Mites in my assassin bug containers

[stinkingbob]

Hi all, I have a question about mites in my assassin bug (platteryis, 2 white spotted one).
I just noticed yesterday that I have a lot of these white mites crawling around inside and some outside my assassin bug container. Probably got there via cricket boxes I bought from Petco.
Question:
1) Are they dangerous to my assassin bug?
2) Are they dangerous to me?
3) What is the best way to get rid of them without hurting my assassin bugs. I was thinking about removing the cricket food from the container and maybe the mites will go away themselves or die out?

thanks in advance,
Bob

 

[Anubis77]

Probably grain mites. They won't harm anything in small numbers and just eat detritus. They're common indoors and will pop up anywhere there's leftover food. I just had explosions of them in some isopod enclosures, but springtails outcompeted them quickly. Dropping the moisture content of the substrate will keep their numbers in check, but you'll probably always have some crawling around.

 

[stinkingbob]

Thanks anubis. Arbico organics is selling predator mites. I might invest in buying some. I will remove the grain cricket food and see if their numbers drop. At least they are not dangerous to me or my assassin bugs.

 

[Anubis77]

Thanks anubis. Arbico organics is selling predator mites. I might invest in buying some. I will remove the grain cricket food and see if their numbers drop. At least they are not dangerous to me or my assassin bugs.

Hypoaspis miles are fun to use, but they can be a waste of money outside of very planted enclosures or greenhouses, especially for grain mites. The grain mites will keep coming, but the Hypoaspis will die off after their initial run if the conditions in the soil aren't correct for egg laying and lack a stable prey population. You should see success with removing the grain food and keeping the enclosure clear of food boluses or dead prey. As long as they aren't on the body of your assassin, you're safe. But yeah, they're not the prettiest things to see in your enclosure.

 

[Ponerinecat]

Pictures or a general descriptions? We can take a few guesses based on what is likely but nothing conclusive can be made from this. Grain mites, some other sarcoptiform, or parasitidae would be the usual suspects.

 

[stinkingbob]

Thank you for the replies. Sorry, I tried taking pics of the mites but my cell phone won't zoom in clearly that close

 

[Smotzer]

2. They are not dangerous to you

 

[Joey Spijkers]

Remove leftover food in the assassin bugs enclosure. The mites will eat the cricket remains, and their numbers will drop when food is scarce.