Hi guys,
Having just got my T stirmi on saturday, i was having a check of its enclosure today, and removing any bits of insect i could find.
Where the T normally eats, i saw what i can only describe as a 'carpet' of mites, there were hundreds of the little critters, so i checked the stirmi out but there were none on it...all good as far as i have read on here so far.
I gather that apart from the obvious cleaning duties, the best way to keep mites down is to allow plenty of ventilation, and control the humidity, so I have a few questions regarding that and also the action I took to remove the mites.
OK, first off, my first reaction was to get down to the nearest pet shop and get new substrate, i opted for the coconut fibre......it turns out the shop i got the stirmi from had put garden compost as a substrate...can this cause problems? and if so, has removing it eradicated the problem?
I rehomed the stirmi while i completely emptied the enclosure and washed it out, I only used hot water, no proprietry cleaning agents whatsoever..is this sufficient? or should I have used a weak solution of some cleaning agent?
After resetting the enclosure up (currently its an aqua-40 marine tank..its what the T came in as I have a planned setup i will be rehoming it in, so opted to buy the job lot) its very humid in there, how much humidity is too much? the enclosure has its own lid, so its not fantastically ventilated, there is a hatch near the front that i can open as the stirmi cannot reach this...the place i got it from said the humidity should be very very high, but I would like a little more clarity on this.
Also, the heat mat that came with the enclosure completely covered the base, I have since replaced this with a smaller one that only covers half the floor space, again..is this sufficient or was the full length one better?
Since heat and humidity seem to play a large part in mite infestation, whats the best balance to keep them out/in low numbers? what indicators should i be looking for to chekck my humidity as i've read on here the gauges are not altogether brilliant.
Is there anything else i could do at this point given the level of infestation? and the light fitting that came with the tank, is it wise to use it, or would the T prefere to be left in the dark, with only natural light?
Any advice here would be appreciated
Ta
Kev
Having just got my T stirmi on saturday, i was having a check of its enclosure today, and removing any bits of insect i could find.
Where the T normally eats, i saw what i can only describe as a 'carpet' of mites, there were hundreds of the little critters, so i checked the stirmi out but there were none on it...all good as far as i have read on here so far.
I gather that apart from the obvious cleaning duties, the best way to keep mites down is to allow plenty of ventilation, and control the humidity, so I have a few questions regarding that and also the action I took to remove the mites.
OK, first off, my first reaction was to get down to the nearest pet shop and get new substrate, i opted for the coconut fibre......it turns out the shop i got the stirmi from had put garden compost as a substrate...can this cause problems? and if so, has removing it eradicated the problem?
I rehomed the stirmi while i completely emptied the enclosure and washed it out, I only used hot water, no proprietry cleaning agents whatsoever..is this sufficient? or should I have used a weak solution of some cleaning agent?
After resetting the enclosure up (currently its an aqua-40 marine tank..its what the T came in as I have a planned setup i will be rehoming it in, so opted to buy the job lot) its very humid in there, how much humidity is too much? the enclosure has its own lid, so its not fantastically ventilated, there is a hatch near the front that i can open as the stirmi cannot reach this...the place i got it from said the humidity should be very very high, but I would like a little more clarity on this.
Also, the heat mat that came with the enclosure completely covered the base, I have since replaced this with a smaller one that only covers half the floor space, again..is this sufficient or was the full length one better?
Since heat and humidity seem to play a large part in mite infestation, whats the best balance to keep them out/in low numbers? what indicators should i be looking for to chekck my humidity as i've read on here the gauges are not altogether brilliant.
Is there anything else i could do at this point given the level of infestation? and the light fitting that came with the tank, is it wise to use it, or would the T prefere to be left in the dark, with only natural light?
Any advice here would be appreciated
Ta
Kev
