Possible mite infestation? (pics)

[Jamie Cooper]

Hi guys. I found a bunch of these little things running around one of my H.lividum tanks. I suspect it's a mite of some sort. I managed to catch one and put it under my microscope. This is the little devil at x20. Can anyone identify it? Is it dangerous?

The tarantula in the tank is sealed away in pre moult, so I don't really want to have to clean her out unless absolutely neccessary. I will be cleaning her out regardless after she has moulted.

I have loads of springtails in the enclosure keeping things nice and tidy. Aren't springtails supposed to keep a lid on mites?

Thanks, Jamie.

[Peter Lacey]

Its a mite.
Drying the enclosure out will kill them off, unfortunately its likely to kill off your springtails too.
I wouldn't worry about having a few of these in your enclosures, theyr'e rather omnipresent as they arrive with the food items, but keeping a keen eye on uneaten food will also help to reduce their numbers.

[Colin D Wilson]

The very basic rule (and i mean a guidline... it's not gospel) on mites that our spiders can get exposed to is if the mites white it's more than likely harmless and will clean up decaying matter, if it's beige/brown then there's a higher chance it's parasitic. (the image you have looks quite beige to me on this screen)
As much as Peters correct in saying dry it all out i'd be inclined to chuck it all out and start afresh, check the spider if you can before you pop it back in.
Even the harmless mites can cause a problem if they gather in large numbers around mouthparts/ booklungs etc .. they may be only cleaning up surface debris from the spider but in huge numbers best not take any chances.

Your springtails (if in sufficient numbers) will have an effect on the waste in the tank, there's a possibility they could control mite eggs if in sufficient numbers. Woodlice are the best trawlers for mite eggs (obviously mainly the scavenging mites where the eggs are laid in the soil and not on a host).

[Jamie Cooper]

Thanks for the quick response guys!

That's what I was worried about Colin, as I've also heard something similar to what you were saying.

I don't want to take any chances with these, so I think I'll clean her out today. I didn't really want to disturb her at this time, but I think I'd rather have a stressed spider than a dead one.

What can I do if there are any on the actual spider? She's all sealed in at the moment so I haven't seen her yet. She's WC and I've had her for about 10 months.

Can these infestations spread into my other enclosures?

Jamie

[Jamie Cooper]

UPDATE: I cleaned her out this afternoon. The good news is she had already moulted. One of my concerns was disturbing her at this time. She looked OK. I couldn't see any mites on her. I've still got the one I put under the microscope. It's in a vial, I'm going to wait until it's dead then I can take a better photo of it to try and see what it was. Damn thing wouldn't keep still hence the blurry photo.

This is one of my two females. This one layed a sac only to ditch it after 25 days. The sac was a smelly gooey mess, could this have been the result of that? I've checked all my other enclosures and they are fine, no mites.

Jamie

[Peter Lacey]

Very doubtful the mites had anything to do with the eggsac, im my opinion.
If I wish to get rid of mites I often put something in there, like some old lettuce to attract the mites and then remove. repeat as necessary. Its often the case the mites are merely hitching a ride to the next food item on your spider/crickets etc.

Tropical woodlice and springtails are definitely a good way to tackle this but cage maintenance rules

[Jamie Cooper]

Thanks for the info Peter. Great tip about the lettuce. I use springtails, but not woodlice. Perhaps I'll introduce some of those too in future. She's all cleaned up for now though.

I've kept the mite starved of air and water in a vial. I checked on it tonight and it was dead. So here are some more detailed pictures of it. The first two are x80 front and back. The third pic is the mouth parts at x350. Horrible looking thing! To give you an idea of the actual size, it's about half the size of an ant.