# Found tiny red bugs ... mites ?



## jmoose (Jun 21, 2006)

Yesterday I stopped by at my friend's place since she wanted to show me her new frogs and we started talking about feeders.
While that, she told me that her springtails culture is exploding, she decided to give me some in 16oz container.
When we opened one of her 6 shoebox cultures, we noticed that tiny reddish bugs are attached to inside of the white lid.

We also opened other 5 cultures and ones with white lids got some of these, but not with dark blue lids (obviously these insects attract to bright color). We thought that they are mites, but her cultures including FF/isopods/woodlice/RFB cultures are sitting on the shelves with blue mite papers and she sprays them once a month with mite killing spray. We only found these bugs in springtail cultures. 
Only difference is that on the shelf where springtails cultures sit, she also have some plants from Lowes (tiny potted plants by something angel ? )

Since she doesn't have any macro lens, we took some pics with a point and shoot with a magnifier bet. the camera and bugs.
Any idea what are they ?
Can she feed them to frogs ?
Thanks
Sorry for poor quality pic, but if you click on the image and enlarge it, you can see the details little better ... :wink:


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

Looks like mites to me, from what I can see in the pic. Also looks like thumbnail food :wink:


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## jmoose (Jun 21, 2006)

That what we thought. 
What baffled us was that the cultures were sitting on sprayed mite paper and only the spring cultures had them ....  

So do you think there are spider mites ?
I thought my isopod cultures were once infested by spider mites (now I am not sure if they were spider mites or not) but these looked much smaller than the ones I found in my isopod cultures


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

Do they have 8 legs, or 6? I cant really make it out in the pic. 

Try and culture them separately, see what happens.


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## AndrewFromSoCal (Jan 1, 2007)

They look like 6 leggers with antennae.


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## jmoose (Jun 21, 2006)

They look to have 6 legs to me, too.
And I found this sentence from one of the garden sites ;
"If you have six legs you’re an insect, but if you have eight legs you’re an arachnid. Spiders, scorpions and ticks all belong to the class Arachnid. So do mites."
So does this mean they are not mites but some kind of insect ?

Zach,
When we found them, we just washed them off the lids very good so I don't think she has them any more to culture .. could've been a good idea, though.


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## zBrinks (Jul 16, 2006)

If they have 6 legs, they arnt a mite. See if any show up, look nice and tiny, and if they are easy to breed, could be a potential food source.


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

For the people that know what mites look like, you need to get your eyes checked, too much time on the comp. 

Those are mites, probably not spider mites but predatory mites that feed on other mites/small insects/eggs/larger molting insects.

Just like spiders, 8 legs. And just like spiders they have an extra pair of apendages held close to body, padypalps (to manipulate food/breeding). So in all actually ten discluding the fangs. I think the fangs are fused into one w/ most mites, but can't remember for sure.


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## Jason DeSantis (Feb 2, 2006)

They look like dust mites to me. I get dust mites on some of my cultures in the winter when the heat is on. I dont have that problem in the summer though.
Jason


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## jmoose (Jun 21, 2006)

Thanks guys !

Ahh.. I thought they had 2 antennas with 6 legs ...

So how these mites walk on a blue mite paper that was enforced with mite killing spray and reached her springtails culture without dying ?
(and no trace of them in FF/isopod cultures at all)
Are they only effective to specific mites only ? Just curious ..

I don't think she likes the idea of culturing dust mites, but can they be good feeders ? :lol:


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

jmoose said:


> Thanks guys !
> 
> Ahh.. I thought they had 2 antennas with 6 legs ...


Can't help that you 'thought' that.

Mites use their front legs as sensors just as an insect would w/ it's antennae. Less/sensitive/more crude but same overall purpose. They have very little in the way of vision (as most but not all arachnids).

Antennae are really just modified appendages, just like a leg/wing/mouth part, w/ a specified task.



> So how these mites walk on a blue mite paper that was enforced with mite killing spray and reached her springtails culture without dying ?


Well first of all they DID (according to you), so there must be reason.
They seem much larger (from picture) than the average pest mite, so w/ that they will be more robust/tolerant of poisons that are just on the surface. They would also be held higher off the surface of the paper.
But who's to say the insecticide is fresh, in that case the last reasons wouldn't matter as all mites (anything) wouldn't be hindered that greatly.
Also it's not a deterrent, it's a poison (not known to be a poison to them), so they are going to traverse it if they feel the need to.
Another thing to consider, how do you know, w/ certainty, they weren't already in the ST culture to begin w/. Are you actually seeing them walking ON the paper or just 'thinking' they might be?



> (and no trace of them in FF/isopod cultures at all)
> Are they only effective to specific mites only ?


Possibly.
And the paper does have an effective shelf life.

But maybe the paper IS working since the infestation is only localize to that one culture.



> Just curious ..
> 
> I don't think she likes the idea of culturing dust mites, but can they be good feeders ? :lol:


'Good', I don't know, your opinion, but they deffinately would be fed upon by darts if given the chance. Though I wouldn't culture them on mite paper. Or feed the free roaming ones.


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## jmoose (Jun 21, 2006)

Thanks stchupa,

I just got off the phone with her and she told me she always use coco bricks for spring and isopod cultures. Since she never bake them for culture use, it might be already infested by these mites while she kept them in a container, though we didn't see them in isopod culture ...

Anyways, she told me that now on she will bake coco fiber once expanded and renew the blue paper since she does not remember when it was replaced last time and spray Reptile Relief on the blue paper more often

Oh and for my questions if she is planning to culture these mites as feeder in the future, "NO WAY !" :lol: ... understandable


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