I just caught a parson spider and was worried by how easy it was to catch and how it was dropping then I saw like five red mites on its body. A couple fell of while I was catching it. Is there a safe way for me to get the mites off it’s body? I want to make sure she’s all set before letting her go.
Help! Spider covered in red mites!!
- Thread starter Camry
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Ready to hone your brain surgery skills? Drown the mites. One by one on the tip of a toothpick saturate each mite with very light oil, a medium solution of laundry detergent in water or equivalent. Water by itself is not wet enough. Keep in mind the mites are hardier and more resilient than the spider. A .1/10th% solution of butalkonium chloride, BKC, will drown them instantly but extreme care must be taken to keep it off the spider. The stuff of sold as a sterilizing solution or mold killer. It's extremely wet but also an irritant in both liquid and vapor forms. Do not use it near the book lungs.
LadyShia77
Arachnobaron
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I saw somewhere where it was recommended to take a small, soft paint brush and brush the mites off. Not sure how well that works, though.
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Worth a try though the spider won't like getting shoved around and the chelicerae of many predatory mites is as formidable as soldier ant pincers.
I managed to brush one off but the last two are being difficult. One is on her mouth and and other is under one of her knees so veeery hard to brush at with the paint brushes
LadyShia77
Arachnobaron
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- Apr 18, 2022
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I didn't know if it would work for sure or not. I hope you can find a way to get the others off. Poor spood.