CtryLuv's Crabbie Cove Mite extermination
Mites are a very small insect that will eat off of your hermies and eventually kill them. The come in many different colors such as white, grey, red, black and brown. These little insects are parasites and will feed off of your hermies eventually killing them. They are usually no larger than a grain of sand and very hard to see. They have eight legs. Not all mites are dangerous to hermies. If you only find them in the food dishes and sand, but none on the hermies they are probably harmless. However, if you find them on the hermies its time to take action.
Getting rid of mites- Unfortunately getting rid of mites is a time consuming job. first set up an iso tank for the hermies, bath the hermies in a salt water solution, and if need be use a q-tip to swab off any mites you see on the hermies. You will need to do this about every 2nd or third day until you see no more mites. Deep clean the crabitat. Take everything out of it, throwing away all of the substrate, boiling and baking everything that can be boiled or baked, and clean the tank well with a vinegar and water solution. Put the tank outside in the sun to air dry. Mites dont like sunlight so whats left in the tank should leave it. It wouldnt hurt after a few days to reclean and redry in the sun. Continually check your crabbies and bathe them every 2-3 days in a salt water solution to make sure the mites are gone. If you have the resources, after every bath, switch them to a new iso tank.
Another solution is to use predatory mites to get rid of the mites in the tank. They will not harm the crabbies but will kill the mites in the tank. If you chose to do it this way, you still need to bathe your hermies every couple of days to get the active mites off of them. Here is a link to where you can purchase the predatory mites.
http://www.simplyhydroponics.com/hired_bugs.htm
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