Unusual mite problem

Satellite Rob

Arachnoangel
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I hope all of you don't think i'm crazy.But i'm very concerned about it since it's
Hardwickei.I have a Hardwickei that has grain mites.There only on cephalic
plate and on tergite 1 and 2.Thay are a very small mite that needs at least
25 power on my microscope to see them and at 40 power you can see them
really good.But thats not the problem.I set her on dry paper towel and will
usually take care of the mites in a couple of weeks.Now that I her on paper towel
i've been removing her turds with a tweezer from her container.Now hears
where it gets strange.I missed a couple of days of clean up and was removing the turds
and I noticed that some of the turds have a larger of mite type on some of
the turds.Thay look like the usual white mite that everyboby gets from time
to time.When I looked at them under the microscope I could see mites and
mite eggs.Now I looked at the other turds and I could see mites or mite eggs
on all of the turds.Now I waited for a fresh turd and when I found one it had
mite eggs to.So now I checked the turds of some of the other Hardwickei's
and about half of them have mites to.I've have never herd of a internal mite.
If anyone has herd,seen or have any iinfomation that might help.Please make
a post.The only good news is that thay don't seem to be causing any problems
with the Hardwickei.Thay are all eating great and acting normally.But now I know
that thay are there.I can't stop worrying.

PS:The mites are not born alive.There always start with eggs and take a couple
of days to hatch.
 
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Galapoheros

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I "think" I know what you're talking about. If it's what I think you're talking about, my guess has always been that this is how pedes get rid of uric acid, ..like snakes and birds, it will be white. In the pede turd lol, they are very small, white and look very round. I don't know if this is what the small round things are, it just made some sense to me and is my guess. It's been mentioned before in one or two older threads.
 

Elytra and Antenna

Arachnoking
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Mites are likely to feed on frass that has feeder insect parts. Mites move quickly and can find food easily. It's far more likely they walked to the food. The feeding form and the hypopus form of the same species look incredibly different.
 

Satellite Rob

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I will start by changing the paper towel and also change there container daily
until the mite problem is over.But the frass I collected was less than 2 minutes
after it was dropped and it went right to the microscope.The mite eggs were
there already.Not just on the outside.The egg were also in the center.Then I
placed the frass in a vial on moist paper towel without air holes.The eggs
hatched couple of days later into mites.I will be watching the S.Hardwickei
closely and the next time I see her defecate.I will immediately remove and
put under the microscope.Then place in a clean new vial on moist paper
towel and hope for different results.I will post the results of this experiment
when I have them.
 
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szappan

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I know it's practically impossible since you're viewing all this under a microscope, but it'd be great to see some pics so that I (and perhaps others) know what to look for – I've never had to deal with mites.

Regardless, good luck with your experiments and I hope the 'pede will be alright.
 

Lucas339

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i have something similar happening with my millipedes. i have one pede that has mites all over its legs. these mites are small and almost colorless. after discovering these, i went through the rest of my collection. i found that none of the others had the clear mites on their legs but all of them had larger white mites all over the cucumbers in their tubs. i had cucumber and lettuce in each tub and they were only on the cucumber.
 

skips

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i have something similar happening with my millipedes. i have one pede that has mites all over its legs. these mites are small and almost colorless. after discovering these, i went through the rest of my collection. i found that none of the others had the clear mites on their legs but all of them had larger white mites all over the cucumbers in their tubs. i had cucumber and lettuce in each tub and they were only on the cucumber.
That could be a bit different however. Im not sure about all millipedes but the species ive had experience with carry a phoretic species of mite which, by definition, are not parasitic. They "hop a ride" on you millipede to get to a food source. Usually if you see mites and they're not congregating at the joints of your animal and are moving, its more likely that they are not hurting your animal. at least not directly. I encourage anyone with more experience to agree or disagree.

As for the OP....im still not sure what OP stands for but i'm pretty sure it means the person that posted the thread. anyway, there are such things as endoparasitic mites. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3223339 I would agree that the most likely explanation is that the mites walked to the doo doo, but your evidence is very interesting.
 

Lucas339

Arachnobaron
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i know of the hitch-hiker mites and these are not them. the hitch-hikers are brown in color, these are white and are only on the food. the parasitic form of the mite is clear.
 

skips

Arachnobaron
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i know of the hitch-hiker mites and these are not them. the hitch-hikers are brown in color, these are white and are only on the food. the parasitic form of the mite is clear.
hmm...maybe try H. miles and see if that works. I've heard it suggested several times but only a few people doing the suggesting have actually used them.
 

presurcukr

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I know it's practically impossible since you're viewing all this under a microscope, but it'd be great to see some pics so that I (and perhaps others) know what to look for – I've never had to deal with mites.

Regardless, good luck with your experiments and I hope the 'pede will be alright.
well i just got back from viewing Satellite Rob's pede's frass under the microscope and 100% sure that what i saw was Eggs in and on the frass don't know what type of mite or parasite could lay eggs in and on the frass that fast unless it was internal is there any internal parasite that pass eggs from peeds??
 

beetleman

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yup, saw it also,he came into my work,i saw it also it's very strange,the eggs were in the feces,it lookslike they were internal,the centie crapped out the feces,and the eggs were in the feces:? never saw anything like this,maybe some internal parasite? don't know.
 

Galapoheros

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Are they "snow" white? I guess you don't have the equipment there to get any pics? I can't wait to see pics of the turd! I've seen something that sounds like what you're describing, hard to imagine what's being looked at without pics.
 

Satellite Rob

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Hi Pete and Rob,
Today I watch a S.Hardwickei defecate and was waiting with tweezers to
retrieve it.It was not on the freshly changed dry paper towels for more than
5 seconds before I picked it up.Then put on my microscope and checked the
frass for eggs.The were eggs in the frass.The same as it was in 20 different
frass I checked before.I have never found a live mite on a fresh frass yet.It
takes a few days for them to hatch.Then you find hundreds of lemon shaped
mites.You can see there body,head,legs and spinnerets.Were are these eggs
coming from.I thought mites need air to survive.All 12 S.Harwickei's are doing
great.All of them ate today and don't suffer from any problems from the mites.
I'm going to start checking the frass from other pede species to see if other
are carrying mites to.If you have a microscope please check your pedes and
post your results.I'm posting a picture so you can see what i'm talking about.
You have to bring up the magnification to 400%.But you can clearly see them.
Thanks Pete,Rob.Phil and Joe for thanking the time took look and lend some
help today.Everybody must think i'm nuts to take the time to look at frass.
I bet if other people took the time to use a microscope and to look.Thay
might find similar results.I can't be the only guy that looks at this kind of stuff.
If anybody would like a sample to check out and document these findings.
Either PM,email or make a post and ask for it.I would be happy to send it to
you.I hope to have better pictures tomorrow.Because my friend Phil took
some better pictures today and I hope to have them emailed to me tomorrow.
 
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lilmoonrabbit

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As for the OP....im still not sure what OP stands for but i'm pretty sure it means the person that posted the thread. anyway, there are such things as endoparasitic mites. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3223339 I would agree that the most likely explanation is that the mites walked to the doo doo, but your evidence is very interesting.
:) OP stands for original poster, so you are correct
 

Lucas339

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any way you can put these aside and let them hatch out to make sure they are mites?

i know you said you see the eggs and then the mites come but i don't think any mites can be an internal thing. IMO i think the mites are living in the soil and are eating the frass.

it would be interesting to hatch these out in a sterile container.

i have millis and i will check their feces. i have seen similar mites.
 

Galapoheros

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That's a good idea. Another prob is that once it hits the dirt, maybe 100s of microscopic mite eggs stick to it, eggs so tiny you can't see at all with the naked eye, so it may look like they hatch out of the round white balls in the frass. Seems like those white balls in the frass would be way too big to be mite eggs, but I can't look at any pics, lol I know it's frustrating to you Rob.
 

Oasis Inverts

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yup, saw it also,he came into my work,i saw it also it's very strange,the eggs were in the feces,it lookslike they were internal,the centie crapped out the feces,and the eggs were in the feces:? never saw anything like this,maybe some internal parasite? don't know.
Yeah very strange when Rob sent me the pic's last night I was in ahhhhh I have never seen mite eggs or even heard of internal parasites inside of another invertebrate Rob you may have sutmbled apon a great discovery....The discovery of internal parasites inside centipede poop!

Only you Rob to notice mite eggs in pede poop!!!!!


Later brother
 

Satellite Rob

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Hi Galapoheros,
I watched her drop her load and picked it up in less than 5 seconds.Even if
she droped the frass on a group of mites.The mites can't lay hundreds of egg
in less than a minute.Plus I never found a live mite on a fresh frass yet.For
the last month i've been keeping 5 different S.Hardwickei's on dry paper
towels without a water dish.Thay have not been on any substrate other than
paper towel for more than a month.I put a water dish in with them once
every 2 days for an hour.So thay can drink and then I remove it.I change the
paper towel once a day and change there containers with a clean 196 oz. -
9.75"x8" deli's.There is no way any mite is going to crawl on the frass.I have
been feeding them 2 crickets a day.I get my cricket from Ghanns cricket farm
once a week.I clean and wash my cricket tub every time I get new crickets.
1 day a week I feed them silk worms and another day I feed them roaches.
I like to vary there food as much as possibly.I don't like to feed them the
same food every day.Once a month I feed then frozen pinky's.I soak them in
warm water to thaw them.Then I pick them up with tweezers.Then I tap them
on the head a couple of times with the pinky and thay grab it.All 12 of my
S.Hardwickei's will eat frozen pinky's.Let me get back on topic.So I don't
know were these mite eggs are coming from.There not coming from there
food or there environment.I have 3 frass cultures i'm timing to find out exactly
how long it takes the mites to hatch.I'll post the results when thay all cultures hatch.
I've been trying to do this as scientificly as possibly from my home.I have
been keeping records.But still some people think i'm going crazy.Now i'm going
to repete myself again.The frass never has live mites on it.The frass only has
eggs.There not coming from the substrate.Because there being kept on bone
dry paper towel without a water bowl.I have not found a mite in any of the 5
containers and i've been checking with a strong magnifying glass daily.Where
are these mite eggs coming from.The only thing keeping me sane.Is that it
doesn't seem to be harming the S.Hardwickei's at all and thay eat anything
you give them.
 
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Lucas339

Arachnobaron
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wow thats crazy rob. keep us posted on the hatching of the eggs.
 
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