HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello everyone, first post here.

I noticed a few weeks ago that one of my hermit crabs has the tiniest red begs crawling on the inside of his shell. I'm talking the smallest bugs I have EVER seen, to the point that I thought it was sand at first and can't get a photo of them. They are way smaller than normal mites (which I have dealt with in the past) and don't seem to be attached to him anywhere like normal parasitic mites, but rather are just crawling around. I also don't see any in the substrate and definitely none in the food. I tried to grab some with a q-tip but they are so fast that I couldn't get any before they disappeared back inside the shell.

I tried to buy some hypoaspis from Nature's Good Guys to put in the substrate in case these bugs were mites but they came almost all dead, and I had no luck getting the few that survived into the tank. I've called just about every pet store and garden center in my area, and none of them sell them.

I am hoping to accomplish two things: first, I am desperate to identify these bugs. I have done so much research and still can't find any answers and am beginning to feel defeated. Second, I am hoping someone has a solution to get rid of them, whether that be a source to buy new mites from or just another way. I am hesitant to bathe the crab considering he's always been skittish and will probably get even more stressed out, but if that is my only option I will happily take some advice.

Thank you for reading my whole post. Any kind of suggestion is appreciated. I feel like such a bad crab-mom for not being able to solve this.

Have you looked at our 'mites' care sheet to see if they look like any pictured there?

https://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/p ... 24&t=92530

I have, unfortunately none of them seem like any described there. At first they seemed like "crab mites" because of how tiny they are, but they aren't the same color at all nor are they attaching themselves to my crabs eyes/antennae so I am thinking they may be something different

Concrete mites maybe, since they're fast? Or potentially even red velvet mites, though that should take care of itself as they grow and detach. https://bygl.osu.edu/node/1588#:~:text= ... 0buildings.

A series of strong salt bath would be the way to go since predatory mites aren't working out, same as if you're dealing with true crab mites - but unless the crabs seem irritated or are acting unusual, the bathing can cause more stress than the bugs will. It ends up being a judgement call on if you feel more comfortable waiting and watching, or acting now.