Yet another mite thread

[Jeff_C]

Help!

Last night I took a close look at my L. parahybana's water dish, before cleaning and refilling, and I noticed a bunch of light grey specs in the water. I took a look under a microscope (too small to see with a magnifying lens) and saw a moving creature with at least 3 pairs of legs, another set of leg like appendages, and a longish trunk-like head. I assume these to be mites. I immediately cleaned the enclosure and changed the substrate to relatively dry (no water added) peat/verm. Of course, I also checked the other Ts and found like 5 similar specs in my T. blondi’s water which I promptly also took care of. I couldn’t find any on the Ts themselves which I consider to be good news.

Ok now the question: Are mites just part of the system and I am going for containment or are they an anomaly and I should be going for eradication? In either case, since the changing of substrate must be stressful to the Ts, I am going to go for the suggested film canister trap in every medium/large enclosure. I just wanted to know if some mites are expected…

Once last question: Can mites jump? Or would a simple sticky (Vaseline) barrier prevent transmission (assuming that I clean the tongs between cleaning each cage).


Jeff


FYI, I am almost positive they only started when I fed a fuzzy to the L. parahybana. For this reason, and the odor, I will never do that again…

 

[TheWidowsPeak]

my advice would be to move the T's into a new enclosure and let there tanks dry out. Usually a few hours with a blowdrier works

 

[skadiwolf]

well, honestly, i don't think they're mites.

those typically have completely round bodies. picture a tick and now make it much, much smaller.

that's basically a mite.

you sound like there's something in there, but i'm not sure what they might be.

 

[Wade]

I'm guessing that these are springtails, a type of primtive insect. If they are, they're basically harmless scavangers. Keeping your cages drier will keep the population down.

Wade

 

[sunnymarcie]

Is this your pest...?
If it is, you have springtails and no real worries

 

[Jeff_C]

That's pretty close but the 'insect' i saw was rounder (mite-like). I should also mention that I could see through it (translucent).
Also, I guess I need to see if the ones I found exist other than in the water. Is the springtail only found in water?

And just how big is a mite? and how fast (or slow do they move)? that might help too.


Thanks all for the input.

Jeff

 

[sunnymarcie]

There are many types of springtails.
They hop or jump and usually are found in potting soil.
They ended up in the water by accident.
Springtails love a moist environment.
Mites are small and usually white or red in color and like
a moist location to. Some mites prefer it dry though(spider mites)
Mites run or scatter when you try to squish 'em
Check the T really good and keep the tank on the dry side.
That should take care of any pests.
Pests are pain in the @$$!!

 

[Jeff_C]

that they are. Whatever these are they are not very mobile (at least in the water).

Tonight, I will search the other enclosures for any signs of pests. Again I saw nothing on the Ts themselves and since the L. parahybana is sooo dark right now anything light in color would stand out.

Thanks for the help.

Jeff

 

[sunnymarcie]

her is a mite
Again one of many types!

Let us know how everything works out

 

[Jeff_C]

Darn. That's it exactly! I couldn't find a picture that matched that well. Thanks.

Ok back to question #1. How much should I care? I mean if I dry out everyone's substrate should I be ok in general with whatever mites survive or should I change the substrate in every cage at once?


Thanks, again.

Jeff

 

[sunnymarcie]

If you can see large amounts of them alive change it.
If not, just drying the tank out should work.
I'm pretty good at finding things with a good enough description I'm pretty good at it because I keep orchids
and tons of other types of plants to, not just T's & millies.
I'm glad that we figured out your problem pretty quick.

 

[pixi14369]

Call me a genius...but I just had an infestation of somesort, not sure if it was mites or springtails..but didnt feel like taking a chance with my H. Lividum...but anyway...i decided to try to kill them off and i took my cobalt out and set my sun lamp on the substrate and they disapeared for a while, but then just last night i was looking...and between all of the baby crikets a few bettles i threw in as scavengers and the little tiny white things along with some other white things a bit bigger than th e tiny ones...the whole cage was filled with them at the edges..and they would be attracted to my flash light....they would jump around at it...so i decided to get my cobalt out of there.....(that was a fun endevor ...and now she is in a nice dryer enclosure and i ofcourse am watching for hitchiking mites..but anyway...the reason i started this post was because when i took my terrerium out to clean it....i turned it upside down to get the soil out and some stuck to the bottom..i I lightly tapped on the bottom of the glass...and BAM!!!! the <EDIT> thing shattered under my hand....<EDIT>!!! I barely touched it!!! Oh well....just a little advice if there is anything stuck to the bottom of your glass "cage", just spray it out...

 

[Sean]

Well i have had mite problems and i have a couple of questions, where do they come from exactly i never have seen anyone post where they actully come from do they live in the tank alwayz???or do they live around your house and go and get into the T cage when they sense its moist in there, do they live on us??? i mean if there living or around yur house i wonder if there on everyone we just cant feel see them??? and whats the real danger of them??? can they kill your T?? or do they just stress them out or what i dont get it??

 

[NightCrawler]

I also have a question. When mites accour do they just pop up in massiv numbers?

 

[sunnymarcie]

I'd say the most likely place they come from is the food source.
I raise my own food critters and I have not had a mite problem with them
Not long ago, my A. avic had mites, it was WC (wild caught)
I think it may have had them when I purchased it.
Mites can also come from potting soil or any other item you
put in the tank, cork bark and things like that.

 

[Sean]

Originally posted by sunnymarcie
I'd say the most likely place they come from is the food source.
I raise my own food critters and I have not had a mite problem with them
Not long ago, my A. avic had mites, it was WC (wild caught)
I think it may have had them when I purchased it.
Mites can also come from potting soil or any other item you
put in the tank, cork bark and things like that.

Thank you for clearing that up, are there any real dangers having mites on your T's though i mean it bothers me when i have little creaturs on my animals like before my boxer passed it had ticks, ticks can carry diseases and stuff like that do mites do the same thing or are they pretty much harmless???

 

[Jeff_C]

Well. I got home today and there were nothing in the L. parahybana's water today BUT there was a little party going on in the T. Blondi's water dish. I had changed the water but not the substrate last night (I felt she was about to molt ... see post on that).

I guess I will be building some mite traps and drying things out for a while. So much for overpouring to maintain humidity.

If any one knows how many are too many please post.


Jeff

 

[sunnymarcie]

The only problem with mites that I know of, is with a
molt. They can injure the T. The mites are usually groomed
off by the T also.

Anyone else have an opinnion on this?

 

[Jeff_C]

YIKES!!!!! The only T enclosure I didn't clean thoroughly is the one containing my T Blondi and she just started molting.

Now I'm really not going to get any sleep tonight.

Jeff


BTW, here's what mite pool party looks like:

see the butterfly shape floaties.