Mites on centipede

[Alex9104]

Thoughts on how to get rid of these mfs? This was a wild centipede so it already had mites on it when I first got it, I’ve had it for a while and there were mites when the pede first arrived, I cleaned off most of it, and now these mfs are back, so today I cleaned my pede again, these are the photos after I am done cleaning, still a lot of mites on there, but trust me it was a LOT worse before the cleaning

 

[Conor10]

I have had these issues before, get a paintbrush get it wet. Put the pede in a bucket with a slightly wet bottom, then brush the pede until the mites are gone. It takes forever but thats the way I got rid of them. Also change out the substrate after the mites are off the pede.

 

[Alex9104]

I have had these issues before, get a paintbrush get it wet. Put the pede in a bucket with a slightly wet bottom, then brush the pede until the mites are gone. It takes forever but thats the way I got rid of them. Also change out the substrate after the mites are off the pede.

Do you knock out the centipede while doing that

 

[Conor10]

You could but I didn’t, I personally don’t like knocking out centipedes. Just be careful if you don’t knock it out and you brush it so you don’t get bitten, mine almost did.

 

[Conor10]

Oh boy my baby S. Polymorpha is covered with mites... we are on the same road now

 

[Alex9104]

Oh boy my baby S. Polymorpha is covered with mites... we are on the same road now

Lol, 1 or 2 days ago everything was fine, what happened? Regardless, I hate mites

 

[Conor10]

I don’t know I found out that predatory mites live on hisser roaches so I will try those. The brushing method is hard to do on a 2 inch pedeling

 

[Alex9104]

I don’t know I found out that predatory mites live on hisser roaches so I will try those. The brushing method is hard to do on a 2 inch pedeling

Ah....tough, and you can’t even try the knockout method because plings are so fragile

 

[Conor10]

Oh do I hate these, you just get that terrible gut feeling when you see some on a pede

 

[RoachCoach]

Pea flour is the best antifeedant for mite control.

 

[TheHouseof21pairs]

I don’t know I found out that predatory mites live on hisser roaches so I will try those. The brushing method is hard to do on a 2 inch pedeling

I doubt it you will succede...gromphadorhina mites are cleaners. They hang all their life around the roach to get scraps of food and help the roach keep clean. The thing is that they actually might help, i do not believe it but im not sure bout it, but ending up getting a ride of the pede for scraps so you’ll end up fixing one prob and get into another one. That small you’ll knock it off in water with about 10 mins. Put the little thing down paper towel and brush everything off. Change substrate and your good to go. No need to kill anything. If she doesn’t make it well at least you tried your best.

 

[Conor10]

How is the S. Heros doing, has she been eating lately?

 

[Alex9104]

How is the S. Heros doing, has she been eating lately?

Yeah she’s fine but just scratches a lot that’s all

 

[Conor10]

Sad, sad, sad, I found that a toothbrush helps to get them off that might help.

 

[Alex9104]

Sad, sad, sad, I found that a toothbrush helps to get them off that might help.

Yeah I might do that but rn I am doing the dry substrate and water dish method, I think I am seeing progress, can’t wait to have these mites’ families destroyed

 

[l4nsky]

So, I'm going to preface this post with a warning, read the whole thing! There is a method I have used in the past with success, but it may have long term repercussions to your hobby should you ever want to go bioactive. You can order and use predatory mites (Hypoaspis miles) to get rid of grain and other mites. They're about $30 plus overnight shipping. I had a S. dehaani with a bad mite infection when I first started in this hobby. I pulled it out of its enclosure, placed it on dry substrate with a large water bowl, and poured some of the mite laden substrate inside. The grain mites were gone within two weeks (I also noticed some really odd behavior from the dehaani. It would turn the first third of its body and lay on the top substrate, exposing its back where the mites were located. It reminded me of a reef fish using a cleaning station on a coral reef to have smaller fish remove external parasites. Really, really odd). Now everything I read said that once the predatory mites exhausted their food supply, they would turn cannibistic and the population would self extinguish. Great, I thought. It was wrong. The context of the articles I read vis a vis H. miles were intended for outside gardeners with spider mite problems. In those conditions, yes the H. miles might disappear from other predators or just simply reduce their population enough to not be seen, but they won't disappear indoors. To this day, almost three years later, I still have a H. miles population in my animal room. While I've never had a single grain mite problem or spider mite problem on my plants since, I can no longer keep springtails in my bioactive setups. As I learned from @boina in this thread here, H. miles is not a specialized predatory mite, but a generalist that can scavenge and survive on organic matter. This has allowed a small population to survive in my enclosures. Whenever I try to reintroduce springtails, the H. miles population comes back with a vengeance and wipes out the springtails in a matter of weeks. Now, boina did mention that there are specialized predatory mites that only target other mites, but I don't have a species name to give you and have no idea if they can be purchased. You'll have to weigh the pros and cons yourself for your situation. I went nuclear because of clear distress from the dehaani and bad information on their self destructive tendencies. In hindsight, I probably wouldn't have done it knowing what I know now. I'm letting you know this is an option, but there are consequences.

 

[Alex9104]

So, I'm going to preface this post with a warning, read the whole thing! There is a method I have used in the past with success, but it may have long term repercussions to your hobby should you ever want to go bioactive. You can order and use predatory mites (Hypoaspis miles) to get rid of grain and other mites. They're about $30 plus overnight shipping. I had a S. dehaani with a bad mite infection when I first started in this hobby. I pulled it out of its enclosure, placed it on dry substrate with a large water bowl, and poured some of the mite laden substrate inside. The grain mites were gone within two weeks (I also noticed some really odd behavior from the dehaani. It would turn the first third of its body and lay on the top substrate, exposing its back where the mites were located. It reminded me of a reef fish using a cleaning station on a coral reef to have smaller fish remove external parasites. Really, really odd). Now everything I read said that once the predatory mites exhausted their food supply, they would turn cannibistic and the population would self extinguish. Great, I thought. It was wrong. The context of the articles I read vis a vis H. miles were intended for outside gardeners with spider mite problems. In those conditions, yes the H. miles might disappear from other predators or just simply reduce their population enough to not be seen, but they won't disappear indoors. To this day, almost three years later, I still have a H. miles population in my animal room. While I've never had a single grain mite problem or spider mite problem on my plants since, I can no longer keep springtails in my bioactive setups. As I learned from @boina in this thread here, H. miles is not a specialized predatory mite, but a generalist that can scavenge and survive on organic matter. This has allowed a small population to survive in my enclosures. Whenever I try to reintroduce springtails, the H. miles population comes back with a vengeance and wipes out the springtails in a matter of weeks. Now, boina did mention that there are specialized predatory mites that only target other mites, but I don't have a species name to give you and have no idea if they can be purchased. You'll have to weigh the pros and cons yourself for your situation. I went nuclear because of clear distress from the dehaani and bad information on their self destructive tendencies. In hindsight, I probably wouldn't have done it knowing what I know now. I'm letting you know this is an option, but there are consequences.

Thanks for typing that up, and yes I’ve heard of predatory mites and pseudoscorpiones before but I think I’ll pass on it, my mite problem is gone, reduced to atoms, I’ve finally decided to put my pede in ice water to knock it put and press it under ice water while brushing it with a tooth bruh to see the mites floating on the water, it’s a really violent but NOT risky way to clean mites, worked like a charm.

 

[l4nsky]

Anytime. It was as much for yourself as it was for posterity's sake so those in the future are better informed than I was and can properly weigh their situation.

 

[Scoly]

Thanks for typing that up, and yes I’ve heard of predatory mites and pseudoscorpiones before but I think I’ll pass on it, my mite problem is gone, reduced to atoms, I’ve finally decided to put my pede in ice water to knock it put and press it under ice water while brushing it with a tooth bruh to see the mites floating on the water, it’s a really violent but NOT risky way to clean mites, worked like a charm.

My two cents on this is that you really shouldn't do this to get rid of mites unless they are clearly parasitic, which is rare (but not completely unheard of). Your original pictures shows mite in hypopus stage, meaning they are just cocoons hoping to be carried to a better place by the centipede, and that's their only interaction with the centipede - they are not feeding of it or harming it in any way. Whatever species these are they will either not do well in your enclosure (in which case there's nothing you need to do) or they will do well (in which case you are very unlikely to be able to remove them).
The thing is that you will have mites in all your enclosures, dozens of species, with a handful that are visible to the naked eye. There's no point trying to remove them, and as soon as you do they will simply come back. Think of them as part of the clean up crew. At best you can reduce the number of large unsightly ones, as well as outbreaks of smaller types, by cleaning remains, keeping the enclosure dry, and using springtails.

Having said all that, a large number of visible mites is a sign of an unhealthy enclosure full of decaying organic matter. But if you see this, take it as a warning sign that you need to remove remains, increase ventilation, or dry things out a bit, rather than removing the messengers.

 

[Alex9104]

My two cents on this is that you really shouldn't do this to get rid of mites unless they are clearly parasitic, which is rare (but not completely unheard of). Your original pictures shows mite in hypopus stage, meaning they are just cocoons hoping to be carried to a better place by the centipede, and that's their only interaction with the centipede - they are not feeding of it or harming it in any way. Whatever species these are they will either not do well in your enclosure (in which case there's nothing you need to do) or they will do well (in which case you are very unlikely to be able to remove them).
The thing is that you will have mites in all your enclosures, dozens of species, with a handful that are visible to the naked eye. There's no point trying to remove them, and as soon as you do they will simply come back. Think of them as part of the clean up crew. At best you can reduce the number of large unsightly ones, as well as outbreaks of smaller types, by cleaning remains, keeping the enclosure dry, and using springtails.

Having said all that, a large number of visible mites is a sign of an unhealthy enclosure full of decaying organic matter. But if you see this, take it as a warning sign that you need to remove remains, increase ventilation, or dry things out a bit, rather than removing the messengers.

1. I don’t know what the mites are, but I can guarantee you that it directly affects the pede’s ability to eat, upon removal, the pede begun feeding directly the day after (it was not feeding before)
2. It could be that my enclosure is not doing so well, but I’ve had the mite problem upon unboxing, and it’s being a while now since I’ve seen any mite after the removal