Mites!

JustSomeDude

JustSomeDude

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 31, 2015
Messages
42
Hey guys unfortunately I had some pothos plants from home depot in a few of my setups including my P Metallica and now it appears I have MITES! NOOOOOOO! Anyhow they are very small and seem to stay on the moist coco fiber more so then the moss. Any ideas on how to get rid of them or should I just let everything dry out and see if they disappear? Thanks for the replies I appreciate it guys!
 
Ellenantula

Ellenantula

Arachnoking
Joined
Sep 14, 2014
Messages
2,009
Could they be springtails? Those are harmless but are often found with plants. A pix would help but gotta say -- it's often hard to photograph tiny mites or springtails....

Best of luck to you.
 
Thistles

Thistles

Arachnobroad
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
Messages
624
If they're round, they are probably mites. If they are shaped more like rice and they hop they are likely springtails. You can get rid of either by drying things out. Neither is likely to harm your tarantula as long as the numbers are kept down.
 
Mastigoproctus

Mastigoproctus

Centiman
Active Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2015
Messages
303
JustSomeDude said:
Hey guys unfortunately I had some pothos plants from home depot in a few of my setups including my P Metallica and now it appears I have MITES! NOOOOOOO! Anyhow they are very small and seem to stay on the moist coco fiber more so then the moss. Any ideas on how to get rid of them or should I just let everything dry out and see if they disappear? Thanks for the replies I appreciate it guys!
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If they love the moss they are more then likely springtails but again as the last person said, pix would help a lot. If they are springtails I say keep them, if not let it dry up. I notice mites usually are much harder to see then springtails typically.
 
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KcFerry

KcFerry

Arachnosquire
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
Messages
80
I've had small white mites appear a few times. Some were round, slow and likely some type of soil mite...the others I've dealt with are also tiny and oval... I would see them in the water bowl, sometimes jumping around.
All of these turned out to be harmless to the tarantula's and letting the enclosures dry out and removing all boluses has worked well in most enclosures, however, with my Haplo's and other humidity loving T's, I've treated the tanks with these guys. They make fast work of any other mites, then cannibalize each other.
As long as you don't see any on the tarantula's, they are likely harmless unless they get to overwhelming numbers.
 
JustSomeDude

JustSomeDude

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 31, 2015
Messages
42
Oh sweeeet fight fire with fire very cool if drying out the p Metallica cage doesn't do it I will order reinforcements !
 
ireleana

ireleana

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 8, 2015
Messages
43
Not sure about the mites but i personally would be careful of putting potted plants/soil from stores in your setup or substrate. Not only for pests but also they may treat them with pesticides. Not sure how fertilizers would be but thought I would mention it. I usually get some issues with my other 30 something house plants when bringing in store bought. I clone a lot of my plants. Pothos is very easy to grow so just take some cuttings, clean them off, and put them in a jar of water then put them by a window. They will root and then you have new plants :) Mine do great in my bathroom, higher humidity and filtered shady light.
 
JustSomeDude

JustSomeDude

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 31, 2015
Messages
42
yea I pulled every pothos plant in every enclosure I had them in. I am going to clone some and go from there at least I know there wont be any pesticides or mites for the most part. Thanks again guys!
 
ireleana

ireleana

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 8, 2015
Messages
43
JustSomeDude said:
yea I pulled every pothos plant in every enclosure I had them in. I am going to clone some and go from there at least I know there wont be any pesticides or mites for the most part. Thanks again guys!
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Yeah it sucks once you get a problem. I ended up getting spider mites among other things in some plants from bringing in store bought. Pain in the arse, I had about 80 plants at that point. I would tell anyone to just buy the plant they want, keep it quarantined and clone it if possible lol. Some you cant obviously though. I like my jades. Just pull a leaf and let it sit on the dirt. You can practically hack those up and they will grow plants from the pieces lol!
 
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