mites Archives - The Crab Street Journal

Managing grain mites in the crabitat

Tagged: crabitat, food, grain, hermit crabs, mites, tank

Written by Anne Grady Food mites, more properly called grain mites are something that can be found in any tank at any time. The first thing to understand is that they did not come from the crabs, having hermit crabs does not cause you to have food mites. Food mites come into your home through the everyday things you buy at the grocery store. Anything that contains grain can have food mites. Oatmeal, grits, breakfast cereal, noodles, flour and rice are a few examples. In general you won’t see them and they are harmless, but that box of corn meal or pancake mix that getsRead More →

Evergreen Growers

In: Petstore

Tagged: buy, food, hermit crab, mites, purchase, shells, shop, store, supplies

An Argument for Isolating Hermit Crabs

In: General

Tagged: bacteria, black, coenobita, contagious, disease, hermit crab, illness, infection, isolation, mites, pps, rot, shell, spot

When adding newly purchased or acquired crabs to an existing colony, for the long-term health of all, we at CSJ recommend the use of an isolation tank. Placing newly purchased or adopted hermit crabs into an existing healthy colony without a quarantine period risks the unnecessary exposure of your healthy hermits to shell disease or parasites. If you are just starting out with hermit crabs and do not have an existing colony or crabitat in place, use of the PPS Reduction Method will allow you to monitor your new crabs for 30 days and bring them slowly up to ideal environmental conditions. The PPS ReductionRead More →

Hermit crab parasites

In: General

Tagged: flies, mites, parasites, worm

Summary by Stacy Griffith Reference: The not so lonely life of Hermit Crabs: Studies on Hermit Crab Symbionts by Jason D. Williams Despite the name, hermit crabs are not solitary creatures. They live in large communal colonies of other hermit crabs and they are host to other species that attach to shell of the hermit crab, bore into the shell or live within the central cavity (lumen) of the shell. Discussed here are symbionts that live on, within or bore into shells worn by hermit crabs. Land hermit crabs can harbor nine species of mites that attach to the gills. Addition of note are polychaeteRead More →

Mites: Friend or Foe? The Happy Tale of the Hypoaspis Mites

In: Crabitat, General

Tagged: beneficial, friend, good, helpful, hermit crab, hypoaspis, mites, predatory

written by Kerie Campbell 2005 Two months ago, during deep clean, I took my largest compressus,Houdini, out of the tank, turned him over to have a look, and a red…thing fell out of his shell. I couldn’t believe it! Mites!Huge, red mites. Houdini had a few, Fifi had some, and poor Ghidra,a pre-molt rugosus, was covered with them. I was appalled. I inspect new crabs when I get them for mites, and have never seen any. The only explanation I have is that these mites, being a bright red color, must have snuck in on some of the perlatus – they are the same colorRead More →

Guide to bugs you might find in your crabitat

In: General

Tagged: bugs, crabitat, harmful, hermit crab, infestation, larvae, mites, parasites, phorid flies, safe

originally written by Jedediah Insects Insects have six legs and three body parts that are usually clearly visible, the head, the thorax (the breast) and the abdomen. Most of them have wings, although those might not be clearly visible, some insects can hide them in a sort of pouch on their back (like earwigs) and some insects have no wings at all. The vast majority of insects that you might find in your crabitat are beneficial, harmless or a nuisance at most. Usually you can get rid of them by doing a deep clean. Common insects are: Booklice aka Paperlice Very often described as walkingRead More →

Varieties of Household Mites

In: FAQ

Tagged: bugs, common, hermit crab, household, mites, parasites

Originally written by Vanessa Pike-Russell-Updated by Stacy Griffith Common Name/Scientific Name Dust Mites-House Dust Mite Dermatophagoides sp. Grain Mites-Grain Mite Acarus siro L House Mouse Mite-Liponyssoides sanuineus (Hirst) Follicle Mite-Demodex folliculorum (Simon) Itch or Scabies Mite-Sarcoptes scabiei hominis (Hering) Mold Mite-Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Schrank) Dust Mites – House Dust Mite Dermatophagoides sp. “Dust mites are microscopic, small enough to live inside the weave and fibers of your clothing, bedding carpet and such. They don’t actually bite they are waaay to small .. they actually live on the skins flakes we shed. When people have problems with dust mites it is because they are actually allergic toRead More →