Will grain mites hurt eggsac yield?

[SkittleBunny]

I know they are harmless to a tarantula and even beneficial in small amounts but will they infest/eat an eggsac? Mitzy has an eggsac and some grain mites in her enclosure.

 

[RezonantVoid]

Not quite a tarantula, but I had a trapdoor of mine lay a failed eggsac that she only have completed but there still about 20 eggs or so. Grain mites absolutely swarmed the thing and there probably around 1000 on it counting babies in about 2 days. I ended up completely rehousing her.
Most tarantulas will make heaps of webbing around the eggsack though, so while I've experienced it's not impossible, the risk of grain mites getting into T eggsacks is probably not much to worry about since they'd get stuck on the webbing

 

[SkittleBunny]

Not quite a tarantula, but I had a trapdoor of mine lay a failed eggsac that she only have completed but there still about 20 eggs or so. Grain mites absolutely swarmed the thing and there probably around 1000 on it counting babies in about 2 days. I ended up completely rehousing her.
Most tarantulas will make heaps of webbing around the eggsack though, so while I've experienced it's not impossible, the risk of grain mites getting into T eggsacks is probably not much to worry about since they'd get stuck on the webbing

So I probably shouldnt rehouse her while she has the eggsac? I wish there was a way to divert mite attention from the eggsac to something else or get rid of them without upsetting the tarantula.

 

[Vanessa]

So I probably shouldnt rehouse her while she has the eggsac? I wish there was a way to divert mite attention from the eggsac to something else or get rid of them without upsetting the tarantula.

Place a condiment cup, with a little flour or oatmeal in it, in the opposite corner of the enclosure and they should opt for that instead. Empty it daily and replace it with fresh. Make it almost flush with the substrate in order for the mites to get into it easily.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Mites only eat decaying organic matter AFAIK so they'd probably only try to get into it if it went bad.

Don't rehouse, not only is there no need but there's a chance that she'll eat the sac.

Place a carrot chunk (or something that won't just turn to sludge) in a corner of the enclosure and replace every so often.

 

[Vanessa]

If you are not certain whether they are soil mites, or grain mites, put a dead cricket on one side of the condiment cup and a bit of flour on the other.

Grain Mites: https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef629

Grain mites are pests that can feed on a variety of processed or finely ground grains, wheat germ, yeast, cheese, powdered milk, flour, or mold spores. Under hot, humid conditions, very large populations of these tiny creatures can develop rapidly. Female grain mites lay up to 800 eggs on the surface of food materials.

Soil Mites: https://study.com/academy/lesson/soil-mites-identification-treatment.html

The Oribatei are oribatid mites have a turtle-like shell and eat algae, fungi, decaying plants, dead insects, and tiny live worms. These are the most common type of soil mite.

 

[SkittleBunny]

Well I tried the oatmeal cup thing, and this is what happened... Its hers now and I need to know how to take it away from her without pissing her off enough to hurt the eggsac. They are grain mites as I see them resting on small amounts of decaying bolus and they do like the cup as well. But Mitzy likes it too. Now what LOL