How Can I Remove Mites From My Emperor Scorpion?!?!

[Redneck]

I have not been able to get near my Emperor Scorpion since his girl-friend passed.. I have just now noticed that there are alot of mites on him.. Could this have made him more aggressive? I have removed him, his cage, and everything that I have used for him from the room where my T's and other scorpions are.. I am now worried about my T's what should I do?? Here is a couple photos of him.. I think you can see how bad they are.. This is the first time I have ever seen anything other than springtails in his tank.. I have had him almost a year now.. I only feed him crickets from the LPS and some super-mealworms... I have never given him a mouse or a pinkie mouse or anything like that.. I have had my neices snake's feeder mice near could this have cause it?? I use Coconut Fibers for substrate.. I baked the bark at 450 degrees for 30 minutes.. Could that be the cause?? I am going to go tomorrow and get more substrate and new hides for his tank no more bark for him... Anyways here are the photos.. Please any adivce would be great this was my very first scorpion.. Thanks!!

 

[Lucozade3000]

I dont think the bark has anything to do with the infestation. It would mostly come from feeders..

Mites can be manually removed with a small forceps or suffocated with a drop of glycerin (sm peeps would use nail polish but i wouldn't) take great care to avoid getting the substance into the chelicerae and spiracles.
Remove and isolate the scorpion in a small cage with paper towels. Any loose mites will be easily seen. Change the paper daily, this will take e few days.

Then you should thoroughly clean the enclosure with a 10% diluted chlorine bleach. If you want to keep the furnishing, soak it in the bleach and make sure its very well rinsed before u reuse it.

you could as well use some predatory mites but clean the scorp first.
The best way to avoid any problems or unmanageable complications is to remove any dead prey as soon as you see it...
Good luck

-J

 

[Galapoheros]

Those look like hypopus stage grain mites, too small to remove with forceps imo. You practically cannot get rid of them but you can control them once you have them. They can survive for months in the hypopus stage, even in dry conditions. It will look like you have gotten rid of them at some point but it's only because of the small size that you don't see them, out of sight, out of mind ...gone. But there are some still there waiting for veg matter or dead bug parts to show up again in your terr. Then they(usually not all) will crawl off the scorp and go eat. You can starve them that way, by keeping it clean in there but it takes many months. And when they do die, I think they stay attached, not sure though. They aren't feeding on your scorp, they are just dormant there. I think the theory is that they attach to arthropods and some mammals "in hopes" of being taking to food eventually. I have pred mites in my containers, they work. That and keeping it clean in my terrs really knocks them out. I do have a method of thinning the mites off my scorps and pedes when I do see a problem with them. It's hard for some people to do. I temp drown them in rainwater. I put them under water for 20 to 30 minutes. Sure, we can't survive that but arthros are diff, maybe an adaptation to floods that last a long time, being in holes and under rocks under water in the flood. I've seen pedes come back that were under cool water for at least 15 hours. So it knocks them out, then I use a dental tool to scrape most of them off, dry them with a paper towel and put them back. An hour a two later ...up and walking around. Some people try to attract them off the animal with food. But I've never seen all of them come off, they are so small, you always miss some.

Oh yeah, and I do see them come with feeders, esp meal worms, seen them on crickets too. The food for the crix and mealworms is what grain mites like too.

 

[Redneck]

Those look like hypopus stage grain mites, too small to remove with forceps imo. You practically cannot get rid of them but you can control them once you have them. They can survive for months in the hypopus stage, even in dry conditions. It will look like you have gotten rid of them at some point but it's only because of the small size that you don't see them, out of sight, out of mind ...gone. But there are some still there waiting for veg matter or dead bug parts to show up again in your terr. Then they(usually not all) will crawl off the scorp and go eat. You can starve them that way, by keeping it clean in there but it takes many months. And when they do die, I think they stay attached, not sure though. They aren't feeding on your scorp, they are just dormant there. I think the theory is that they attach to arthropods and some mammals "in hopes" of being taking to food eventually. I have pred mites in my containers, they work. That and keeping it clean in my terrs really knocks them out. I do have a method of thinning the mites off my scorps and pedes when I do see a problem with them. It's hard for some people to do. I temp drown them in rainwater. I put them under water for 20 to 30 minutes. Sure, we can't survive that but arthros are diff, maybe an adaptation to floods that last a long time, being in holes and under rocks under water in the flood. I've seen pedes come back that were under cool water for at least 15 hours. So it knocks them out, then I use a dental tool to scrape most of them off, dry them with a paper towel and put them back. An hour a two later ...up and walking around. Some people try to attract them off the animal with food. But I've never seen all of them come off, they are so small, you always miss some.

Oh yeah, and I do see them come with feeders, esp meal worms, seen them on crickets too. The food for the crix and mealworms is what grain mites like too.

So you are saying I should put my emperor in cool water for 20-30 minutes?? maybe this will help? I heard scorpions can live in water for 2 days..

 

[Galapoheros]

It only knocks the scorpion out so it won't pinch and sting you while you scrape off the mites.

 

[Redneck]

It only knocks the scorpion out so it won't pinch and sting you while you scrape off the mites.

Thanks man that is good to know.. I was wondering how I was going to scrap them mites off him he is mean!! Ill get started on that and let everyone know how it goes.. Thanks again!! :worship:

 

[Galapoheros]

No prob, *always some risk* but I've never had one die in the water. I use a big glass bowl to do it. What I do is check on the scorp while they are under water after about 15 minutes. Then I keep checking on it every 5 minutes, pick them up, see if they aren't moving anymore. They will appear dead, that's when I take them out and start scraping the mites off. The scorp may start moving around slowly but not enough to cause a prob. I wouldn't use tap water though because of the chlorine. lol one time I started drinking beer and forgot about the scorp, it had been over two hours under water but it was fine later.

 

[Redneck]

No prob, *always some risk* but I've never had one die in the water. I use a big glass bowl to do it. What I do is check on the scorp while they are under water after about 15 minutes. Then I keep checking on it every 5 minutes, pick them up, see if they aren't moving anymore. They will appear dead, that's when I take them out and start scraping the mites off. The scorp may start moving around slowly but not enough to cause a prob. I wouldn't use tap water though because of the chlorine. lol one time I started drinking beer and forgot about the scorp, it had been over two hours under water but it was fine later.

Well I started with cool water and he was not going out.. So I desided to heat it up.. He was out in a few minutes started cleaning him and then he is waking up.. I got him in a small kritter keeper with a moist paper towel that I am going to change out 3 times a day.. I hope this works.. I did manage to get most of them off him.. Thanks for all of the info everyone...

 

[Galapoheros]

You simply didn't leave it in long enough. Kinda glad you didn't do it, it can look disturbing.

 

[Redneck]

You simply didn't leave it in long enough. Kinda glad you didn't do it, it can look disturbing.

No I left him in the cool water for about 20 minutes and he was still moving like crazy so I heated the water up and he was knocked out with in a few minutes.. I pulled him out and cleaned him off... He is in the Kritter Keeper now and he is wide awake and not as mean..

 

[Galapoheros]

Oh, haha , I see what you meant now.

 

[Selket]

No I left him in the cool water for about 20 minutes and he was still moving like crazy so I heated the water up and he was knocked out with in a few minutes.. I pulled him out and cleaned him off... He is in the Kritter Keeper now and he is wide awake and not as mean..

Heated the water with the scorp in it? Like boiling the scorp??

 

[H. laoticus]

never heard of this method before.

Heard of freezing the scorp, but never putting it in cold water.

 

[Galapoheros]

The temperature doesn't matter much but you don't want to put it in hot water lol! It's not the temperature, you deprive the scorp or centipede of oxygen, temporarily drowning them. I just started trying it when I had a prob with an invert, never read anything about it. I guess you're not technically drowning them because they are still alive while their muscles seem to be shut down, maybe so the muscles don't use up oxygen that is needed by the circulatory system during emergencies. They can last for hours under water appearing to be dead. I think it might be a survival trait that helps them survive during floods when they can't escape the high water, waiting for the water to go down in time for them to recover, just guessing there... It's a little sad looking when you do it but if it looks like you REALLY need to work on something, well it's worked every time for me.

 

[Redneck]

Yea it worked really good.. it kept him out long enough to get most of the mites off of my scorpions.. It took about 45 minutes before my scorpion was back to acting normal.. Except he is not NEAR as deffensive as he was.. But he is doing alot better..

Also I heard that scorpions can live under water for 2 days..

 

[Redneck]

Update!!

Well I just wanted to update and thank everyone who offered advice.. My emperor is now 90% mite free.. Thanks again everyone!! :clap: :worship:

 

[ArachnidSentinl]

...never heard of this method before...

Neither have I.

Interesting.

 

[Irene B. Smithi]

Next time you heat the water up, don't forget to drop in some carrots and celery!!!:drool:

That would have freaked me out. How did you heat it up with him in it?? Was he on the stove, did you add warm water??
Glad it worked, mine are too tiny and probably would just drown if I did that. (C. Sculpts)

 

[Redneck]

Next time you heat the water up, don't forget to drop in some carrots and celery!!!:drool:

That would have freaked me out. How did you heat it up with him in it?? Was he on the stove, did you add warm water??
Glad it worked, mine are too tiny and probably would just drown if I did that. (C. Sculpts)

I didnt read the part of NOT using tap water and I just turned on the hot water and ran it in a jar.. Then I set him off in it.. I now have him in his 10 gal set up with less substrate soo he cant take his food in the burrows.. This way I can keep an eye on the left-overs that he dont eat.. I did find 2 dead un-eatin crickets under the substrate where he had burrowed before.. I believe this is how he had got the mites.. As far as the tiny scorps of mine I have not done this to them since they tend to eat all of their crickets and leave nothing left over..

 

[Galapoheros]

Well, haha , I feel like restating that "room temp" is the way to go with it. Temp is not the mechanism that knocks them out, it's deprivation of oxygen, temporarily "drowning" the arthro. If you have to, put them in room temp water free from chemicals. I use rainwater I collect from 55 barrel off the roof of my house.