Double trouble! What should I do?

[Stephen jordan]

Hi all, I seem to have a double nightmare occuring.
1, I seem to have an outbreak of mites.
2, I seem to have had an escape of micro crickets.

Now both are in the same tank, no other tank seems to have suffered so I'm guessing it's because of the humidity?

So should I introduce some woodlice, or let it dry out some, or completely remove the spider and start a fresh new substrate? The spider in question is my H lividum, I do have a culture of springtails and woodlice at present.

[matthew spooner]

with that combination start again. take the lividum out and make sure there are no mites on her and empty the old substrate well away from where you keep your Ts so that none escape and re infest.

[Colin D Wilson]

The outbreak of micto crickets could have come from a female thet was uneaten before she managed to lay eggs, this is a bit of a pain really as they escape through the tinyest holes.
you could try drying the substrate out by increasing the temp a few degrees and see how that goes over a week or so (no water at all, and isolate the tank away from any other spiders just as a precaution)
as a last resort, like Matt says, start over .. bit drastic really but at least you'll know it's all in hand.
I'd definitely utilize your woodlice in spider tanks.

[Phil Rea]

The outbreak of micto crickets could have come from a female thet was uneaten before she managed to lay eggs, this is a bit of a pain really as they escape through the tinyest holes.

This happened to me in a C.darlingi tub. It was a pain to eradicate, but as Colin recommends, it stopped with drying the tank

As for the mites, are you sure that's what they are? They could be springtails or anything, but even if they are mites they are more likely to be detrivores which eat waste in your tank, and they will not harm your spider. Unless they are actually on your spider then don't worry about it.

Dry the tank, and remember, woodlice are your friend

[Stephen jordan]

Hello Colin and Phil, After the intitial panic of being a bit of a noob and sit down for a few hours going over the forum posts with a cup of tea and a ciggie, I've decided not to change substrate as I agree this should be a last resort. So I have taken the step of drying the tank out. My spider has moved itself to the drier end of the tank and I have introduced 8 woodlice, checking daily and the amount of tiny white mites has dropped sharply almost overnight. Now the outbreak of crickets is being dealt with a little at a time, A spiderling pot on its side with a tiny piece of lettuce to attract the crickets, it's working too...i'm emptying several a day so far and with the constant checks the numbers are going down considerably. Theres no sign of mites or crickets in my other T's tanks, they are all much drier in comparison to the lividums tank so I think I may have nipped it in the bud but as we all know time is the deciding factor here. Thanks very much for the advice and my subscription to the BTS is worth every penny without a doubt. Hopefully with the combination of drying the tank and removing as many as I can manually and a little help from the woodlice this shouldnt be too much of a problem.We shall see! Thanks again for your help with this