# Parasites?



## Solsticesun (May 5, 2009)

I noticed a trail forming in the humidity on the side of my tank... I squished the little bugger... (thats what it was... a bugger) And so, a week later... a couple hundred trails are forming... and I can now see the little buggers everywhere on the walls even without humidity to show me their trails. I can just make out tiny little legs moving... what are they? Mites? Parasites? Bad? What should I do?


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## Peter Clausen (May 5, 2009)

I'd recommend a substrate change and terrarium wipedown. I don't recall seeing mites crawling up glass though, so maybe it is something else. Can you be a bit more descriptive with the substrate and appearance/color of terrarium pests?

Do they have wings?


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## [email protected] (May 5, 2009)

Peter said:


> I'd recommend a substrate change and terrarium wipedown. I don't recall seeing mites crawling up glass though, so maybe it is something else. Can you be a bit more descriptive with the substrate and appearance/color of terrarium pests?Do they have wings?


Hay Peter that sounds like my little friends that came from the eggs of the dubai?

Danny


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## Rick (May 5, 2009)

Mites probably. More than likely they are not going to cause any harm to a mantis. Disinfect your cages if they bother you.


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## Solsticesun (May 5, 2009)

As for description... They're about 0.5mm if not smaller... maybe even 0.2mm. They're white. Thanks for the responses so far!


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## massaman (May 5, 2009)

as long as they dont produce mad mantis disease or something!


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## PhilinYuma (May 5, 2009)

Solsticesun said:


> As for description... They're about 0.5mm if not smaller... maybe even 0.2mm. They're white. Thanks for the responses so far!


Wow! It sounds as though you have your own little ecological experiment going on there!

If they are round and have legs, they are almost certainly mites, as Peter suggests. If you can, look at one under a good magnifying lens and compare it with pix of mites on Google (see below!) Images. Count the number of legs per bugger!

Their behavior is a bit odd for mites, though, they should be lurking in the substrate (could you tell us what that is, please?), not gallivanting around yr tank walls.

My guess is that they are thoroughly uncomfortable. If you have condensation on yr tank walls, it sounds as though you have 100% humidity and a very moist substrate. Mites tend not to like such conditions (neither do their prey), so they might just be trying to escape the moisture. Of course, they will probably starve to death at the top of yr tank (or drown in the condensation!), so that should solve the problem sooner ot later!

I guess that they could also be the larvae of some tiny insect that are getting ready to pupate (in which case they will only have six legs). You will know if you find pupae.

Please take a closer look and tell us more!


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## Solsticesun (May 5, 2009)

I got out the ol' microscope and found one to look at. I'm not 100% sure but they look a lot like one of the stages of these spider mites.




I'm using the compressed coconut substrate ...called EcoEarth or somethin... but yeah, I noticed aphids hiding among the dead leaves too. I don't know about re-using the sticks and everything I had in the tank before. Anyone know if freezing mites kills them?


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## Solsticesun (May 5, 2009)

They seem to be feeding off of the lichen on the twigs... darn mites, I wonder how they got in the tank after a couple months... probably on a cricket? Maybe on a fly from outside?


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## PhilinYuma (May 5, 2009)

Solsticesun said:


> They seem to be feeding off of the lichen on the twigs... darn mites, I wonder how they got in the tank after a couple months... probably on a cricket? Maybe on a fly from outside?


So far as I know, spider mites feed only on plants (a "garden pest"), so it seems much more likely that they came in on the twigs. I doubt very much that they will survive being frozen(or microwaved!), but you'll have to be sure that you get all of them.  They might make great food, though, like the aphids, for first instar nymphs.


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## hibiscusmile (May 5, 2009)

Oh My!  Mites need zero degrees to die or 120 to boil! regular freezer temps won't do it.


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## PhilinYuma (May 5, 2009)

hibiscusmile said:


> Oh My!  Mites need zero degrees to die or 120 to boil! regular freezer temps won't do it.


Yikes! That leaves the microwave, Solticesun, though there is another popular way of killing them in greenhouses, predatory mites! You can buy them at a lot of Internet sites like this: http://www.kalyx.com/store/proddetail.cfm/...D/2560/file.htm

Just hope that the predators die when they've eatern all the spider mites!


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## Solsticesun (May 5, 2009)

Micro for a whole minute didn't hurt em a bit.... they're too powerrrrfulll!!!!! Anyone have any suggestions on what to clean tanks with... I'm afraid that if I use any type of soap, the residue will eventually mix with condensation and the tank might become toxic for my little ghosts. ...is that a possibility?


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## Rick (May 6, 2009)

They are not harmful but if they bother you disinfect your cages and throw all the sticks and stuff from outside away and don't use them again. Disinfect with a bleach water solution and maybe buy some mite paper to set your tanks on.


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## tier (May 6, 2009)

Hi

Keep the enclosure hot and dry for a week, and the mites will dry out. Because of their size, they will dry out earlier than your mantids.

If you buy Drosophila in germany, 100% is full with mites. But it is absolutely no problem. I feed Drosophila since years, always with mites. No problem.


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## hibiscusmile (May 6, 2009)

I always clean my cages with dish liquid and never have a problem from it!


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## hibiscusmile (May 6, 2009)

ps, the predatory mites will also eat tiny baby nymphs if no mites available to eat, they dyhrate them.


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## [email protected] (May 7, 2009)

Ok I once was told to do this for any plant pest but 1st thing befor you do this takeout only your mantids &amp; any buggie you want to save ok, you can leave any of the plants. Now you need a flea collars the old kind, now with potted plants we take a big bag and place the plant inside they the collars and let it set for 48 hr or 72 hr, so what I am saying you could do the same. But what ever you do the eggs need to be killed to &amp; if you do what im saying you will have to do it again in a week or so but then it will be over also after do what I'm saying give it a week or 2 to air out , if you freez them they will come right back so its up to you.

Oh ya spider mites make group webs all over the plants so if they are then keep that in mind.

P.s. Peter my little ? buggies have 6 legs not 8 so I think you where right.

Danny


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## adam98150 (May 11, 2009)

To avoid problems like this in the future, you can cook all of your organic decor in the oven for around 90 minutes, wrap it in tinfoil before doing so.


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