Mites?? Can someone identify

[jamest0o0]

Found these little things on the inside of a lid for one of my isopod/springtails bins. The bins are filled with eco earth, charcoal, sphagnum, and oak leaves. Are these dangerous, any info would be appreciated

 

[Carlton]

Without being able to see these magnified there's absolutely no way to know. Probably not. Most chams don't have problems with ectoparasites.

 

[Tortdad]

I used to see those all the time in my tortoise enclosures whenever I'd add fresh coconut core or eco earth. The eggs are in the soil we buy the hatch once we introduce that to a nice warm and humid enclosure. Some people would bake it in the oven on low temps like 250 degrees for a couple hours to kill the bugs before putting it in there enclosures. Me personally I don't like to bake that stuff so I drop new bags of products like that into my deep freezer for 24hrs before using it. I can't imagine they'd hurt your bio substrate any.

 

[jamest0o0]

Yeah they don't seem to be doing any harm. They definitely look like some form of mite, but they don't seem to be harming any inhabitant. As long as they're safe idc if they're there.

 

[Andee]

Have you squished them? They honestly look like a form of parasitic mite to me. Not a grain or anything like that. They are too round and too dark to be confused with species of food mites. Have you found any of your insect inhabitants carrying them? Did you sanitize you oak leaves before putting them in? Sometimes eco earth or other soils can carry it in but I have no had the issue with my insects or reptile containers.

 

[jamest0o0]

Oh god... I wiped them off as much as I could. I haven't looked closely at any of my insects really. They were on the lid. What should I look for? Are they dangerous to our chams?

 

[jamest0o0]

Oh and no i didnt clean my leaf litter, I didn't even know that was a thing... I bought it from josh's frogs and have used it in all of my enclosures.

 

[Andee]

Usually parasitic species of mites etc, will have blood of some sort that smears on your fingers after you squish them. *frowns* Technically there is one thing you can do without worrying about your current insects... try looking into predatory mites?there are certain species that will eat parasitic mites.

 

[jamest0o0]

I didn't notice any blood and I tried smearing them. They were kind of like fleas In the sense that smashing them didn't do much. I'll check again though. Speaking of the blood thing, this only happened once, but I found a small fly that I squished a couple months ago. It had red blood. This freaked me out, does this go for flies too? I haven't seen any since

 

[kinyonga]

Don't mites have 8 legs?? Do those?

 

[jamest0o0]

It looks like it in the picture. The front two almost look like big antenna

 

[Andee]

mites do have eight legs, they are similar to ticks and can be hard to kill. The other thing these guys could be if they are mites are spider mites? But idk why they would be in your enclosure then *frowns*

 

[jamest0o0]

In pictures I've seen they don't seem to be spider mites, but I have no idea. Should I toss all my stuff?

 

[Andee]

idk, is this your entire breeding colony?

 

[Andee]

so these are some reptile mites, chiggers etc. from around the same amount of distance you took your pic.
http://www.reptilenexus.com/uploads/1/7/8/9/17897033/1157896.jpg?1374552676
http://rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com/images/MItes20110630.jpg

the real issue and why I don't think they are food mites etc, is they don't have the correct shape or color for them... I have food mites in my tortoise enclosure on occasion but I honestly don't worry about them because they don't bother them and as soon as it dries out and I clean up a bit during the week (if I've let it go a bit), the disappear.

 

[jamest0o0]

The thing with them being parasitic mites, how would they get there? I haven't introduced anything new. They're in my bin of eco earth for springtails and isopods and they are on the top of the plastic lid. I don't see them anywhere else, at least not yet. Wouldn't parasitic mites, be on whatever their food source Is? It would seem like a long shot to just have reptile mites come out of nowhere, especially in a state with like 5 different reptiles total lol. I'm not disagreeing, you know way more than me, I'm just so confused about what they're eating or where they came from.

 

[jamest0o0]

And btw andee, can't you ever give me good news like maybe these and the bugs that are eating my hibiscus are actually just friends coming to help take care of my Chams?

 

[Andee]

Lmao XD I am sorry sweetie, I don't have an answer. You would notice if they were on your reptiles in my opinion for sure they are relatively hard to miss.. I don't know what they are. It doesn't make sense... I am just saying what they look like *sighs* I mean technically if they are parasitic mites there are a type of predatory mites that will eat them and then die out when they are eaten