# unknown mites, are they dangerous?



## maksknopp (Jul 21, 2020)

so I recently built a dart frog terrarium, and its been up for around 2 weeks now. this morning I saw some orange looking bugs, and i'm pretty sure they aren't springtails or baby woodlice, so i'm presuming they're mites, and my local reptile shop also said they are most likely mites. is anyone able to identify them and let me know if they're dangerous or not? Im fairly new to the hobby and am unsure of what to do in terms of getting rid of them. Any hep is appreciated! (sorry if the images aren't very clear the mites are very small and are hard to capture on camera.)
https://imgur.com/gallery/LKg84b6


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

I don't see any pictures.

Do the bugs look like this: https://www.google.com/amp/s/laidbackgardener.blog/2016/01/31/dont-kill-those-red-mites/amp/

Or like these:

https://www.google.com/search?clien...4wLjGYAQCgAQHAAQE&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp


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## maksknopp (Jul 21, 2020)

The mites are a light orange, and from the ones I've seen they are around the same size as a spring tail, maybe a little larger, and no, they are not red.


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## kimcmich (Jan 17, 2016)

Greetings,

Mites are natural parts of _every_ ecosystem. Unless they are overrunning your feeding cultures, they are nothing to worry about.

A new terrarium will often have a boom/bust cycle of various critters as the brand-new ecosystem stabilizes and responds to misting and feeding cycles. There are "dangerous" mites but these are mostly predator/competitors in feeding cultures and species that cause problems for your frogs are very, very rare (though they do exist in nature).

Most people, especially new viv owners, are more bug-phobic than the actual danger from bugs justifies. Be clam and patient and 99.9% of the time everything will be fine.


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

kimcmich said:


> Greetings,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I welcome detrivores into my terrariums , just not into my fly cultures lol.


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## maksknopp (Jul 21, 2020)

ok, sounds great, say they do end up out competing the isopods or springtails I have in my viv, what would I do then, hopefully like you said this is not the case though, thanks!


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## Broseph (Dec 5, 2011)

maksknopp said:


> ok, sounds great, say they do end up out competing the isopods or springtails I have in my viv, what would I do then, hopefully like you said this is not the case though, thanks!


They won’t outcompete the isopods or springtails to extinction. But if they did, wouldn’t it mean they are filling the intended niche?


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## maksknopp (Jul 21, 2020)

well yes I guess it would, but Im having a mould problem at the moment so I am relying on the springtails to clean that up so it rather they didn't, unless the mites eat mould too.


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

maksknopp said:


> well yes I guess it would, but Im having a mould problem at the moment so I am relying on the springtails to clean that up so it rather they didn't, unless the mites eat mould too.


If they're detrivorous mites (which they likely are) then they'll eat decaying matter include mold.


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