witch mites are good, and witch bad??

as the title says, witch are good and witch are bad??

i read that the white ones are bad, and the brown darker ones are good.

allso how do i get rid of them?

Put your "mited" pede for a few days in a dry tank with a water filled bottlecup.

Hi

Buy Hypoaspis miles and they will kill the bad mites and will die when there is no more "food"!

Greets
Andi

I think the witch of the west is bad, and the witch of the north is good.

what eals can i do to help them??

This is an area of much debate. I’ve been on a mission to get to the bottom of the issue and have yet to find a definitive answer. There are some factors which make this a difficult issue. 1. There are many different species of host specific millipede mites (even a good number of new species). 2. Even mite experts know very little of their ecology and feeding habits. I’m sending some of my mites off for an ID. I’ve attached a pic of a mite from my millipedes for your enjoyment (mite is little over 1mm).

As for Hypoaspis miles.. these eat soil dwelling mites.. I tried them myself and they do not eat the large red mites (didn’t eat mine at least). There are other predator mites that I’m looking into.

I've had years of bad mite experiences before I found this site. I didn't think there were other people that cared. I didn't know the bad mites could be controlled. Here's what I've found out for myself. Most of the time when you get bad mites, you get them from mealworms at the commercial pet stores. I can see them with my naked eye. Thousands of them. When you open a container of mealworms and you see some shriveled up dead ones....beware of mites!!!! I don't buy mealworms from any store anymore. Try to find a specialty store that raises their own crickets. Or, try to raise your own. There is also a mite I've seen in the sub that moves slow and is white but they don't attack my critters. Then there is another one that will destroy your collection. They look allot alike...white and slow moving. But the one that feeds on the decaying stuff in the soil is a little bigger and moves just a little faster. But the color is the same as the ones that will attach themselves to and suck the life out of your animals. I received a centipede in the mail that has the murdering mites. I noticed it immediately once I opened the container. Starting April 16, 2006, I isolated it and put it on nothing but plastic with a cap of water. It still has mites!!! But not as many. I'm not giving up. The "no sub" seems to slowly be working. But it is taking much longer that I thought it would. I think there is some ID confusion here. I am wondering if these murdering mites DO need soil or do they not....(?).

Edit...this is my experience with mites and predatory type arthros..Vinegarones, centipedes, scorps. I don't have any exp with mites and millipedes.

well thear are the ones in the pic above, and some smaller white ones..

What are the small, white, fast moving mites? They look a little more "leggy" than your average mite, almost spider-like. I've always assumed they were predatory.
I've found some of these in my assassin bug colony. I just figured they were feeding on springtails.

Diplopod,
The mite you have pictured ARE the good ones and no they are bigger than the bought pedatory mites and are symbiotic with the millipedes. The powder like white mites are the BAD ones and the H. mites do help with them.
Hasn't there been enough threads about this already.

I agree there are white non-host specific mites which are clearly bad, that H. miles should help with.. but my quest is specifically on large millipede host specific mites.. these mites rarely, if ever, leave the millipede. Also, it appears to me that the adult mite is red/brown, but the immature mites are white, thus adding confusion to the issue. Most feel that these host specific mites are commensal or symbiotic, however I’ve been unable to locate any information from a scientific source which truly confirms this. I’ve spoken with two scientists who’s main focus is mites, one of which has done quite a bit of work on millipede mites.. and they can not provide a definitive answer as to the relationship of these mites to the millipede. Even if these mites are not parasitic, I’d be good to know if they are truly symbiotic, or just commensal.. because if they are of no real benefit to the millipede I’d still like to rid them.. since they clearly annoy the milli.

J Morningstart.. thank you for your post. I’d love to hear a more detailed account as to how you’ve come to this conclusion. I’m trying to truly nail down the details and sources for this view.

All right,I have one millipede I recently inherited and it has bad mites. I will try to get a pic soon. Of course I am going to start treating him soon as well so Hope fully they wont be around long.
The small mites seem to act much like the parasitic "scale" on plants. They seem almost completely immobile. They look like scales under the micrscope. I have seen them myself. I think they eat at the exoskeleton and espescially the soft parts of the face. They will eat at the millipedes leg to body sections and face till they get so numerous that, with great holes in the face,the millipede dies.
The other big mites may not be so benificial as they are oppotunustic, like the ramorea around sharks. Yes they are white before they are young, but, They move, quickly even. Unless they get to great proportion, they don't seem to bother me or the millipedes. You could bast a few off with a water pick or wet paper towle but unless their doing the freek out millipede dance I don't worry about them. Not a single mite has ever left a AGB and got on to my hand. But here is my big theroy. I think the big mite eat dead skin and clean around the mouth parts. That is why they turn the color of the exoskeletal hairs.
I have had millipedes since 97 and I have watched a lot of arachnopets come and go. Mites are with much regret no stranger to me.
there ya go...

Mites are very difficult to identify, even for scientists. But I think that a good hobbyist is able to see wich mites harm the animals. The color isn't always a good indication. The harmfull mites I encountered in the hobby are always attached to the host. Because they suck blood. The idea of symbiotic mites arised probably from the mites of the cockroach Gromphadorhina portentosa. Science has proven that the mites of G. Portentosa are symbiotic. They clean the cockroach and eat parasitic mites. When the mites haven't much to eat they feed from the saliva of the cockroach. So it is possible that millies has also such beneficial mites.

Predatory mites are very usefull to get the mites away. Mites also don't like a very dry environment. So to "de-mite" my animals I use a small, good sealing box and some silica-gel. I put the animal with some silica-gel in the box and then I seal the box. The silica-gel will absort all the water in the air and the mites let them fall from your animal. Unfortunantly this doesn't works for blood sucking mites.

Steven Gielis said:

Mites are very difficult to identify, even for scientists. But I think that a good hobbyist is able to see wich mites harm the animals. The color isn't always a good indication. The harmfull mites I encountered in the hobby are always attached to the host. Because they suck blood. The idea of symbiotic mites arised probably from the mites of the cockroach Gromphadorhina portentosa. Science has proven that the mites of G. Portentosa are symbiotic. They clean the cockroach and eat parasitic mites. When the mites haven't much to eat they feed from the saliva of the cockroach. So it is possible that millies has also such beneficial mites.

Predatory mites are very usefull to get the mites away. Mites also don't like a very dry environment. So to "de-mite" my animals I use a small, good sealing box and some silica-gel. I put the animal with some silica-gel in the box and then I seal the box. The silica-gel will absort all the water in the air and the mites let them fall from your animal. Unfortunantly this doesn't works for blood sucking mites.

Click to expand...

What discouraged me off and on for almost 20 years was infestations of the bloodsucking variety. Kind of like what Morningstar was describing. Very small and attach themselves like, well, like scale, like he said. They park and blood feed. I've seen them stay in the same spot until the next molt. Then, during the molt, they will detach and slowly make their way to the new exo of the animal, find a spot and park and feed again. I'm looking for the answer to this question.... Do the blood suckers need soil to reproduce? I know similar looking mites do but what about the blood suckers? This is the part of the topic that I'm suspicious of not being covered yet even in previous threads. I missed it if it was. And I wonder if some are speculating about eggs, bloodsuckers and soil....the blood suckers and reproduction....soil, or no soil? Anybody know for sure? I've got one infested pede. Been on plastic for 2 months. Still has the bloodsuckers. Sorry, I'm on the topic of centipedes but it my apply to the millies too. I don't like mites! I know the topics been hacked but... I think we're still learning about the little suckers.

Well I don't have an answer for the bloodsucking mites. Overhere they are the most terrible to. But if we think a bit about there habits I can suggest a few things. I think the bloodsuckers need probably some soil too because the little ones are generally to small to get there chelicerae true the exoskelleton of a scolo or millie. So they have to find there food elsewhere.

A possible explaination that your scolo still has mites is that they are still not fullgrown and do not reproduce jet. On millies I tried already to kill the bloodsuckers with a drop of alcohol 70%. This worked. But you musn't kill to many mites at once because it isn't to good for the millie to. This method is not so applicable for scolo's as they are to fast.

Steven Gielis said:

Well I don't have an answer for the bloodsucking mites. Overhere they are the most terrible to. But if we think a bit about there habits I can suggest a few things. I think the bloodsuckers need probably some soil too because the little ones are generally to small to get there chelicerae true the exoskelleton of a scolo or millie. So they have to find there food elsewhere.

A possible explaination that your scolo still has mites is that they are still not fullgrown and do not reproduce jet. On millies I tried already to kill the bloodsuckers with a drop of alcohol 70%. This worked. But you musn't kill to many mites at once because it isn't to good for the millie to. This method is not so applicable for scolo's as they are to fast.

Click to expand...

Yes, good point about the the young probably not having the mouth parts large enough or long enough to get to blood. I hadn't thought about that. The infested pede is away from everything else in another room. Man, once your stuff gets infested with this particular mite.....good luck! Thanks for the input.