mites

[dragontears]

So I recently got an S. subspinipes and I noticed yesterday that there are mites all over his enclosure. I've done a little searching here and apparantly I'm supposed to dry out the container he's in so the mites won't thrive, but how long do I have to do this? Obviously I can put a water dish in for the pede to get a drink, but how long will he be able to survive dry conditions without dehydrating? He's about 6-7 inches long.

 

[Drachenjager]

Check posts by Galapoheros, he has some mite eating bugs ...seriously .
but i kept my SHC bone dry wiht a water dish for a week. i think if you oly keel a damp place under a rock or bark piece you can keep the rest dry and cut down on the mites.

 

[gunks]

The mite eating bugs...Are those the hypoaspis, or something more accessable?

 

[cacoseraph]

The mite eating bugs...Are those the hypoaspis, or something more accessable?

i think drachen is refering to gala's rove beetles

 

[Galapoheros]

Rove beetles worked for me. I sent some to a few other people. Got a 50/50 response. Half said they worked, others said nothing happened. The thing with the Roves is that you can't use them and dry out the substrate at the same time. You have to do one or the other. If you dry it out with the Rove beetles in there too, they just fly away to another place that has moisture. They are only about 2 mm long. I have 1000's in my Hisser cage. PM me if you want to try them. Getting pretty hot though, so don't know if they would make it to you.

 

[dragontears]

How do I know what kind of mites I'm dealing with? Here's some pics, you can see 1-3 mites in each photo (this is actually how I first discovered them). They are especially congregated on any dead cricket bits he leaves lying around and are wandering over his dorsal side...I haven't seen them clumping up anywhere on him, but I can't see his belly. There's some on the substrate surface and on the glass as well.

 

[Galapoheros]

Nice macro shots! Don't know but I think they are grain mites. I thought for a really long time, that these were parasitic when they are in a stage where they attach themselves to centipedes and other insects. But apparently they are not according to other posts and reading stuff on the net. Grain mites have different stages they can enter. I grabbed the following info from this site:

http://www.ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/flour_mites.htm

At some time during the juvenile period, grain mites may change into a stage known as the hypopus. During this unique stage, the body wall hardens and suckers appear on the underside. These suckers allow the mite to attach to insects and other animals for dispersal. The eggs and especially the hypopuses appear to be more tolerant of insecticides than other juveniles or adults; and they may be the primary stage responsible for resurgences in mite populations after chemical control appeared to have been successful.

There's a better site out there but I can't find it. When my pedes would have a bad case of mites, I could tell they were very irritating to the centipedes. The centipedes would try and scratch them off. I could hear them trying to scratch them off even when I was several feet away from the centipedes.

I think I see some mites that possibly might be in the hypopus stage on your pede. I can't say for sure, that's just how it looks to me.

Aslo, I didn't realize I was keeping the coco fiber as wet as I was until I finally believed my camera! The pics were really showing me how wet it was but it didn't look that way with my naked eye. Your sub might be a little wet.

 

[spydrhunter1]

Heres a couple of links for predatory Hypoaspis mites.
http://www.buglogical.com/hypoaspis_control_fungusGnats/hypoaspis.asp
http://www.biconet.com/biocontrol/hypoaspis.html

 

[dragontears]

thanks for the info.

so if they aren't parasitic will they eventually die off on their own or will they find enough soil debris as mentioned in the article to sustain life? I've been airing out the container to dry out the substrate a little. Next step will be to move the pede to a substrate-less enclosure and start over.

Next question...I checked out my other pedes as I am now completely paranoid and itchy all over at having to deal with mites and I found these on my yellow leg:

They aren't really visible to the naked eye (the ones on the subspinipes are visible, just tiny), are they mites or something else?

 

[Snipes]

here are some cheaper ones.
http://www.ipmofalaska.com/files/hypoaspis.html
but then again they are from alaska. I am thinking of getting some

 

[icefish]

anyone knows where i can buy the rove beetle or the predatory miles in Canada? i really need some, please let me know!! thanks alot!

 

[Mr. Mordax]

I've seen little ones that look similar to the ones on your subspinipes in my centipede enclosures, and they appear to resemble the predatory mites I see at work. I've never actually seen them on the centipedes, though -- just in the enclosure. They haven't seemed to cause any problems, but my Haitian died last week of unknown causes. My subspinipdes and my cherry red both seem to be OK.

If, however, those are indeed mites on your yellow-leg, they don't seem to be the good variety.

 

[dangerprone69]

I can vouch for hypoaspis if anyone isn't sure. I had a bad infestation in my communal Emperor Scorpion tank and the Hypoaspis wiped out the infestation.

 

[Galapoheros]

Yeah the Hypoaspis seem to do it all, clean up the soil of the mites and off your arthropods. I have hypos too. But I never saw the Rove beetles get on my centipedes and take care of them there. I would get hypoaspis mites. Also, I see less Hypoaspis mites where there are Rove beetles so the Rove beetles are probably eating the Hypoaspis mites too. I think I have a good balance of natural predators though. I have a lot of centipedes and I don't see any more grain mites.

 

[Snipes]

the price of H. miles is so high, anyone selling them here? I cant see any place that you get get them for less than 40$ (shipped with the cheapest). The place that I saw as the cheapest (the one that I posted) is no longer selling

 

[Galapoheros]

I'm afraid to ship anything right now because of the heat. It looks to me that pillbugs eat leftovers that is food for the mites, faster than the mites can get to it. I fed a male dubia to my subspinipes last night. The pillbugs ate the leftovers last night too, even the wings! Pillbugs are really good. I think my "good" mites came from wild caught pedes. I could see a few running around on them when I caught them. They reproduced pretty fast. I had them ID'd only by taking a picture and sending it to Biocontrol. They said, "...yeah, they look like hypoaspis mites...". So I'm 95% sure that is what they are. I would have to get them to a lab to confirm it. They do take care of the trash mites.