Help needed; Scorpion mites???

[crobinson174]

So I was lucky enough to obtain an emperor scorpion about a year ago from a local pet shop and he's been a wonderful pet. I keep him in a ten gallon tank on coconut fiber/eco earth mixed with a bit of fertilizer-free soil (so he can burrow if he wants). He has a side-mounted heat pad that I monitor the heat for and he gets crickets and mealworms a few times a week. I did a lot of research and strive to keep him content and healthy.

A while ago I noticed he had some strange spots on him, almost like dirt flecks. I was cleaning out his cage and decided to get a closer look and it ended up being tiny mites. I asked some questions on the pet discord server I belong to and everyone said they were harmless. I called the reptile store I purchased him from about it but they weren't sure themselves. I began taking precautions, after doing research I let his substrate dry out a bit more than usual and was meticulous about spot cleaning after feeding and doing my best to clean up any scorpion droppings.

It looks like theyre still on him, and while before they were only on his exoskeleton, they seem to have moved onto his softer areas, as you can see in the pics below. He still goes about his business as usual, he eats and drinks just as much as he always has.
He doesn't seem bothered by them, but I have no idea if they could be hurting him or not and it really bothers me because I have no idea how I might be able to kill them or remove them without stressing or hurting the scorp in the process. Does anyone know what these are and how to treat them?




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[Dr SkyTower]

I found this link on here for mite issues - its a tarantula case but it should work for scorpions as well. Beautiful scorpion by the way... and could do with being mite-free for sure! Hope this helps:

All you need to know about mites

Mites are one of the big topics that turn up over and over again. I can't count how often I've posted about them and tried to put a rational view on some rather phobic reactions. So, here is a consolidated post with everything about mites that I (and others) can link back to: Mites are harmless...

arachnoboards.com

 

[Lubed Tweezer]

Yikes! Looks nasty!
I had a mild mite problem, just 4 or 5 mites on my scorpion. I followed the advice from the link above and can say it worked for me.
a rotting piece of meat attracts the mites, works like a charm. You might have to repeat the procedure in your case because that's a lot of mites in those pictures !

 

[crobinson174]

I'm glad to see they're ultimately harmless, but the ideas on how to control them sound good! I will set up a critter keeper and try the meat trick very soon to see if I can lure them off of him.

Thank you guys so much!

I found this link on here for mite issues - its a tarantula case but it should work for scorpions as well. Beautiful scorpion by the way... and could do with being mite-free for sure! Hope this helps:

All you need to know about mites

Mites are one of the big topics that turn up over and over again. I can't count how often I've posted about them and tried to put a rational view on some rather phobic reactions. So, here is a consolidated post with everything about mites that I (and others) can link back to: Mites are harmless...

arachnoboards.com

Yikes! Looks nasty!
I had a mild mite problem, just 4 or 5 mites on my scorpion. I followed the advice from the link above and can say it worked for me.
a rotting piece of meat attracts the mites, works like a charm. You might have to repeat the procedure in your case because that's a lot of mites in those pictures !