Aaahhhh! Mites

[Dan99]

Hi, I have just seen lots of white dots movin around soem old food. It is my fault for not taking the remains out. I have but the penultimate male A. Metallica in a cricket tub on it side for now. I cant see any on the spider but is there any thing I can spray on him. I will disinfect the tub later.

[Simon M]

Your best bet is to thouroughly clean out the enclosure and replace the substrate before re introducing it back in. Mites can be a prob now and again, how about getting some woodlice etc in as tank custodians?

[ph0bia]

Originally Posted by Dan99

Hi, I have just seen lots of white dots movin around soem old food. It is my fault for not taking the remains out. I have but the penultimate male A. Metallica in a cricket tub on it side for now. I cant see any on the spider but is there any thing I can spray on him. I will disinfect the tub later.

As stated, clean the tank thoroughly. Any on the tarantula will eventually starve, die and drop off.

[GRB]

If these are small (>2mm) dots then they are most probably a safe species of soil mite.

Unless they are actually on the spider I'd leave them be; they will eat detritous matter within your cage. If you can get a half decent photo of them I'll try to ID to family, which is enough to tell if they are likely to be attacking your spider or not.

[Dan99]

Originally Posted by GRB

If these are small (>2mm) dots then they are most probably a safe species of soil mite.

Unless they are actually on the spider I'd leave them be; they will eat detritous matter within your cage. If you can get a half decent photo of them I'll try to ID to family, which is enough to tell if they are likely to be attacking your spider or not.

I would try but I havent got a fancy camera yet. Sooo I cant But any way I wont chance it and I will find some woodlice. Can they be normal garden woodlice or tropical woodlice?

[Poxicator]

"wooooo there leslie"
There's loads of info available in previous posts about this so I'll be succinct:

They are not predatory mites
They don't harm your tarantula, even if they are on them
They are hitch hikers
Dry the enclosure out and they'll die
REMOVE ALL DEAD FOOD
Renewing your whole enclosure and cooking, disinfecting, burning, nuking, napalming etc. is totally pointless.
They will come back again.

Garden woodlice are likely to carry things that can be harmful to your tarantula. You need to quarantine these for 2 weeks prior to introducing as they'll secrete anything bad into the new enclosure. Tropical woodlice and springtails are good combatants

[garlicpickle]

Pete or Grant, can you please do a thread on mites and get it stickied so people stop panicking everytime they see something in their enclosure?

[GRB]

Originally Posted by garlicpickle

Pete or Grant, can you please do a thread on mites and get it stickied so people stop panicking everytime they see something in their enclosure?

I'll see if I can draft something in the next few days, it does seem to be a bit of a mass-panic instigator recently.

[Dan99]

Hi, Could some one link me for a website where I can buy predatory mites!

[ph0bia]

Originally Posted by Poxicator

"wooooo there leslie"
There's loads of info available in previous posts about this so I'll be succinct:

They are not predatory mites
They don't harm your tarantula, even if they are on them
They are hitch hikers
Dry the enclosure out and they'll die
REMOVE ALL DEAD FOOD
Renewing your whole enclosure and cooking, disinfecting, burning, nuking, napalming etc. is totally pointless.
They will come back again.

Garden woodlice are likely to carry things that can be harmful to your tarantula. You need to quarantine these for 2 weeks prior to introducing as they'll secrete anything bad into the new enclosure. Tropical woodlice and springtails are good combatants

In spite of it being utterly informative, I do giggle at your posts, Pete... I'm not sure if it's Alex smiling at me from your user pic or the general wording. Great info. I learnt something. Again, makes you wonder why the GUIDE goes on about "DO THIS OR YOU WILL GET MITES!!!!!111!!!one!!!" so much...

Originally Posted by garlicpickle

Pete or Grant, can you please do a thread on mites and get it stickied so people stop panicking everytime they see something in their enclosure?

Yes please, that would be so many types of awesome.