So I have found a few cages with mites.  I have questions....

 

Clover the P. scrofas cage has mites in it.  There is a bit of a long story here, so please bear with me. I got Clover a week ago.  From the lady that had my MM P scrofa Piper.  The breeding was unsuccessful, the female wasnt interrested, so she gave me back my MM along with the female.  Last Friday evening the shark tanked the MM inside the females cage.  Packed in some papertowels to keep things from moving around and sent them off in the car with her son.  The tarantulas stayed that way until I met the son on Monday evening.  WHen I got them home the females cage was filthy, and the lady never emptied the water dish so it was damp...very damp.  I removed living roaches, dead roaches, dead beetles, parts of crickets.  Cleaned things up a bit and didn't think about it again until last ight when I found mites.  None on the T just in the cage and climbing the cage walls.  I removed her to a new cage for the nite.  This morning I started to take things apart to bake the EE. (I have a kid with the flu on top of this so this is all I can do right now in hopes that all will be sanitized after 45 min in a 200 degree over, it is taking forever to do all the EE) As I am doing the EE in batches I am finding pinhead crickets and more roaches, dead and alive.  This is NASTY.  I cannot believe how bad this cage is!  I feel like this was a rescue at this point.

 

Are the mites there because of the terrible cage conditions?  I have never had mites.  I have been keeping Ts for 3 years.  I am so angry about all of this.  This lady has 43 Ts, I wonder how any of them are in this same condition. 

 

My MM that she had isn't too bad.  I did find a few mites, less than 10.  He's tiny so it was easy to clean up his enclosure.  I didn't find any dead prey items in his cage either, so I'm sure that was why he wasn't as bad.

 

Do I need to worry about my other Ts?  I'm really at a loss right now.  I know that if I keep things bone dry we should be OK.  But how long do I keep things super dry for before I know its safe?  Good thing the majority of my Ts like it dry.

 

Im sorry for the book, but I need all the advice I can get!

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

yeah...sorry people suck so bad =/
unfortunately yes ur other tanks are at risk...i wouldnt keep the new Ts in the same room for a couple weeks. 2-3 weeks is about how long ul have to keep it dry...cold kills mites too. though not like u can fit the tank in the freezer. u can for substrate & accessories...
yes, the mites are from poor keeping. =( usually from the dead bugs left behind & moist bedding
dont fret. most of us get em at some point. ul get rid of em =)
& then ul have a happy T...rescued indeed

Thanks for the reply Dan! 

 

I'm trying not to get angry over all of this, and remind myself that I have learned 2 lessons. 1. Isolate any new Ts that I get when 'Im not the one that has maintained the enclosure 2. not all people keep their cages as clean as I do, no matter what their pictures look like!

 

I have baked all the EE and everyone is bone dry.  Except for the avic, who I have moved away from everyone else. 

 

I haven't given them their water dishes back, can they go a week or so without water?  They never seem to use the dishes much anyway. Anything I should look for while the dishes are out?

 

I dont want to go thru this again, so I want to make sure that I do everything I can to make sure that any mites that are left die off...quickly.

 

If there is anything else that I am missing here please let me know.

they can go months without water....wait at least 2 weeks before u give the water back

Okie dokie. Thanks Dan!  I will keep you posted!

Well, it's been almost 2 weeks since I found the mites and a week since I have seen any!  I hope that this means I won this war.  I have given my avic her water dish back and added isopods to her enclosure.  No other Ts have their water dishes back yet.  I'm going to give them back tomorrow.  They all like it dry so hopefully there will be no more problems!

Forget the above post. GRRR I had the day off yesterday and I got to get a really good look at my Ts. Glad I have today off too.

 

Previously I had baked the EE in the 2 scrofa enclosures and in the LPs enclosure.  All 3 of them are in the clear.

 

The rosie never had them.

 

Now I am seeing them in the G. pulchripes, B. albopilsum, and the A. hentzi have these mites, or whatever they are.  They are all lined up getting the EE baked in their enclosures as I type this.

 

The avic had them, but has isopods now and things seem to be under control. She is the only T that has a water dish right now.

 

Help me out here.  What do I need to do?  How can I make this problem go away?  All of my Ts are on the same shelf. When is it OK to give these guys their water dishes back? They all seem fine and a few have been busy moving stuff around in their cages.  They all ate last weekend too.  So I am sure they are all good.  I have NEVER seen a single mite, or whatever these bugs are, on any of my Ts.

 

I also got rid of my mealworm colony.  It was going really good too.  But I was afraid that maybe they were adding to the problem.  I'm still pretty sure I got all these mites from the female scrofas enclosure that was given to me.  I have learned an important lesson in all of this.

damn
not too much u can do that ur not already doing.... =/
they can easily go a few more weeks without water if needed. especially seeing u just fed them...so dont fret that
guess more time & some patience will tell...
good luck...sorry i cant help more

It's OK Dan.  I'm just glad to know that I am doing everything I can! Thanks man.  I'll keep this updated.  Gonna feed everyone tomorrow.

I can finally say the mites are gone!  Hopefully I can save a few of you all of the trouble that I went thru BEFORE finding this product...

 

 

http://store.evergreengrowers.com/pr...et/Detail?no=1

 

 

I baked the EE and kept the cages bone dry, but this is the only thing that actually worked.  And it was the easiest thing I did!  Go figure.