Crabs with mites and holes in their exo

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 8:34 pm

There is a discussion going at LHC about this ... here is a repost of some info that Christa shared at one point:

http://landhermitcrabs.com/eve/ubb.x?q= ... 106871&p=5

RE: Gill Mites

There is a type of mite that lives in the crabs' gill area. Occasionally the mite causes brown/black spots on the
thorax of the crab. Sometimes it even eats a hole through the top skin of the thorax. I have one crab whose entire side of her cephalothorax is eaten away. When the crab molts, she will grow a new carapace, and hopefully not have this problem again. I rescued her about a year ago and she is still doing fine, and in pre-molt.

However, since the mites are arthropods (same family as hermit crabs) no one can use any chemicals on the mites without killing the crabs. The only thing Don ever advocated for killing mites was a brief saltwater bath. But that was for external "dust mites" and even then, if the mites live inside the crabs there isn't much you can do. You never see the mites themselves. I have spent a lot of time sitting there, watching a 'hole' in the crabs' back waiting for a mite to come out and nada. Perhaps with the bathing and care we give the
crabs, the mites die. Perhaps not. But this is one pest we apparently can't do much about. I originally learned about this mite in a pamphlet of information I got from FMR.

The FMR pamphlet says that crabs have all sort of internal parasites that do not effect the crabs' health, and this is one of them. I take issue with that because "eating a hole in them" would certainly seem to affect their health, but the funny thing is, it doesn't! Crabs that are splotched, or holey or otherwise (like "Gillian" missing half her thorax) are otherwise active and doing well. So I leave them alone. Sometimes after they molt, they never get the splotches or holes again, and that's great. It's the most I can hope for.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:10 pm

DAE!

That was eactly what I was worried about with Asmoday... here's my case:

Asmoday is a jumbo and has a rather large hole on her back.... She came from the petstore with lil white mites on her (11/12/04).... I washed her and washed her and they were gone... But now a few days ago she had mites again! I wonder if they came from that hole in her back.... could they have layed eggs in there? Or just been hiding in there?

Please let me know more!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:30 pm

If the mites did lay eggs and are living in the hole, I've been thinking about something. Would salt kill mites? I'm wondering if mixing up a bit of VERY salty saltwater (aquarium salt of course) and rinsing out the holes with it would kill the mites without harming the crab?