"tiny white bug" ID???

[Pacmaster]

Not sure what the trigger was, but yesterday and today I have noticed a huge population spike of the "tiny white bugs" . . .

There are literally millions of them on my roach enclosures.
I wipe them off every few hours, but they are always back.

They are not on the roaches themselves, just all over the tubs.

I have not done anything different lately that could be considered a trigger.

Im not in a panic, as they seem to be doing no harm to anything, but I do get kinda itchy when I look at them

Heres a pic of one that I stuck to clear tape, it is magnified 400x with a microscope.
With the naked eye, it seems that 10 of them could fit on the period at the end of this sentence . . .

Ill try to get some infestation pics and better microscope pics . . .

I am going to transfer the roaches and clean out the tubs tomoro, but it doesnt sound like fun, especially the bucket-full of lobsters.

I see these things explode like this from time to time, I just want to know what they are, and what triggers this spike.
We did get some biblical rains here on last Monday and Tuesday, so everything been damp/humid.

Actually, come to think of it, heres 2 things I did this last week . . .
1- I hydrated 4 bags of sphagnum moss for my frogs, but dont see any bugs on those tanks.
2- I brought a small handful of dead oakleaves from the yard in for my isopods and millipedes, but the leaves were eaten right away, and there are likewise no bugs on that tank either.

 

[Pacmaster]

Heres a much better pic, this thing is pretty wicked-looking . . .

What is it?

BillS

 

[Galapoheros]

They look like grain mites to me, the most common mite prob species in the hobby imo. When their food runs out, they attach to your arthropods(hypopus stage) for transfer or waiting for more food remains, ..veg and rotting bug parts. Do a search for grain mites and get much more info, or on Google. You most likely will never get completely rid of them but they can be controlled. But I've also seen a faster moving whitish mites in large numbers that move too fast to be the "problem" grain mites, could be those, I can't go any further than that.

 

[Pacmaster]

These things move fairly quickly, the one from that last pic was still alive on the tape, I waited for it to crawl into the frame, and by the time I saved the pic(2 clicks and a scroll) it was already past the frame.

My first thought is grain mites, but I think these are too small.
I got some pics in relation to a penny, just a sec . . .

 

[Pacmaster]

No, thats not just a pic of a penny, they are the tiny specks in front of it.

 

[Pacmaster]

Are soil mites different than grain mites?

 

[Bill S]

Excellent photos!! I got my wife to look at them too, and about all we can come up with is that they are mites. Beyond that... a bit outside my skills to identify. As long as they do not seem to be parasitizing your animals, probably nothing to worry about.

By the way - terms like "soil mites" and "grain mites" are pretty vague. Kind of like "bird spiders" and "baboon spiders" in the tarantula world, but even more so. There are many thousands of kinds of mites and many of the behaviors and feeding habits are outside the boundaries of the generic names (like "grain mites") that we give them. Even "parasite" doesn't tell much. There are mites that live on a particular part of a bird's feather - but do not necessarily cause any damage. Is that a parasite?

In spiders we've seen mites that attach to the spider only as a means of transportation. My wife photographed a variety of mite living in the web of a spider preying on the tiny animals (such as aphids) that get caught in the web but are too small for the spiders to eat. (These are classified as kleptoparasites.)

 

[Pacmaster]

Thankyou Bill!

As I said, I have NOT seen them on the animals themselves, just on the sides and top of the enclosures.
And I still am NOT panicking.

I guess Ill just keep wiping them off and hope the population levels off.

I am going to clean out the 2 affected bins- Latts and Lobsters . . . its gonna be a, umm, "fun" day!

 

[Matt K]

I like mites. Hate them in my roaches though, but do have several harlmess species that persist in my colonies.

They appear to me rather like what is commonly referred to as a "cellulose mite" that feeds mostly on decaying wood, leaves, paper, cardboard, or other plant matter and sometimes fungus.

Oribatid mites are what most people in the hobby may refer to as soil mites or "grain mite" though they are not really associated with grain products- and this one does not look like it by a long shot.

There are so many species of mites in our everyday lives it could freak someone out if they knew really how many mites they touched, consumed, or otherwise lived with every day.

I am trying to find out what species but could use a slightly larger photo of the "pointed end" and of the legs. If it were a predatory mite you would not have as many of them, but on the other hand if your roach colony were generating enough nemetodes in the substrate then you could have a mite that is feeding on the tiny nemetodes.

All in all if it is not harming the roaches I would not change anything. What I would do is look up Evergreen Growers supply and buy some predatory mites- they have two species- probably choosing Hypoaspis miles- and apply some of that in a generous fasion and see if your mite issues are not resolved. The plus is that H.miles are pretty carnivorous; not only opting to eat just about any other mite species but larval fungus gnats, nemetodes, larval springtails and other tiny soft bodies creatures. They may even migrate around the room feeding on any other potentially problematic mite or worm.

I need some research time with the pics you posted before I could say for sure what they are.

 

[Pacmaster]

Thankyou Matt, I will look into getting some of those predatory mites.

Take all the time you need . . .
Ill see if I can get an even better pic tonight, I could even tape some up and send them to you if you like . . .

Great info!

 

[Miss Bianca]

Truly fascinating, this topic..

 

[Galapoheros]

I don't have any grain mites, acarus sp, in my roach bins(some people call them carrion mites ..usually the same but may not always be, feeding on rotting things, ..usually round fat looking cream colored adults). I know there are 1000s of species but this is the type most people complain about in the hobby. I had some similar looking smaller, white, more fast moving mites that fit your description better, who knows what the species is, 1000s found on apple I put in with fruit flies. I put the apple in a roach bin and they were gone in a couple days too, that I could see anyway. I have predatory mites in my roach bins. They have been in my cages for 3 years. I finally found a lab that would take a look at them. They said they were 100% sure they are a species of hypoaspis mites, the lab said they didn't have time to narrow it down to species. So if anybody wants to try them out with their roaches, send me a PM.

 

[Pacmaster]

Im going to get the tape out right now . . .

Its hard to get them, cause if I press too hard with the tape, they smoosh, but not hard enough and they move on me, causing blurriness . . .

Lets see if I can do better at a headshot . . . be back.

 

[Pacmaster]

OK, I just spent the last 40 mins taking pics, and Im convinced that these 4 pics are the absolute best I can do . . .
Frankly, I been staring at this bug for so long, its creeping me out.

I will say, I do not see near as many today as I did over the weekend, Id go so far as to say they were relatively scarce.

The ones I did see turned this brownish color.

Its funny, I keep all my roach bins within inches of each other, and only 2 of them had the bugs.
Nowhere else in the room have I noticed them, and I have a ton of damp frog cages, and crested geckos.
The bugs were not even on the closest other roach bin/bucket.

So here is the best I can do with what I got . . .

And heres the bins, another bucket goes right next to the orange one, but its in the garage right now.
Only the missing bucket and the top left tub had the bugs, with lobsters in the bucket and latts in that tub.
And thats a coupla gecko cages above them, and not a bug on them . . .

 

[Galapoheros]

Looks like a diff species to me compared to the first pic, maybe the same but mature(?) (a guess), the brown one looks pred to me. They are usually brownish as adults and have longer front legs than non-pred species that they feel around with looking for other mites, those would be good ones if that's what it is. Non-preds have the shorter legs and are generally slower since they don't need to catch anything. Not that I know that is what you have there in the recent pic, it just has that look to me. Awesome pics too!

 

[Pacmaster]

That is the exact same specimen, for the light background I put the micrscope against the white wall, for the black bg I just help the scope up in the air.

The different BGs do make it look totally different, it took me a minute to figure that out.

The white wall reflected light back thru the bug, making it look light colored.

Now I start to wonder what would happen if I did this against a mirror . . .

I think this one is a mature of the same thing from yesterday.

Or, maybe this is a different, predatory mite . . .
Tho it moves in the same manner and at the same speed as all the others.
Shoot, now I gotta go see, you know how hard its going to be to get a white and a brown so close together on a piece of tape . . .

 

[Galapoheros]

Sorry, I was referring to and comparing your recent specimen to the first pic "in your thread". The first pic in your thread looks like a diff species to me than the specimen you recently posted. I realized your recent pics were of the same.

 

[Matt K]

Great photos! I wish I could take some micro pics- every time I think I am going to buy a good mircoscope something keeps coming up (taxes, car repair, etc.)

These last ones help for being able to see the front end alot. The first ones help because you can see where all the slimmer parts are that are not visible in the last 4. All worthwhile pics.

 

[Pacmaster]

Sorry, I was referring to and comparing your recent specimen to the first pic "in your thread". The first pic in your thread looks like a diff species to me than the specimen you recently posted. I realized your recent pics were of the same.

Yeah, that 1st pic in the trhead was of a bug that was taped on both sides and squished.

The others were me taking my time to try, and they kept getting better.


Matt, that usb microscope was only like $99 at Frys, the brand is Celestron.
The only thing it doesnt have is any kind of stand, itsa hand-held device.
And the camera is only like 3 or 4 pixels(I forget, but it aint much), but Im sure theres better ones out there.
It makes it difficult when the subject moves, as its hard to focus- patience . . .

 

[Galapoheros]

Yeah that's the way I understood it from the start. I've been looking into those USB micros, plan on getting one with a stand. Do you have to hold some still with your hand the whole time while taking pics? They seem to be gaining more and more resolution while the price is staying about the same.