- Joined
- May 28, 2006
- Messages
- 375
as the title says, witch are good and witch are bad??
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.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.
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.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.