who the hell invented mites anyway

Just redid my whole tank like a month ago cause I had like a bajillion mites, and I just saw mites crawling around on the glass, inside and out. Last time there was uneaten food deep in a burrow that I couldn't see and it got out of hand until I just changed everything out. They haven't burrowed to deep again yet so I could find any uneaten food easily for now, and I hope that takes care of things. If the burrow deep again in the future how can I prevent them from bringing food down in their with them and leaving remains? Or am I doomed to have to dig them up every now and again to get dead things out?

Hmm... I don't think you can prevent it without stressing the scorpions! To keep animals, of any sort, is a bit of work (and scorpions are really minimum) so I think you'll just have to check the enclosure for left-overs once in a while

Are you sure they are mites? If they are attached to the joints of your scorpion then they're probably the parasitic kind and are harmful. You can try adding in isopods that will clean bits of the leftovers from your tank. They are very effective janitors
And if I'm not mistaken, mites came from the depths of hell!

I was also going to ask if they were mites. To me, it kind of sounds like harmless springtails, but it's impossible to tell without a picture. And the obvious indicator, if they're actually swarming on your scorpions.

Well here is the account of the last time I had them

https://scorpionforum.darkbb.com/scorpions-in-general-f12/unknown-invaders-t5323.htm?highlight=invaders


My concern isn't having to check the tank for leftovers, but the fact that I need to ruin their burrows to get stuff out they leave down in them. The last time there was a cricket in the burrow to the right, which was dug down to the bottom of the tank, and I couldn't get it out without caving everything in on them.

They really sound like springtails to me. If they aren't on your scorps at all, they probably are spring tails.

Do they look like this?
http://www.frognet.org/albums/album83/NaturoseSpringtails2.jpg

Hard to tell cause they are so small, are spring tales lil white specs to the naked eye? I can't tell how big those are in that picture

As far as I know as long as they are moving/running around all over the place they are harmless it's when they are stuck to the scorp you need to worry, we have little mite type things in all our enclosures and they haven't harmed any scorps yet think they just eat leftovers and stuff

I think you can help prevent these creatures (whatever they are) simple by making sure there is good enough ventilation in the enclosure!

I've gotten the general idea that whatever they are they aren't going to harm the scorps, but still I don't like having lil bugs crawling around haha

andrew saken wrote:

Hard to tell cause they are so small, are spring tales lil white specs to the naked eye? I can't tell how big those are in that picture

That's precisely what they are. It's your choice however, feel free to get rid of them anyway you can! I've always just left em though. You can try ordering some Hypoaspis mites, they're predatory mites that feed on smaller creatures and will leave your scorps alone.

So what attracts them, is it the same as mites with leftover food?

The moisture and humidity as well as high temps make the ideal breeding ground. A lot of frog breeders use them as feeders for their frogs I believe. I don't know about your exact species, but maybe a larger species.

231bex wrote:

As far as I know as long as they are moving/running around all over the place they are harmless it's when they are stuck to the scorp you need to worry, we have little mite type things in all our enclosures and they haven't harmed any scorps yet think they just eat leftovers and stuff

+1

Old timers here will remember that I used to work in a lab studying, among other things, predatory mites.

If they're mobile, they're harmless -- and you CAN'T get rid of them, so you may as well get used to them.