Very worried, think my tarantula has mites

[uralowl]

Let me start of by saying that I've been seeing these, what I believe to be mites, for over 2 years before I got my first tarantula. They are very tiny, they look like little flakes of dust or dandruff, it's hard to see them unless you actually look closely. They're round and move quite fast, I normally see them in late summer and autumn here in the UK. They're white, but when I sometimes get one or two crawling over my computer or mobile phone screen (it's happened), they appear very dark brown or black. They mostly seem to swarm around on book covers, it's especially easy to see them on books with black or darkly colored covers.

I recently noticed them crawling around the lid and cage walls of my Chile Rose. I cleaned out the cage completely and that only seem to get rid of them for about a day or two. Since then, they've been back all over the cage and inside the cage as well: Mainly on top of my tarantula's hide, but I've seen some on the substrate as well. I also saw a bunch of them in with myAphonopelma sp. "New River" tarantula today when I was changing the water dish. They were all over the walls, lid, some on the substrate and unusually, around the water dish (they're no where near the water dish with my G.rosea). I also noticed two lone ones crawling on the legs of said tarantula, though when I picked her up, I didn't notice any on her underside, joints or around her eyes.

What's really worried me is that today, I noticed quite a lot of them on one of the legs of my G.rosea. There were also some on her other legs and abdomen, though not so many. I'm almost certain they've crawled onto her because she was sitting on top of her hide earlier where the mites seem to be swarming. I decided to push her down from her hide with a paint brush and she didn't seem to protest. She, along with my other tarantulas and praying mantids, still seem just fine other than the mites.

Either way, I am still very worried now. I have noticed a few of the mites in with some of my mantids as well, around the the sides of the delicups on both the inside and out and on the twigs/decor and substrate. I haven't seen any on my mantids though.

I've been keeping my tarantula's enclosures bone dry aside from their water dishes since none of the species I have really need (or like) high humidity. The only things I've been misting out are my mantids, usually every two days on one side of their delicup/enclosure.

Does anyone know if these, what I think are mites, could be dangerous? I just don't know what to do, I've already cleaned my tarantula's enclosure and moved it, but the mites have still come back. I have to admit that I'm on the verge on panicking right now, I don't want anything happening to my spiders or mantids.

P.S. Sorry about this being so long, just wanted to try and explain as much as I can.

Edit: Just checked on my G.rosea and she was grooming herself, especially the legs that the mites are on. It's not unusual for her to groom herself, but it looks like the mites might be irritating her.

 

[Bug Trader]

Mites can be dangerous to tarantulas, if they are already on the tarantula there is little you can really do but I would start by mite spraying the area you keep the vivs as it will prevent mites, then I usually mite spray paper towells and wipe the outsides of the vivs and lids. As far as the media Id bake it or boild everything in the vivs while the tarantulas are put in clean qt tubs. The mites are parasitic to tarantulas and can cause stress and eventual death. One thing tarantulas will do is molt which will remove the mites but be sure to take the freshly molted tarantula out of the enclosure and put it into a sterile one.lots more on this subject can be found on an arachnid forum.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Oh! I so agree, a lot of people say they don't bother things, but they do, imagine them on you! They will worry another insect to death if given enough chance, do use mite paper under your containers, and do decrease the moisture, and if you have to, change their cages time and time again to rid yourself of them, dont'; overly panic, just keep a constant survaliance on them, like minute by minute! :tt: I bad girl! no, just do it on a regular basic like once a week till u can see them really decreasing.

EDIT: boy, u just can't pay for all this good advice!

 

[uralowl]

Thanks for the advice so far, I'm afraid I can't say it is very reassuring, but thanks, lol.

I'm really not sure what the 'mites' want, they've even been gathering on a container that doesn't even have anything in it at the moment. Hopefully that means they aren't after my mantids and spiders' bodily fluids, but I'm not sure.

I'll try and see if I can get some mite paper off eBay.

 

[rs4guy]

Sure they arn't springtails?

 

[uralowl]

Sure they arn't springtails?

They don't look any springtails I've ever seen. They're the same color, but they have round bodies. Springtails usually have rice-like bodies, from what I've seen anyway.

I had an empty enclosure for about a week which didn't have anything in it besides substrate and the 'mites' were grouping around the lid of that too. I tried squashing them all, but they seem to keep coming back. I put my A.versicolor subadult tarantula in there today. She seems fine and hopefully the 'mites' won't harm her. All of my other tarantulas and mantids have been doing just fine too and molting normally.

So fingers crossed it may be nothing to worry about.