unwanted guests

[vincent winyard]

hi everyone. i was doing the daily checks on the gang tonight changing waters and feeding when i noticed two tiny critters in my rosa's water. at closer inspection i found them all over the place in her tank so i got her out straight away and cleaned her tank out thoroughly. i made sure i disposed of the contaminated substrate as to avoid them getting to the other tanks. i have checked the other tanks with a torch as that was the only way of seeing them if they were there thankfully the rest were clear so i only had to upset one spider. i dont know what caused the problem or what they were all i can say is these critters were tiny and they didn,t seem to make any attempt to fly. at first i thought it might have something to do with the warm weather lately but there's no sign of any problems in the other tanks hopefully problem solved. has anyone else had this trouble when the weathers like this cheers.

[Craig Mackay]

Probably not too much to worry about Vincent. They'll likely just be mites or springtails. As long as the numbers don't get too high you shouldn't have too many problems.

[Stanley A. Schultz]

hi everyone. i was doing the daily checks on the gang tonight changing waters and feeding when i noticed two tiny critters in my rosa's water. ... has anyone else had this trouble when the weathers like this cheers.

Sorry to hear about your problem. I hope you were quick enough to save the tarantula.

If you're keeping the substrate damp, even a small portion of it around the water dish, you're likely to have trouble with mites. (As someone else stated, possibly also springtails.) And, after a long, cold winter the little @#$%^ will go on a breeding frenzy that puts rabbits and houseflies to shame as the days begin to grow longer and the temperatures moderate.

It's part of life in a tarantula's cage. To avoid this in the future you should seriously consider performing a preemptive cleaning of all your cages during late winter (perhaps February), and generally keep all of them dry unless you have a specific reason for dampening the substrate.

And, in the rare cages that you keep damp, check for mites once a week.

BTW, Chilean roses are dry desert tarantulas. Keep them in a bone dry cage with only a water dish and you should never have this problem with them again.

It sounds like you may have things more or less under control, but you might want to read the following anyway -

www.ucalgary/~schultz/roses.html

www.ucalgary/~schultz/mites07.html

Cheers, and best of luck.

[vincent winyard]

thanks for that craig. i did a complete clean out and checked the others so the problem should be solved thanks again.

[vincent winyard]

hi stanley i dont think my rosa's come to any harm as i did a complete clean out as soon as i noticed the mites. thanks for the info it does make sence to clean out properly at the end of the winter i'll keep that in mind. thanks again stan.

[Phil Rea]

If you're keeping the substrate damp, even a small portion of it around the water dish, you're likely to have trouble with mites. (As someone else stated, possibly also springtails.) And, after a long, cold winter the little @#$%^ will go on a breeding frenzy that puts rabbits and houseflies to shame as the days begin to grow longer and the temperatures moderate.

Likely to have trouble with mites even if you have a small portion of the substrate around the water dish damp? A bit overzealous there I think Stan!

Worry if you see a lot of mites actually on your spider Vincent, but I suspect that the creatures you saw weren't mites, or if they were then they were soil dwelling. They were most likely springtails as Craig mentioned

Personally I don't completely clean out my spiders unless I have absolutely no alternative whatsoever. Mind you, a great many of mine are fossorial.

[Mark Harrison]

Vince, i totally understand how unnerved you are to see these mites(?). I have had a small breakout (1-2 mites) in one tank which suddenlt spread to two other cages. Even when i dried my cages out to bone dry they still persisted and i have just had a complete clean out of the cage. Some people went so far as to question my cleaning habits and my ability to keep tarantula's, yet i know full well i keep a tight cleaning schedule and i still get them.

Although i personally believe that the outbreaks were from two seperate cricket tubs (conjecture) its still non the less worrying.

[vincent winyard]

hi phil. i did check the spider with a magnifying glass and she is all clear.but the only reason i cleaned the tank out was to totaly be rid of the problem.i understand what you say about cleaning tanks out but this was my first real concern and i couldn,t think of any other way to deal with it. anyway thank's for your help phil.

[vincent winyard]

hi there mark. like phil said as far as cleaning tank's are concerned they should be done as little as possible but saying that there's so many opinions on this subject. i guess it's down to the individual. as far as people go about your ability to keep t's there's always something new to learn so dont take it to heart. the members on this site are so helpfull when you need help someone will always have the answers to any problems or questions you might have. thanks for your reply mark i hope your problems sorted. if not you might have to start from scratch with all your tanks good luck.