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Hermit crabs, mites and terrariums--oh my!

Hey guys. This evening I was disgusted to find that my hermit crab terrarium was totally infested with mites. I went to pull off the cover and there were thousands of tiny, white, moving dots having a party on the mesh and the surrounding edges of the lid.

So my girlfriend and I did a deep cleaning, with vinegar and everything, but what we're worried about is the mites having made it all the way out of the tank and onto the book shelf where the tank sits. We disinfected the bookcase pretty well, but we're still worried about these nasty things living in our office.

Is this something we should worry about? Can mites typically live outside the terrarium, maybe even living off the paper in our books?

Also, any tips on how to take care of the hermies after this mite infestation? I dunked them in salt water, and now they're sitting in a sandy bowl until I can deep clean everything a second time tomorrow.

Thanks!
 
Hey guys. This evening I was disgusted to find that my hermit crab terrarium was totally infested with mites. I went to pull off the cover and there were thousands of tiny, white, moving dots having a party on the mesh and the surrounding edges of the lid.

So my girlfriend and I did a deep cleaning, with vinegar and everything, but what we're worried about is the mites having made it all the way out of the tank and onto the book shelf where the tank sits. We disinfected the bookcase pretty well, but we're still worried about these nasty things living in our office.

Is this something we should worry about? Can mites typically live outside the terrarium, maybe even living off the paper in our books?

Also, any tips on how to take care of the hermies after this mite infestation? I dunked them in salt water, and now they're sitting in a sandy bowl until I can deep clean everything a second time tomorrow.

Thanks!
a mite infestation is someting that should definietly worry you, these types of pests can multiply at very high rates at a short amount of time and can also carry diseases that are harmful to plants, humans and animals, I hope your situation is better now, sorry i dun have experience with hermit crabs so i cannot give u more advie but be cautious with those mites!!!! u might want to try zoomed and see if they have any mite countering product that are SAFE for your hermits, u dun wanna kill them because of some strong mite repelant, i know my reponse is a little late and the mites are probably handled already but u may use it for future reference if u like
 
I had mites in my hermit crab tankl. They were very thick around the food dish. I had to clean everything in boiling water and change-out the substrate (sand) a few times and would only leave the food for a little while each day. It got rid of them. From what I have seen they don't mess with the crabs normally but the crabs are very vulnerable when they molt and could easily be overwhelmed and killed then.
 
man cool picture......oh I am here lol yea they can really mess things up in blazing speed if not treated right away and it is a real headache when tjey do. do u take care of other animals as well? I find that cps, reptiles, and aquarium reefring, weapons, arachnids, and even venomous species go hand in hand with many hobbyists lol
 
No exotic animals, besides my very 2 odoriferous juvenile Homo sapiens. I want to get a couple of pygmy chameleons sometime this fall.
 
U might wanna check out FLchams online they are known in the industry to breed all kinds, have u heard of the ginat chameleons? giant usambra 3 horned, menelli's cham, ginat veiled. i like those
 
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