Petsmart gave my whole collection MITES

[SkittleBunny]

Petsmart was out of crickets, so I settled for giant mealworms. I cut some up, fed my collection, and the next morning I am infested with mites, 8 slings and 3 adults. We called petsmart and we have an appointment to talk with the big guy soon, because this is an outrage. They are selling mite infested worms to customers, and feeding them to their own stock and selling mite infested animals. We are getting to the bottom of it and I need to know what to do for the mites or what I need to have petsmart provide to me to get rid of them. All of my tarantulas except for the one I didnt feed because it was hardening has mites crawing about. We are taking the worms back. I'll be damned if I pay 2 dollars to infest my collection with mites that will cost alot more than 2 dollars to fix.

What exactly do I need to get rid of them? Sand? They suggested MITE-OFF do you believe it?!

What have y'all done to rid a collection of mites?

 

[Vanessa]

Who would even consider using a product designed to kill arachnids around arachnids?

 

[Thistles]

They're probably grain mites feeding on the substrate the worms lived in. Dry things out and they'll die. I doubt they'll hurt your spiders, but it can be creepy to see them crawling around.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

Grain mites was going to be my guess as well. Suggesting using Mite-Off was a definite blunder.

In this case, I believe at least part of the blame could also be laid at the feet of the supplier of the worms. I don't know much about mites, to be honest, but do they reproduce quickly enough to become an infestation overnight? I'm not disputing, I honestly don't know about their reproductive rates. Were there loads of them in whatever container, (likely a plastic tub) the worms were in?
If not, don't disallow the possibility that some could have been attached to feeder crickets and they had a bit more time to get a foothold.
FWIW, it would make my skin crawl to see mites too, though I have seen it opined that they in most cases are not quite the huge threat that we fear. But who wants them at all? Good luck with ridding yourself of them.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Well they probably ended the discount cards or else, that's why, but since 'corporate Amerika' cares about their customers, here we have the mites... almost invisible friends but, nonetheless, fellas you can always count on. For free.

 

[Moakmeister]

Sorry to hear that man. I always buy from Petsmart and I'm not sure how common this is, but I've never had mites from mealworms. Though it mite (see what I did there?) be because I always put them in the fridge for a few days before I feed any to Regina.

 

[starnaito]

Sorry you have to deal with an infestation. I bought a T from a reptile expo once that was crawling with mites. They kept it in really poor conditions. Took me a few complete enclosure cleanings to get rid of the tiny terrors. (The population was to the point that they were bothering my T.) If it's not too bad yet, try drying out the soil. But if the population is too high and they are irritating your tarantulas, you might need to do a major cleaning.

I have never had problems with PetSmart feeders though, as long as I'm good about cleaning up dead things.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

If you don't want to lose the mealworms then transfer them and the substrate they're in to a tall plastic container (no need for a lid), smear Vaseline (or whatever brand of petroleum jelly you have handy) around the top and leave the tub somewhere dry and away from drafts, the Vaseline traps the mites that try to wander out to find somewhere moist enough to survive, the rest will eventually die off, I had to do this with my colony of baby mealworms as they were absolutely riddled with them.

As for your Ts, just dry out the enclosures or add springtails, I've never seen mites in an enclosure that houses them as a CUC.

 

[darkness975]

I have never had problems with PetSmart feeders though, as long as I'm good about cleaning up dead things.

@SkittleBunny What this lady said is the most likely case scenario here. Pet stores are not always the best at cleaning up their enclosures, and the grain mites likely infested the worms because of detritus and such being present in the enclosures.