crawling white thing on my h. spinifer

reganngo

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
41
guys there are ''mites'' in my substrate but today when i handled my h.spinifer i noticed that a single small fast white thing is crawling my scorpion but when i blew the mite somehow dissapeared

the question is should i change the subtrate
or isolate my scorpion in a dry place even thou there are no mites in my scorpion just in the substrate



they are were fast and tiny white mites and love to swim in my shallow dish:wall:
 

Xaranx

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
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Aug 18, 2007
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1,057
Isopods are detrivores, they eat decaying organic matter like dead bodies and rotting wood, excrement, etc. They don't eat mites, but they can prevent infestations by cleaning up remains before you get mites. Once you have mites you need to find an alternate way of dealing with them. Isopods are bigger so they will outcompete the mites for food but it will take a long time to kill them all that way. You can buy predatory mites, that will eat the bad mites then die off when they are all gone. Or substrate change or bake it.
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
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Jul 4, 2005
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8,982
Kind of sounds like they are the harmless Springtails. Are they hopping around on top of the water in the dish? When they hop, it can look like they disappear. It's not that they like being on top of the water. They get caught in the meniscus(?) that forms on the surface of the water in the dish.
 

reganngo

Arachnopeon
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Nov 8, 2007
Messages
41
nope they are not hopping in the water they are swimming and they are extremely fast:wall:
 

Galapoheros

ArachnoGod
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Swimming and extremely fast ...The behavior sounds like Springtails to me. Are they on top of the water or swimming underneath? If they are in little bunches on top of the water, they are probably Springtails. A pic would be great.
 

Brandelmouche

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 13, 2005
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277
Swimming and extremely fast ...The behavior sounds like Springtails to me. Are they on top of the water or swimming underneath? If they are in little bunches on top of the water, they are probably Springtails. A pic would be great.
I agre, Springtails to me to.;) If it's comfirmed ? they are harmless for the scorp.
 

reganngo

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
41
yup they dont sit in the joints of my scorp they just love my wet substrate:D
 

K3jser

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
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Oct 25, 2007
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Then i dont see a reason to panic.. its proably springtails.. take a magnifying glass look at the tiny ones in your soil, then look at the pictures.. :D proably the same thing
 

Mr. Mordax

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 22, 2006
Messages
2,301
a single small fast white thing is crawling my scorpion
"Single," "white," and "fast" lead me to think predatory mites -- which are great, and I have them in all my tanks (no idea how they got there, but I'm not arguing).

If it bounces, it's springtails as has been mentioned -- also good (I even saw someone selling springtail colonies at a con last month).
 

K3jser

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 25, 2007
Messages
303
"Single," "white," and "fast" lead me to think predatory mites -- which are great, and I have them in all my tanks (no idea how they got there, but I'm not arguing).

If it bounces, it's springtails as has been mentioned -- also good (I even saw someone selling springtail colonies at a con last month).

predatory mites aint that does that allso cluster together in the joints of your scorp and can harm you scorp?
 

Mr. Mordax

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 22, 2006
Messages
2,301
The mites you speak of are the "bad" mites -- I believe sometimes called grain mites. Predatory mites are larger, run actively, and don't congregate in large numbers on small locations. Predatory mites eat things like that.
 

InfestedGoat

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Messages
342
Yeah i changed out my subsrate and I think it killed all of my Springtails.. :( No fun.
 
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