Help! Possible mites / fungus on T.

[todro]

Hey! (English is not my first language, apologies for any mistakes)

My tarantula has had white spots on her pedipalps for a while. I thought they were just food stains. But now I noticed some of the same white stuff has appeared under her too.
- So I started investigating, and I found two of these white spots on a leaf in her enclosure, collected them and looked at them under microscope, and I found tiny creatures inside the white patches. They are not visible to the naked eye. I’ll try to attach pictures/videos here.


She has also been quite sluggish/quiet the last couple of days. I thought maybe a molt was coming, but now I’m afraid she might be unwell because of these things.
What can I do for her?

 

[todro]

I just checked all my tarantulas, and some of them have a bit of white around their mouths, or patches in the terrarium.

 

[Mustafa67]

View attachment 497816
Hey! (English is not my first language, apologies for any mistakes)

My tarantula has had white spots on her pedipalps for a while. I thought they were just food stains. But now I noticed some of the same white stuff has appeared under her too.
- So I started investigating, and I found two of these white spots on a leaf in her enclosure, collected them and looked at them under microscope, and I found tiny creatures inside the white patches. They are not visible to the naked eye. I’ll try to attach pictures/videos here.
View attachment 497814

She has also been quite sluggish/quiet the last couple of days. I thought maybe a molt was coming, but now I’m afraid she might be unwell because of these things.
What can I do for her?

Put a fruit in the enclosure and leave it a day so the mites get onto it. Then remove the fruit after a day and put it in the bin. Do this a couple of times and it will reduce the mite population.

Other than that rehousing, but they can stay there, might take a couple of rehouses though. Also I recommend moving the enclosure away from all your other Ts, mites can spread easily.

But that’s IF you’re worried and they’re on your T. Grain mites are harmless unless in vast amounts

 

[viper69]

You’d need a vet to ID what you have for sure.

The fact they all do likely means something you’re doing or not doing, or something is going on in your flat beyond your observation/control, or they all came in that way- perhaps same seller?

 

[todro]

I just checked all my tarantulas, and some of

Put a fruit in the enclosure and leave it a day so the mites get onto it. Then remove the fruit after a day and put it in the bin. Do this a couple of times and it will reduce the mite population.

Other than that rehousing, but they can stay there, might take a couple of rehouses though. Also I recommend moving the enclosure away from all your other Ts, mites can spread easily.

But that’s IF you’re worried and they’re on your T. Grain mites are harmless unless in vast amounts

Thank you, I will do that right away!

 

[todro]

You’d need a vet to ID what you have for sure.

The fact they all do likely means something you’re doing or not doing, or something is going on in your flat beyond your observation/control, or they all came in that way- perhaps same seller?

Thank you for reply! Yeah, I’ve been wondering what exactly they are, since they’ve created these strange little white patches, but you can’t actually see any bugs with the naked eye.

I did order them all from the same place two months ago, but I believe not all of them are 'infected', so to speak. Then again, none of my oldest tarantulas have any signs either...

In any case If someone happens to know more, I’ll attach some photos of those white patches, where the bugs and possibly eggs(?) seem to be. There’s also some kind of webbing or possibly even worms in them? Here it's on top of a dry leaf - a pale wet patch with holes in it..

 

[Wolfram1]

looks like it could be faeces. have you considered that?

 

[c.h.esteban]

These long glassy things on the 2. and 3. picture looks a bit like nematodes to me.
You should let these check too by a Vet.

 

[Requiem4aSpleen]

I had an issue with mites with my P reduncus. They attached themselves to her carapace. You can try putting food in there like suggested. It helped a bit, but there were some still attached. It sounds crazy but she eventually molted out of it. I saw her soon after a molt and there were no mites to be found. I dont know if you live in a very humid climate, but you may try incorporating springtails or dwarf white isopods to your enclosures. If its a big issue, i don't see the harm in using both.

 

[Wolfram1]

did you use a microscope on the white stuff you found in the enclosures? Where did you gather it? If so these may be soil-nematodes and potentially a dust mite feeding on the faeces.

very different from a sample taken from the spider...

 

[TheraMygale]

In one photo we see a mite. Nothing dangerous. But it can spread, one usualy means there are others.

the white stuff looks like poop, but it could be a mix of things. Brush it off with a wet qtip: youll see if it comes off clean.

in another photo, we have something that looks like nematodes. Impossible for me to say if they are soil nematodes, or parasitic nematodes, at the moment. It depends where they are coming from.

what kind of substrate are you using?

what kind of feeders are you giving?

are her pedipalps functionnal? The how long have the white patches been there? Tarantulas are preening themselves quite often.

the mites are the least of your concern right now. You need to figure out where the nematodes/larvae are coming from.

do you have fruit flies, or fruit flies coming out of your enclosure?

is your tarantula eating Normaly?

there are many questions you have to ask yourself, and eliminate them on at a time.

you also need to inspect mouth opening. And monitor weight.

 

[Folaigh Spooda]

This is my first post here (I read all the rules earlier this morning), and since it's a small bit of advice in my department, I figured it'd be a nice place to start.

That's a very good idea @Mustafa67 just as long as the fruit has been washed and isn't overripe; you don't want to introduce new mold or fungi species into the enclosure.

Anyways, @todro your English is good.

I wanted to add to what @Mustafa67 said about swapping enclosures:

If you need to switch enclosures like he said—even just once—and you have a favorite piece of cork bark or a stone water dish, or anything made of hard wood or stone that you don't want to throw away, you can kill all the bio matter with heat. If it's cork or wood, first moisten it evenly and thoroughly with a spray bottle. Next, put it in an oven at 200ºF / 93ºC for about 30 minutes. If it's made of stone, you don't need to wet it. Heat will kill everything alive that's in or on it—microorganisms, molds, yeasts, bacteria, fungi, etc. When you take it out, it'll be steaming and everything on it (or living within it) will be dead. Leave it to cool and dry out for a day or two and you're good to go.

With the terrariums and vivariums I've made over the years that had infestations of various kinds, I've used this method many times. 70% isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) is also excellent for cleaning and killing-off any remnants (like eggs) that mites might leave behind in the corners of an enclosure—particularly the Exo-Terra types or anything with tight sharp corners. Seems like you're using a storage tub which doesn't have corners, but they do have little nooks and crannies where stuff gets trapped. Put some 70% isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle and spray down the whole thing, wipe it down with a paper towel (don't breathe it in), then let it sit and air out for a while until the alcohol smell is gone. This is an excellent way to kill-off any biological material left on hard surfaces.

Hope your T gets better!