unknown invaders

So for the past two weeks about there have been small white bugs in my tank. I've been looking at post on here trying to figure out what they are and what to do, but I'm not sure what they are still. They are really small, I can't even tell they are there until I stare for a moment and look for movement. Unable to see them clearly, I took the guess they are mites. I removed all food from the tank and have only fed with tweezers since to ensure nothing is in the tank, but they are still there. Are mites big enough that I should clearly see them?

Any pics would help, also what do you feed them? I feed everything I own on locusts mostly and I know that White mite type things come in with them and as far as I have seen they are harmless, I've had and seen many threads on it, if you look backwards on it you should find atleast one but the conclusion that I've come to and seen most other people come to is that if it's moving round on the substrate etc then they don't NEED to live off a scorpion, just watch out if they build up over joints etc, take a closer look at the scorps in question if you can and look for buildups, but might wanna get another opinion off someone who knows abit more

Sounds like mites.Once all the miniscule bits of food are gone they will go too,just make sure to pickup any remains of food.You can keep the enclosure dry for a week or 2 without hurting the scorp(as long as there is a water dish) if keeping the enclosure free of remains does not work.You can also get predatory mites that will eat the mites that have invadedyour enclosure.These little white mites arn't dangerous and are possibly helpful as long as the numbers stay small.

If I took a pic it would look like just a pic of nothing, they are that small haha. I really can't even just look and see them, I have to stare at a spot and wait till movement catches my eye. From everything I read I took it they are mites, but wanted to make sure since they are still around and I can't really see what they look like other than white specs.

I feed them crickets and mealworms. I've removed all uneaten food and only directly given them mealworms since, so there has been no food in the tank for at least two weeks now. I dried it out as much as I could, but I have plants in there so complete drying out wasn't an option. I was only putting water in for the plants and not the whole tank to at least cut the moisture level down, but of course one of my scorpions decides she wants to malt.

I've had them a couple times with Ts so I know what you are talking about.When I first saw them I thought I was going crazy.LOL

They usually come on the crickets(mine did) but like I said they are harmless so what you are doing is good.

if your worried get a couple pseudoscorpions and drop them in they eat them

TELOW wrote:

if your worried get a couple pesude scorpions and drop them in they eat them

What are those Wayne?
I can't send you back a message on VL but I got you're last message.

alright i wonder why that is ? freakin internet hahahahaha

TELOW wrote:

alright i wonder why that is ? freakin internet hahahahaha

I assume your box is full !

its empty hahah i dont know bro hahaha

ok back to subject haha
yeah they are harmless the oney way you would have a problem with those
is if you were to leave it damp humid ext and they had no source of food then maybe
you would have a problem with those.

but you can control those quite easily with pseudoscorpions
or
clean it out and cook the sub and hides and whatever else is in the enclosure
and clean the enclosure good and then have a seperate feeding container
keeping the main enclosure free do food scraps

TELOW wrote:

its empty hahah i dont know bro hahaha

ok back to subject haha
yeah they are harmless the oney way you would have a problem with those
is if you were to leave it damp humid ext and they had no source of food then maybe
you would have a problem with those.

but you can control those quite easily with pseudoscorpions
or
clean it out and cook the sub and hides and whatever else is in the enclosure
and clean the enclosure good and then have a seperate feeding container
keeping the main enclosure free do food scraps

It is a lot easier to do what I said(where do you get pseudoscorpions? lol)

Wayne something is wrong with my box then

well you gotta ask around but when i was still in florida they were not hard to find
they were found behind loose tree bark on the pine trees i used them all the time
but buying them might not be to easy to do because they are so small and not in big numbers but people do sell them

yes is it easier just putting options out there predatory mites work great too


scotty i didnt know you had a box hahaha

TELOW wrote:

well you gotta ask around but when i was still in florida they were not hard to find
they were found behind loose tree bark on the pine trees i used them all the time
but buying them might not be to easy to do because they are so small and not in big numbers but people do sell them

yes is it easier just putting options out there predatory mites work great too


scotty i didnt know you had a box hahaha

Too much trouble,plus they are tiny and sting/pinch just holding them,its itchy !



My box is purty Wayne!

hahahahaha what ?

Sooooo update time!! One of my scorpions burrowed all the way into the very bottom corner of the tank, up to the glass leaving a small opening I could see in from the side of the tank. When I looked in I saw a mass of white, which after a few seconds I realized was a ton of mites covering something. So I think great, I know why I'm still seeing mites, but now I gotta get whatever they're on out. I tried my best to take the log that starts the burrow out without it all caving in, but that didn't work too well. I shifted through all the collapsed substrate for a while but couldn't find it. So I think tomorrow I am going to head to the store and get new coco fiber and clean the whole tank out.

andrew saken wrote:

Sooooo update time!! One of my scorpions burrowed all the way into the very bottom corner of the tank, up to the glass leaving a small opening I could see in from the side of the tank. When I looked in I saw a mass of white, which after a few seconds I realized was a ton of mites covering something. So I think great, I know why I'm still seeing mites, but now I gotta get whatever they're on out. I tried my best to take the log that starts the burrow out without it all caving in, but that didn't work too well. I shifted through all the collapsed substrate for a while but couldn't find it. So I think tomorrow I am going to head to the store and get new coco fiber and clean the whole tank out.

Starting over is probably a good idea and you might as well get new furniture(hides etc...) to be on the safe side .

good idea if its that bad i would empty it and start over as well
if you dont want to get new hides put them in the oven
for a few minutes untill they are real hot (not burnt) but hot
and that would kill the live mites and the eggs that are or may be in or on them

Ive been so busy the last few days I havent gotten to get to the store and clean the tank yet, which is lame but gives me a chance to ask this now...is there anything I can do for the plants in there(I dont see them making it out of the oven alive haha), or are they goners?

andrew saken wrote:

Ive been so busy the last few days I havent gotten to get to the store and clean the tank yet, which is lame but gives me a chance to ask this now...is there anything I can do for the plants in there(I dont see them making it out of the oven alive haha), or are they goners?

Wash all the dirt off the roots or get new plants but personally I would get rid of the plants,the scorp will just dig them up.

Here`s a question, do these little mites look a bit like iron fillings? If you poke around where you can see there are some of them, do they jump? I keep tropical snails and getting mites is unavoidable so over the years I`ve come to know which ones are a problem and which aren`t. You`d be surprised, most are harmless. Saying that, this is related to snails mind you! But what I was wondering is if these things you are describing are Springtails. They are always the very first thing to aooear when there`s a little excess food or mould going spare. They look like little iron fillings and they jump......

Feebo wrote:

Here`s a question, do these little mites look a bit like iron fillings? If you poke around where you can see there are some of them, do they jump? I keep tropical snails and getting mites is unavoidable so over the years I`ve come to know which ones are a problem and which aren`t. You`d be surprised, most are harmless. Saying that, this is related to snails mind you! But what I was wondering is if these things you are describing are Springtails. They are always the very first thing to aooear when there`s a little excess food or mould going spare. They look like little iron fillings and they jump......

Like you said most mites harmless,they are smaller than springtails and are white(these particular mites) they look like small grains of sand that move.

Well I spent last night changing the substrate, put the water dish and patio blocks that made a hide in the oven, replaced the log hides and plants. If I see any mites in there today I'm gonna scream haha.

As far as plants, I've had plants in the tank for months and the scorpions never even seemed to notice them, I hope they don't decide to dig them up haha.

Good luck!