How many of you have seen mites in your enclosures? What do you personally do about it?

[ARACHNO-SMACK48]

Thx for the info. New question. When you get new T's in. How long do you quarantine them?

 

[LuiziBee]

Thx for the info. New question. When you get new T's in. How long do you quarantine them?

If I get them from someone I trust I never quarantine. I probably would if the T and place / person I got them from seemed questionable or if I question the T's health. But otherwise, I never have.

 

[viper69]

Same here. When viewed under a microscope, they appear to be a species of grain mite. I've never observed them on and/or harming my tarantulas, so, I just let them be. Unless they appear to be the harmful sort, cleaning house seems like a waste of time. In all likelihood, they’ll be back shortly thereafter. I haven’t changed the substrate is some enclosures in years. Rehousing, replacing substrate, etc, seems to be more stressful than sharing space with microscopic cage mates. It’s like setting a tarantulas reset button, they roam and wander aimlessly, etc.

If they reach a significant number, they will bother your T though. My GBB female had a small mite explosion, she'd move to the other side, and her last rear leg would be used to scratch an itch sort of it seemed. They don't like them.

 

[Galapoheros]

I had some on my rosie when I got her. The store misted it a bit so I think that was the reason. After a week in my care with a properly bone dry enclosure they vanished. Later I got a huge infestation on my meal worm colony that spread all over my sling shelf. Millions of them. Took out all containers and cleaned the shelf with a steamer and they were all gone in a few days.

Oh yeah they often come from store bought meal worms, I've seen millions of them around containers at pet stores. They will come with feeders you buy sooner or later. The mites eat the same stuff meal worm and cricket breeders feed the mealworms and crickets. Then some meal worms die in the containers, that's when the mites seem to really multiply.

 

[Galapoheros]

Not just wild caught, I have had a few imported slings with parasitic mites attached to or around the chelicerae. You can't see the mites on a sling with the naked eye, it takes magnification, like my bro's macro camera. I waited till they molted and immediately transferred them once they completed and hardened a little. I made sure to get them moved before the mites left the molt to reattach to the T.

More likely not to be parasitic but prob grain mites in the hypopus stage, they stick in one spot with suckers, did you get any pics?

 

[Stig]

Hi there,
read somewhere, to let the sub dry out totally only use waterdish and put fresh cucumber slices in side the enclosure and swich it out everyday with a fresh one. The old slice will be full of the mites...

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Never in my T enclosures, all the enclosures that aren't bone dry have the native Springtails in with them (randomly I found them in my H. laoticus' water dish so started a culture and introduced them to any enclosures that would support them) which outcompete them for food.

I occasionally find them in my roach bins though.

 

[Exoskeleton Invertebrates]

Take the spider out of the enclosure and place the enclosure in the freezer for at least 8 hours. Get the enclosure out of the freezer thaw it out once it's room temperature place your spider back in the enclosure. If you do this method you don't have to change the substrate and spend additional money to purchase new substrate.