Good or bad mites?

[K Smith]

Bit of advise please....

Iv just been taking a cricket out from my H.lividums tank and noticed little white specks crawling round within the substrate, mostly around the inside of the burrow. Obviously where its more humid. Now are these mites for one thing? And are they good or bad mites?
Im really good with general house keeping with all my Ts and check on them almost daily. The lividums tanks is not overly damp, just slightly more humid in its burrow as youd expect. Iv heard that if there are left over cricks or food boluses or over dampness in the tank then the mites would thrive. But like i said it isnt damp. The substrate is on the dry side. Im careful not to have it over damp/humid due to me reading of problems with mites and small flys. Which i do have a few very tiny flys which i always find around my spider room. Are these good or bad?? Theyr mostly coming from the lividums tank too. I read if they wer the harmful flys then theyd crawl rather than fly. These are just flying everywhere. I did manage to reduce their number by removing the water dish in the lividums tank and letting the substrate dry underneath it before replacing it.
A few weeks ago i noticed these white specks crawling round in my chile rose tank and that ia bone dry. They were just round the water dish and floating in it. I changed the subatrate and cleaned the tank really well. Now there are none of the white specks/mites in there at all.

I was thinking of removing all the lividums substrate and starting again but i hate to disturb the spider and its an adult female. When i got her it took her 6 months to burrow so im reluctant to remove the substrate for new. Thats why i need to know if these things are common and harmless or harmful to the spider.
Many thanks
Kyle

[Jamie Cooper]

Iv just been taking a cricket out from my H.lividums tank and noticed little white specks crawling round within the substrate, mostly around the inside of the burrow. Obviously where its more humid. Now are these mites for one thing? And are they good or bad mites?

Hi Kyle,

I can't be certain, but your description sounds like springtails. If so, there is no need to remove them. They are beneficial as they eat mould/fungus. They do tend to pop up by surprise and alot of people mistake them for mites.

I can't be certain though, pics would help. Springtails are white, they measure anything between 1mm - 4mm in length and they can jump great distances. They tend to hang around in masses in water bowls and crawl around the substrate where it is damp.

I hope this helps, take some pics so we can be sure.

Jamie

[K Smith]

Thanks for the reply!

I've just had a look and tried to take pics with the camera. 1, theyr too small, and 2 theyr very sporadic, just the odd 1 or two in an area. There's not millions of them, I was just worried as there is so much hype around mites and loads of contradicting info out there.

The 'mites' are only around 1 or 2 mm length, are a sort of oblong shape and i've just seen one jump about 2 and half inches. i've read that spring tails can jump quite far. Even from yesterday where i've allowed the 'damp' areas to dry out their numbers have reduced.

ive had a little dig through the substrate and they are crawling round about half an inch beneath the surface. Like i said there arnt loads of them i'd say iv just spotted about 15.

Sorry I cant put any photos on, they are just too small to focus on.

[Jamie Cooper]

I'm quite sure those are springtails. Cannot be certain without pics, but 99% sure.

They're harmless to your T so don't worry. You will actually benefit from their presence. You might find your substrate over run with them in a couple of weeks, or they might just die out depending on how wet or dry your substrate is. I place them deliberately in a lot of my enclosures.

Jamie