Mites, ugh!

NikiP

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 16, 2006
Messages
539
Venting!

Darn these stupid little bugs! Grrr! Thank goodness I invited a friend over to see my Ts today. I had pulled out the recently molted juvie G. pulchripes when he noticed there were things in the bottle cap with water. Both my G. pulchripes I leave alone more then my other Ts just because of their location on my shelf. Of course I had my fingers crossed that they were the only ones affected, but alas, everyone has them :( Haven't looked hard enough in my sling enclosures, but i'm just going to assume they are there. Oddly enough, the one that seems to have them the worst is the P. murinus, my driest kept T :rolleyes:

Tomorrow I have a bad shift at work that won't allow me to get anywhere to buy new substrate & rehouse. Right now i'm thinking I should have time in the morning before work to catch everyone to put them back in vials, delicups, & other plastic containers just to get them away from the mites.

Thank goodness i'm off Friday.
 

Terry D

Arachnodemon
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Nov 21, 2009
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733
Niki, I keep a pair of readers handy in the t room for observation/bolus patrol due to middle-age presbyopia (farsightedness). I began seeing tiny white floaties in waterdishes that didn't appear to have the consistency of poo long ago. These still appear sporadically. I'm fairly sure these are scavenger mites and thus far have not become a problem. I keep the sub clean although probably not as obsessively as some keepers. A worse problem is early instar crickets that hatch out in multitudes on occasion. The t's seem to get slightly agitated with those before they invariably join the flotilla. Without seeing pics I can't be sure but I'll bet they're not going to become a bad problem.

Hope it's the case, anyway :)

Terry
 

Scoolman

Arachnolord
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Feb 9, 2010
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they are spring tails. The spring tail are quite happy living on the meniscus of the water, and under the water dish. Just carefully remove the water dish and wash with hot soapy water. Repeat daily until you have reduced or eliminated them. If you are only seeing then around the water dish they won't pose any problems.
 

NikiP

Arachnobaron
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Apr 16, 2006
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539
That would make more sense. I couldn't figure out why none of my T's seem agitated or why the mites would be just in/around the water dishes. I've never found things of any kind in my enclosures before.

For scavenger mites, wouldn't a T have to have eaten for there to be food for them to have a reason to appear? The Avic. sp. tank has the things & she's refused food since I bought her in June. Just molted on Monday so I haven't offered her any food yet.
 

belljar77

Arachnosquire
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Apr 7, 2010
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129
I've been dealing with mites too, they're such a pain. It seems like most of them come from our H. gigas, as he's the one with moist substrate. We've cleaned, replaced substrate, added isopods, all to no avail. I just ordered some predatory mites ($$$!) hopefully they do the trick. Makes me feel bad, that even though I clean daily, I can't stop tiny mites.
 

mcluskyisms

Arachnoangel
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Apr 16, 2009
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As mentioned above woodlice (isopods) are one of the answers for these things, where as they don't tend to eat the mites they will compete with them for the same food sources (bolus & mold) a couple of tips to prevent this is to not keep your feeders near the tarantulas preferably in a different room in case they have scavenger mites in with them (Ive just had a recent case of this) if the mites are already present which they are in your case, then allowing the enclosures to dry out a bit wont hurt until the problem dies down, also people confuse pin head crickets with mites from time to time, pin heads usually occur in more humid enclosures where a female gravid cricket has been left uneaten and laid her eggs in the moist substrate, not a lot can be done about that and yet again it can be remedied by letting the enclosure dry out a bit again and killing as many of the little critters as you can (the squashing approach always works for me) also from time to time spring-tails will crop up (usually around water dishes) these really aren't that much of a problem and they kinda help clean the enclosure too much like woodlice will, I personally always find it better to keep woodlice in the more humid of your tarantulas enclosures, it makes it like a mini natural ecosystem. And these outbreaks seem less frequent.

:)
 

NikiP

Arachnobaron
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Apr 16, 2006
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539
My crickets go straight from the bag from the store into the tanks. My scorpions are aso the only ones I allowed to have crickets stay in their tanks while alive. Everyone else I make sure grabs their prey before I close up the lids.

The avic has only had one cricket in her enclosure in the last month, and I promtly removed it. The P. Murinus I keep dry with only a water dish, and it also has them.

I'm just going to redo everyone's substrate tomorrow just incase it's mites and not silverfish.
 

MichiganReptiles

Arachnobaron
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May 14, 2010
Messages
407
I saw some little mites in my female G. pulchra's enclosure the other day, but there only seems to be a few of them and not sure they are too big a problem.

I have a MUCH LARGER problem in my house right now. I have these little fruit fly type things that I can't figure out how to get rid of. I don't think it has anything to do with my T's though. I think it's somehow from the moisture in my Tegu's tanks that have Cypress Mulch in them, but I'm not sure. They're driving me CRAZY though!!!!!!
 

belljar77

Arachnosquire
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Apr 7, 2010
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I have those gnat/flies too, Toni, and they're making me bonkers. I believe the predatory mites eat their larvae though...I hope. As if the escaped fruit flies from the dart frog enclosure drowning in my coffee wasn't enough.
 

MichiganReptiles

Arachnobaron
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May 14, 2010
Messages
407
I have those gnat/flies too, Toni, and they're making me bonkers. I believe the predatory mites eat their larvae though...I hope. As if the escaped fruit flies from the dart frog enclosure drowning in my coffee wasn't enough.
So you're saying that the only way to get rid of the bugs is to buy more bugs? Oy.
 

MichiganReptiles

Arachnobaron
Joined
May 14, 2010
Messages
407
I have those gnat/flies too, Toni, and they're making me bonkers. I believe the predatory mites eat their larvae though...I hope. As if the escaped fruit flies from the dart frog enclosure drowning in my coffee wasn't enough.
I thought that predatory mites were bad in T enclosures. At least that is what I thought Russ told me the other day. :?
 

Scoolman

Arachnolord
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Feb 9, 2010
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612
I thought that predatory mites were bad in T enclosures. At least that is what I thought Russ told me the other day. :?
The predatory mites I know of prey on other mites; some times very species specific as to what they will eat.
 

farrisbaharom

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 27, 2010
Messages
31
if predatory mites aren't your thing, how bout sphagnum moss?

have you tried some sphagnum moss?

not the peat, the dried moss strips - i've had some success keeping mites down in my more humid enclosures by spreading a layer over the substrate.

like so (N coloratovillosus enclosure):



this was before i had the space for a proper tank with better ventillation.
same Nhandu is now happy bulldozing away in her new enclosure.
 
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MichiganReptiles

Arachnobaron
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May 14, 2010
Messages
407
I'm going to have to buy some peat and sphagnum moss and try those instead of coco fiber in the enclosures that need high levels of humidity.
 

belljar77

Arachnosquire
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Apr 7, 2010
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I'll add some moss in with the H. miles, see how it goes. My husband used some dried moss as decoration in our A. chalcodes enclosure...she promptly gathered it up, webbed it into a ball, and chucked it in the corner :) That's what he gets for trying to be fancy.
 

MichiganReptiles

Arachnobaron
Joined
May 14, 2010
Messages
407
I'll add some moss in with the H. miles, see how it goes. My husband used some dried moss as decoration in our A. chalcodes enclosure...she promptly gathered it up, webbed it into a ball, and chucked it in the corner :) That's what he gets for trying to be fancy.
That's hilarious. It's amazing what these T's do.
 
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