i think those are mites

[Davidmortiis]

hi everyone, yesterday i was trying to feed my slings and when i opened colony of red runners all over shelves and over container i see microscolipical movements, i'm assuming those are mites? check pictures what should i do to get ride of them? i read to reduce humidity.

 

[basin79]

hi everyone, yesterday i was trying to feed my slings and when i opened colony of red runners all over shelves and over container i see microscolipical movements, i'm assuming those are mites? check pictures what should i do to get ride of them? i read to reduce humidity.
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They look like grain mites. Clean the roach colony out throw away any egg cartons etcetera. Wipe down the shelves regularly to get the stragglers.

 

[Davidmortiis]

They look like grain mites. Clean the roach colony out throw away any egg cartons etcetera. Wipe down the shelves regularly to get the stragglers.

thank you, i own 60 tarantulas i was checking on them and there is nothing, is it save to feed then from that colony?, anything else i can clean that area that they hate to smell or die from?

 

[basin79]

thank you, i own 60 tarantulas i was checking on them and there is nothing, is it save to feed then from that colony?, anything else i can clean that area that they hate to smell or die from?

It's worth just having a look at the roach before feeding your tarantulas as there might be a few mites walking around on it. Just brush them if there are. They don't feed on the roaches so they'll easily come off.

 

[Entomologist210]

Looks like Acarus sp. (see image below).

Reducing humidity to 40% is pretty lethal to them, but I mean reducing it for a very long time to make sure you get them all. The hypopi of these mites are pretty resistant to dehydration (see image below).

 

[Entomologist210]

It's worth just having a look at the roach before feeding your tarantulas as there might be a few mites walking around on it. Just brush them if there are. They don't feed on the roaches so they'll easily come off.

One of the tips I learned in my Acarology courses was to take an insect (assuming it's not too soft-bodied) and placing it into a jar with some cornmeal and then shaking to allow the grains to brush the mites off.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

They look like grain mites. Clean the roach colony out throw away any egg cartons etcetera. Wipe down the shelves regularly to get the stragglers.

In addition to this, if you have them, place a small tub of substrate seeded with springtails in with your roach colony. I find it tends to deter mites from setting up shop in my roach colonies.

is it save to feed then from that colony?

Yeah, mites are harmless so you don't need to chuck out the feeders.

My mealworm colony ended up absolutely riddled with them, most people would've chucked them and started over, I really don't like to throw things out unless they're absolutely beyond salvaging so I opted for what seemed to be the smartest solution I could find.

Mealworms have ridiculously low moisture requirements (they basically get what little they need from their substrate) whereas mites have almost no drought tolerance at all so I opted to keep the worms in a tub with no lid and smeared a barrier of petroleum jelly around the inside near the top, the mites would try to vacate the tub en masse and get trapped in the petroleum jelly barrier, I'd then wipe away the jelly after 24hrs and replace it, I did this for a few days until no more mites were found stuck in the jelly barrier. Once there were no more mites to be found, I sieved out the mealworms from the substrate, threw out the old substrate and then rehoused the mealworms with fresh substrate, problem solved.