bothered by them.
Do you have snakes, or another animal that could be responsible for the mites? Are you seeing them inside the enclosures, or outside of them?

 

[Beggottenson]

I have grain mites, soil mites, and springtails in all of my enclosures. I have never seen any on the tarantulas and I have never witnessed any behaviour that would suggest that my tarantulas even know that they're there... let alone that they're bothered by them.
Do you have snakes, or another animal that could be responsible for the mites? Are you seeing them inside the enclosures, or outside of them?

They are inside of the enclosures and have made their way out they are small and white/tan, I have nothing else

 

[Vanessa]

They are inside of the enclosures and have made their way out they are small and white/tan, I have nothing else

Put a little condiment cup next to the enclosures with a small bit of flour and a dead cricket/mealworm in it. Cover it with a bit of plastic wrap with a couple of tiny holes poked in it. The mites - both grain and soil - might be attracted to the contents of the cup. Empty it every few days or when you see that there are mites inside.
Make sure that you remove any dead prey or boluses from the enclosures and scoop out any bits of mould you might find. Let the substrate dry out a bit.

 

[Beggottenson]

Put a little condiment cup next to the enclosures with a small bit of flour and a dead cricket/mealworm in it. Cover it with a bit of plastic wrap with a couple of tiny holes poked in it. The mites - both grain and soil - might be attracted to the contents of the cup. Empty it every few days or when you see that there are mites inside.
Make sure that you remove any dead prey or boluses from the enclosures and scoop out any bits of mould you might find. Let the substrate dry out a bit.

Thanks I will try this!

 

[AzJohn]

Like others have mentioned you’ll never get rid of all of them. You can introduce spring tails and dwarf isopods into the enclosures. They’ll eat the same stuff as the mites, and clean up after the tarantulas. You can also get predatory mites that will eat the nuisance mites, but that might be overkill and I’m not sure what species would work best. If they are coming from you beetles, you might consider cleaning their tank and doing a substrate change.


On a side note. People go crazy about mites in the dart frog tanks. Spider mites eating all the plants in your tank sucks bad. People will remove the frogs and try to kill everything using CO2 gas. Springtails will live through the gas attack. Fortunately mites are almost always preventable with proper husbandry. In the case of spider mites, they won’t survive in a rain forest environment. Proper husbandry means no mites. In your case you remove the food and they go away.

 

[Polenth]

Like others have mentioned you’ll never get rid of all of them. You can introduce spring tails and dwarf isopods into the enclosures. They’ll eat the same stuff as the mites, and clean up after the tarantulas. You can also get predatory mites that will eat the nuisance mites, but that might be overkill and I’m not sure what species would work best. If they are coming from you beetles, you might consider cleaning their tank and doing a substrate change.

On a side note. People go crazy about mites in the dart frog tanks. Spider mites eating all the plants in your tank sucks bad. People will remove the frogs and try to kill everything using CO2 gas. Springtails will live through the gas attack. Fortunately mites are almost always preventable with proper husbandry. In the case of spider mites, they won’t survive in a rain forest environment. Proper husbandry means no mites. In your case you remove the food and they go away.

The predatory mite that people usually buy is Stratiolaelaps scimitus / Hypoaspis miles and it's not a good idea. They're generalists and will eat whatever they can find. Mites, springtails, eggs... anything. That means you'll no longer have a cleanup crew and will have a hard time getting rid of the predatory mites. Once you do get rid of the predatory mites, the other mites will return, so it's all a bit pointless.

Red spider mites are a different issue, because there is a specialist mite for those. Phytoseiulus persimilis only eats red spider mites. Not other mites or springtails. So they do the job and then either leave or die. Anyone with planted setups with red spider mites should consider these.

I've used both kinds of mite. Stratiolaelaps scimitus was before I had anything with springtails, but I had noted they were eating the fish food I'd given the cockroaches. That was the first sign that these were not specialist mite killers in any way. Phytoseiulus persimilis was this year to sort out some houseplants. Effective, no spread to my animal tanks, and highly recommended. They completely destroyed the red spider mite population.

 

[Teal]

Good thing you cannot see the mites on your eye lashes

Mites are friends!