Need to vent alittle

I just spent the last 3 hours cleaning my 4 T encloses.
NOT A HAPPY CAMPER...:evil:

I came home and was looking around with a flash light and noticed what looked to be lint but it was moving so now i start to check out the rest of the Ts, sure enough two others have have them too. I'm freaking out at this point so i take all the Ts out and put them in temporary containers. i tried to nuke them but after 5 minutes i still seen them so cleaned out all the substrate out and blasted everything with hot water, put all cork bark in the microwave for 5 minutes put new coco and put all the Ts back.

So i take that they are some kind of mite, really tiny white speck with legs. I looked over all my Ts and didnt see anything on them but still kinda worried about the whole thing. I normally keep them dry but for some reason i over filled the water bowls on friday after i feed them, not sure if this was the cause or not but i did a search on mites but still not sure if i did the rite thing or not??

one other thing noticed white specks on the crickets, looks like they were put into calcium dust but i know that they havent? is this where its coming from?

Throw the crickets out... they are no good to you anymore. Is the cricket enclosure moist? Mites need moisture and food to bloom. If you dry out your enclosures they will go away. Cleaning up extra food left overs will help too. They are always around it seems, it just takes the right conditions for them to pop up in numbers.

wow that sucks so much!!!
id deffinetly be raging.

Kloster said:

wow that sucks so much!!!
id deffinetly be raging.

Click to expand...

I hate ripping the webs down. and just sitting here watching them now, all stressed trying to find a safe spot to hide.

Hamburglar... No sign of the things i seen in the Ts containers in with the crickets, i do have a breeding bucket in with the crickets that is moist but whats on the crickets looks different..

I checked a plant i have on a table under the shelf where i keep the Ts and they were crawling around that too.. Thats long gone.

Are you sure these were harmful mites? Since you mentioned that they weren't on your Ts, I'd lean towards them not being of the harmful variety. There are many many different species of mites and only a small percentage will harm your Ts.

That being said, there are far easier ways to get rid of mites that don't involve ripping everything apart, drying out your enclosures, tossing feeders (although this isn't a bad idea), etc. If you can find a local source for the Hypoaspis Miles mite. These predatory mites will not harm your Ts but will feed on the bad mites. I've used these in my spider room and they are extremely effective. Take a look at the distributor link below and find one close to you to order.

http://www.appliedbio-nomics.com/distributor_links.html

I ordered 1L (25,000) H. Miles mites and used just over 1/4 of the canister to treat my entire collection.

I tried nuking the set-ups but after 5 mins in the microwave i still found a few crawling around so i just started fresh. had a good look this morning and every thing looks to be ok so far. I did have a house plant close by and it may have came from that so thats gone, as far as the crickets go i dont see anything in the bin that i keep them in and i clean that thing out every other day. I did have a shallow bucket in with them for egg laying but took that out and set up a incubator.
What i am seeing on the crickets looks like tiny white specks and only can see it with a bright light. i think i will just let everything sit for a week or so to dry out, and skip this weeks feeding. Thanks everybody.

Probably springtails. They thrive on dead decaying food souces with moisture present.

H. Miles mites also eat springtails, by the way.

sinflspeed said:

Probably springtails. They thrive on dead decaying food souces with moisture present.

Click to expand...

sinflspeed said:

Probably springtails. They thrive on dead decaying food souces with moisture present.

Click to expand...

Agreed. Almost certainly springtails (Collembola). Not something to worry about. If anything, they may indicate a little too much moisture or decaying food. They will not harm the tarantula.

Sathane said:

Are you sure these were harmful mites? Since you mentioned that they weren't on your Ts, I'd lean towards them not being of the harmful variety. There are many many different species of mites and only a small percentage will harm your Ts.

That being said, there are far easier ways to get rid of mites that don't involve ripping everything apart, drying out your enclosures, tossing feeders (although this isn't a bad idea), etc. If you can find a local source for the Hypoaspis Miles mite. These predatory mites will not harm your Ts but will feed on the bad mites. I've used these in my spider room and they are extremely effective. Take a look at the distributor link below and find one close to you to order.

http://www.appliedbio-nomics.com/distributor_links.html

I ordered 1L (25,000) H. Miles mites and used just over 1/4 of the canister to treat my entire collection.

Click to expand...

I just want to say that this is awesome information. I want to thank you for posting this. Its very hard to find information on how to get rid of mites. I haven't experienced them yet and hopefully wont have to.

Thanks. This is by far the easiest way I've found. I've done the frantic cleaning method and didn't like it much but though it was a necessity. Now that I've used these mites I'll never go back.
I ordered from a company in Stevensville, Ontario (about 200 miles from me) The canister arrived with next day shipping once they sent it. I treated my enclosures that day and the next day there was no sign of bad mites.
Total cost, including shipping, was about $54 CDN (So about $3 USD .

biomarine2000 said:

I just want to say that this is awesome information. I want to thank you for posting this. Its very hard to find information on how to get rid of mites. I haven't experienced them yet and hopefully wont have to.

Click to expand...

Thanks for all the info guys, I will defiantly be using the Hypoaspis Miles mite next time. All the encloses look good though, no sings of any creepy crawlers so thats good. The Ts are fine and still rebuilding and decorating their homes. my C. fimbriatus is just about done with its set-up, I got to say this T is amazing when it comes to webbing, it started about an hour after i put her back in and she has got tunnels every where and dug a burrow that has 3 holes that lead to it.