So most of my collection had an heavy infestation of soil mites and now im on the point where if im REALLY looking i can find a few in/around enclosures. I belive that the answer to my question is pretty vague when i want to find out if its okey to have them because some say its okey in small numbers AND what to expect if im giving a spider away, do i then potentially “infect” someone else collection? I would be demolished if found out i was the cause of someone having the same battle i went through..
Soil mites
- Thread starter Ricki
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Search the forum, there are tons of threads on here about mites
I did, again the answer is very vague.
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Mites travel in many ways!
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Battle? True soil mites are obligate detrivores and harmless. But if you have an overpopulation of mites there may be other species. Some omnivores which can be irritating to animals and potentially some predatorial mites might get in on the playground.
Yes, you can infect neaby containments. Almost all species of mites may go into a swarming mode, usually caused by overpopulation and lack of food sources.
I get that they can be benificial if kept under controll but would someone get mad if i gave a spider away and some hitchikers follow along?
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It depends really, some mites may be harmless to your spiders, but decimate some specific other pets if introduced to a different collection.
It will heavily depend on the type of mite and even then they are so diverse there may be lookalikes that have very different needs.
so far we don't know if your "battle" was even neccessary, how they look, what type it could be, what they may be feeing on, etc. ....
unless you left out any losses they caused?
next to grain mites one of the most commonly found type are the kind of predatory mite that is used in agriculture as a pest control, they have likely been introduced to every continent and are some of the most likely to be introduced to a collection by hichhiking from one keeper to another every time animals are sold, traded or otherwise change hands
in this context you may be spreading beneficial mites that help keep the tanks clean of detritus and feces, or other mites for that matter.
and lastly positive and negative attributes are not mutually exclusive. They may be a good cleanup crew that happens to kill a type of micro snail or expensive rubber-ducky isopods, or some roaches. Or ones that explode in numbers and become a problem this way.
its hard to predict, but most mites are harmless
a friend of mine did have one major invasion of harmful mites that killed of some of his roach colonies.
considering the size and diversity of his invert collection it was quite lucky most inverts didn't seem to be negatively impacted by them. stopping the spread once they are conquering one terrarium/bin after another is almost impossible
this is always fun to check out:
www.chaosofdelight.org
It will heavily depend on the type of mite and even then they are so diverse there may be lookalikes that have very different needs.
so far we don't know if your "battle" was even neccessary, how they look, what type it could be, what they may be feeing on, etc. ....
unless you left out any losses they caused?
next to grain mites one of the most commonly found type are the kind of predatory mite that is used in agriculture as a pest control, they have likely been introduced to every continent and are some of the most likely to be introduced to a collection by hichhiking from one keeper to another every time animals are sold, traded or otherwise change hands
in this context you may be spreading beneficial mites that help keep the tanks clean of detritus and feces, or other mites for that matter.
and lastly positive and negative attributes are not mutually exclusive. They may be a good cleanup crew that happens to kill a type of micro snail or expensive rubber-ducky isopods, or some roaches. Or ones that explode in numbers and become a problem this way.
its hard to predict, but most mites are harmless
a friend of mine did have one major invasion of harmful mites that killed of some of his roach colonies.
considering the size and diversity of his invert collection it was quite lucky most inverts didn't seem to be negatively impacted by them. stopping the spread once they are conquering one terrarium/bin after another is almost impossible
this is always fun to check out:
All about soil mites - A Chaos of Delight
Mites, or Acari are arachnids, forming a large and important part of soil mesofauna. They are incredibly diverse and unusual animals, integral to soil health.
www.chaosofdelight.org
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Thank you for taking time to reply with such deph.It depends really, some mites may be harmless to your spiders, but decimate some specific other pets if introduced to a different collection.
It will heavily depend on the type of mite and even then they are so diverse there may be lookalikes that have very different needs.
so far we don't know if your "battle" was even neccessary, how they look, what type it could be, what they may be feeing on, etc. ....
unless you left out any losses they caused?
next to grain mites one of the most commonly found type are the kind of predatory mite that is used in agriculture as a pest control, they have likely been introduced to every continent and are some of the most likely to be introduced to a collection by hichhiking from one keeper to another every time animals are sold, traded or otherwise change hands
in this context you may be spreading beneficial mites that help keep the tanks clean of detritus and feces, or other mites for that matter.
and lastly positive and negative attributes are not mutually exclusive. They may be a good cleanup crew that happens to kill a type of micro snail or expensive rubber-ducky isopods, or some roaches. Or ones that explode in numbers and become a problem this way.
its hard to predict, but most mites are harmless
a friend of mine did have one major invasion of harmful mites that killed of some of his roach colonies.
considering the size and diversity of his invert collection it was quite lucky most inverts didn't seem to be negatively impacted by them. stopping the spread once they are conquering one terrarium/bin after another is almost impossible
this is always fun to check out:
All about soil mites - A Chaos of Delight
Mites, or Acari are arachnids, forming a large and important part of soil mesofauna. They are incredibly diverse and unusual animals, integral to soil health.
Im pretty sure they are benificial because they dont sit on the spider or any of the feeders, they are really small and brown and when i look at other posts they are described as soil mites by picture and behavior, if i spray water on the soil the appear or if i place a piece of cucumber they feed on it and i can remove it.. when i first saw them they where crawling on glass and out of vents and i got quite spooked but now they are pretty manageable bit not gone.
But will someone else consider it “manageable” or point fingers at me and and accuise me of ruining their collection.. Am i overracting? Im not a social hobbyist and im afraid to get marked in the hobby.