# Mites Please Help



## Jackson87 (Oct 19, 2021)

Hi, I made 2 custom built terrariums and within 3 weeks I seem to now have mites all over the top and bottom of the terrariums on the outside and barely see any inside.. they have spread to the next terrarium and have spread to on my spray bottle this morning.. I’ve had people tell me they are all sorts of different mite and they are a foot away from my bed so these mites are freaking me out completely.. I don’t leave any food inside the terrariums and I have seen what looks like spider mites at night but all the others that congregate at the top are tiny white things. I will attach a video if it lets me.. if not I will have to take some pictures when my magnifying glass arrives this evening. I can’t rip everything out of the terrariums because it will completely wreck my new builds and probably break the glass which is obviously all an expensive thing to create. The only live plants so to speak in my terrariums are zoo med frog moss.. could these have come from this as I have no idea how else they arrived… I’ve used the same bioactive substrate for 3 years and NEVER had a mite infestation so I’m stumped. And now I’ve just found one crawling on my Tv I’m getting so worked up…my bedroom has a huge mould problem all over the walls (landlord refuses to sort it out and I’m currently looking for other living arrangements, could these be mould mites that have come from the walls and set up home on my terrariums and spreading all over the room? My skins crawling because of these horrible things.


----------



## Chris S (Apr 12, 2016)

Add frogs, mites will go!

These are probably present in your house already, just the higher moisture areas are allowing them to breed/congregate better. These are pretty harmless, and any frogs and small animals will likely eat them if you introduce them.


----------



## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

That's a lot of mites. They will go away eventually, as @Chris S said they are attracted to the moisture in the vivarium.


----------



## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Certainly harmless detritovores. 

Wiping down surfaces outside the viv with alcohol-based solutions kills mites and eggs. A teardown won't help, since as mentioned they're ubiquitous.

As for your T, searching the archives of the good T forum will likely give recommendations and info to calm your worries, though someone here may have relevant info on that front.


----------



## Jackson87 (Oct 19, 2021)

Socratic Monologue said:


> Certainly harmless detritovores.
> 
> Wiping down surfaces outside the viv with alcohol-based solutions kills mites and eggs. A teardown won't help, since as mentioned they're ubiquitous.
> 
> As for your T, searching the archives of the good T forum will likely give recommendations and info to calm your worries, though someone here may have relevant info on that front.


Hi I said all over my TV as in Television.. not a T as in a spider..

Ah okay I got some mite spray and I ordered DE powder so I can sprinkle it on my bedroom carpet


Socratic Monologue said:


> Certainly harmless detritovores.
> 
> Wiping down surfaces outside the viv with alcohol-based solutions kills mites and eggs. A teardown won't help, since as mentioned they're ubiquitous.
> 
> As for your T, searching the archives of the good T forum will likely give recommendations and info to calm your worries, though someone here may have relevant info on that front.


Hi I said all over my TV as in Television.. not a T as in a spider..

Ah okay thank you, I got some mite spray and I ordered DE powder so I can sprinkle it on my bedroom carpet to try and stop them getting all over my personal effects.. they aren’t grain mites are they? Because they aren’t near their food bowls and I remove them after 24hrs of feeding (I have mourning geckos in one).


----------



## Jackson87 (Oct 19, 2021)

fishingguy12345 said:


> That's a lot of mites. They will go away eventually, as @Chris S said they are attracted to the moisture in the vivarium.


I reduced misting and I’ve got a dehumidifier in the room because it is that bad in here.. (the rooms humidity is still in the 70/75% region even with the dehumidifier)
Should I remove the frog moss from the terrariums? I’ve also noticed some red looking mites that only come out at night.. are those spider mites?


----------



## Jackson87 (Oct 19, 2021)

Chris S said:


> Add frogs, mites will go!
> 
> These are probably present in your house already, just the higher moisture areas are allowing them to breed/congregate better. These are pretty harmless, and any frogs and small animals will likely eat them if you introduce them.


they are congregating outside the terrariums on the lids so nothing can get to them to eat them and they are spreading to my personal effects.. I’ve got some DE on the way to try and contain them and mite spray kill them off which I hope works


----------



## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Jackson87 said:


> I’ve also noticed some red looking mites that only come out at night.. are those spider mites


No. Spider mites set up in nearly invisible webs on leaves and are unlikely to be in vivs since it is too moist.


----------



## Chris S (Apr 12, 2016)

Jackson87 said:


> they are congregating outside the terrariums on the lids so nothing can get to them to eat them and they are spreading to my personal effects.. I’ve got some DE on the way to try and contain them and mite spray kill them off which I hope works


I wouldn't spray anything near the tanks.


----------



## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

Chris S said:


> I wouldn't spray anything near the tanks.


Yes, spraying anything near the tanks is a recipe for disaster!


----------



## HaydenT (Jul 3, 2018)

Try placing it outside in the cold for a day, mites do not like cold weather.


----------



## Jackson87 (Oct 19, 2021)

Okay thank you 🙂, I’ll try the leave outside for a day method wish me luck


----------



## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

HaydenT said:


> Try placing it outside in the cold for a day, mites do not like cold weather.


Unlikely to be effective, and risks importing other pests.

From Agriculture | Province of Manitoba :

An effective method of controlling insect infestations in stored grain in winter is to lower the temperature of the grain. Rusty grain beetles and most other stored grain insects can be killed by periods of low temperatures as follows:



*Grain Temperature in degrees Celsius**Time Required to kill insects*-5 C12 weeks-10 C8 weeks-15 C4 weeks-20 C1 week

This data is corroborated specifically for grain mites here: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.510.7099&rep=rep1&type=pdf


----------

