Turkey Baster used on Mites

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 10:41 pm

Well today was awful! It started off really good. Garry and I went to the pet store and a few other places and I bought some more stuff for our strawberry hermit crabs. Their names are Peter, Lois, Chris, Meg, Stewie and Brian. Anyway when we got back I prepared their Sunday bath water with Stress Coat and set Peter in their tub to soak. That's when I noticed a bunch of white mites swimming on top of the water. Turns out our poor babies had mites all over them. That resulted in 6 additional baths each. Baking all the sand in the oven @ 400 degrees. Boiling everything else. Washing the inside of their tank with vinegar and water. Cleaning the hoods and everything else. It was a complete nightmare. 7 - 8 hours later their tank was put back together but they are still in a separate tank on a towel. We gave them water, salt water and some food in the separate tank and we decided to leave them there until morning then give them another bath just to be certain all the mites are off of them. I felt so sorry for them. On what would've been their last bath we decided to use a turkey baster and used their bath water to blast out their shells. They seemed to love this and came really far out of their shells to allow the water in. I bet that felt really good after having those mites crawling all over them. We used the turkey baster on them above the water and then under the water on each one. Even when it was under the water they came really far out of their shells for the rinsing. It was actually a pretty good idea that Garry came up with. The bath before that we hadn't gotten anymore mites that came out so we thought they were clean and then G. came up with that idea so we decided to do it one more time. Using the turkey baster we got about 3 more mites out. Anyway - I so hope that took care of it. I'm thinking it would be a good idea after they return to their regular tank to give them all another bath in a couple of days and then another bath a couple of days after that just to make sure. Then as long as they remain free of mites to go back to the once a week bath after their next Sunday bath. They seem to be doing okay now but I'm still worried since that had to have been a lot of stress on them.

This is my first experience with mites so is there anything else that I should do not listed above?

OIF_VET · Post by **OIF_VET** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:35 am

I am replying to point out this for Herm-EZ...She is doing a Mite survey...of sorts. Would U mind filling this template out for her in this Link to the Thread?

Mite Template

Thanks.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:44 am

it sounds like u've got everything all clean again... just a keep a watch for more mites, otherwise it should be fine.

OIF_VET · Post by **OIF_VET** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 10:30 am

Ahh ..Just Thought....I have read that Mites have a 3 day Cycle...They will lay eggs and they hatch in 3 days? Somebody correct me if Wrong Please...Thanks

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 11:26 am

I didn't even think about possible unhatched eggs. UGH! I guess it would probably be a good idea to keep them in the temporary ISO tank longer.

Also I think the source of the mites came from 2 birds I was babysitting for my sister. Her daughter's birthday was on this Saturday and they were presents for her. I kept the birds from last Sunday evening until this Friday and had the birds setting on top of my crab tank for about 2 of the days they were here. I had given our crabs a bath last Sunday shortly before the birds came and they didn't have mites then. After the birds sat on top of their tank during the week they had mites this Sunday. In retrospect that was a pretty stupid thing for me to do. I really didn't know much about birds but I've done a little research now and it appears birds can have all kinds of different mites on them at any given time.

I'm an extremely squeamish person anyway so I am pretty well grossed out about this whole thing. Since I first laid eyes on the mites yesterday my whole body has been itching and twitching. I know it's all in my mind but I've showered about 6 times myself. LOL. It's amazing what I've been willing to do for the love of my hermit crabs.

I'll fill out the poll for HermEZ too and thanks for the help.

OIF_VET · Post by **OIF_VET** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 11:35 am

You are Most welcome....and Good Luck...Sorry U and the Crabs have to go thru such an Ordeal and Stressful time.

Good Luck

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:08 pm

Well our crabs have had another bath today and approximately 14 mites came off of them. I'm pretty sure some of the mites were already dead because some were just floating on the surface of the water instead of trying to swim. There were also some really small mites so they had obviously hatched overnight. YUCK! I have them sitting in front of me in a clay bowl right now. I'm letting them dry off a little before their next bath.

No mites found in their second soak today and I recleaned their temporary ISO tank with vinegar and water, along with their food and water dishes and then put a fresh clean towel in it.

So until their bath tomorrow...

P.S. I just remembered when I was responding to another post about mites that we also used our finger tips to smash the mites on the surface of their bath water so the mites couldn't climb back on the crabs as we were lifting them out. That seemed to work better although I still can't believe I actually helped do that. ~cringing~

Hermie Lover · Post by **Hermie Lover** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 11:38 am

I am sorry to hear about your problems

I know what you are going through, as I have been through it w/ my PP crabs

I had one in particular that had mites, and I read all the care pages on here about them. I seperated my girl, and kept her in iso for about 4 weeks. I used ocean salt (for hermit crabs) and added it to her bath water, and bathed her twice a day.

The mites rolled off for like 3 days, then it would stop, and come back, go away, come back, go away, etc. It was very hard.

I then got to the point that I felt sorry for her, and put her back w/ the other crabbers. I know I was already stressing her bad. She is about the size of a tennis ball. Well, was

She died last week, b/c she didn't make it through a molt.

Anyway, I tried the expensive solution of buying those predator mites. It was about $60 or so. I tried them, and a week later 2 of my E's died. And the other crabbers were looking very stressed.

I immediately changed their sand, cleaned their cage, and threw AWAY the rest of those other mites. I think they were a menace. I am glad they worked for some people, but they didn't for me.

Anyway, bathes are the only way I have found to deal w/ them. And the ocean salt bathes will really get those mites off, moreso than the stress coat bathes.

Good luck, it sounds like you are doing your best, and I hope everything goes well, please keep us updated....

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 11:49 am

Are the mites on your straws? I read somewhere the mites on straws are a lot harder to kill because they are better able to endure the salt water since Straws are more inclined to spend a lot of time in the salt water generally.

That could be part of your problem as well.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 11:52 am

The predatory mites only eat the mites from the crabs. They want nothing to do with the crabs themselves. It's too bad you threw them away, they are truly beneficial in getting rid of the mites.
The crabs were most likely stressed from the mites being on them and the stress from the bathing to get the mites odd..I am sorry you lost some crabs

I would definately reccomend the predatory mites over bathing, that's just my opinion of the least stressful way to get rid of them.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:19 pm

Oh great. Thanks alot. Just Kidding.

Yes, the mites are on Strawberries.

So far we've just been bathing them in water we take directly out of one of our fresh water fish tanks with a few drops of stress coat added directly to their bath water. I'm still waiting for an online order I placed with Petdiscounters on the 17th that included my Instant Ocean Salt. I just ran out of my bottled salt water last night. I was trying to use it sparingly until my order came in but now it looks like I'm going to have to go out and buy some at one of the local pet stores anyway.

Our Strawberries do spend a significant amount of time in their salt water so do you think it would be better to keep giving them their baths in the fresh water rather than switching over to salt water baths? I was planning on doing that once my order came in but maybe I shouldn't?

edit:

I've been a stay-at-home mom with a visually impaired child for the last 4 years so money has been pretty tight for us the last few years. I just spent a small fortune (for me) on shells and crab supplies right before we found the mites so I really don't have the money to spare for the good mites right now. UGH! I don't have much of a choice but to try the baths for right now anyway.

Hermie Lover · Post by **Hermie Lover** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 1:08 pm

vckums wrote:The predatory mites only eat the mites from the crabs. They want nothing to do with the crabs themselves. It's too bad you threw them away, they are truly beneficial in getting rid of the mites.
The crabs were most likely stressed from the mites being on them and the stress from the bathing to get the mites odd..I am sorry you lost some crabs
I would definately reccomend the predatory mites over bathing, that's just my opinion of the least stressful way to get rid of them.

I agree, I think it stressed the crabs themselves. I don't by any means, think that the pred. mites themselves killed the crabs. I do think it was a good idea, and a good find. But it really did put me in for a scare. And I think anyone would have taken my actions, had they been in my shoes.

Put the pred. mites in, and in about 2 days, see 2 E's dead

I surely wasn't going to let it stay like that, or do a second round the next week.
It was just really a scare, and I hate the E's had to die, b/c they didn't even have mites, it was 2 of the PP's.

Mites are hard to deal with. But something all crab owners have to face in time. Just have a plan for when it happens

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 1:39 am

Our crabs are still in ISO and appear to be doing really well in spite of everything. (I just added pics that we took on Wednesday of them after their baths to my Xanga.)

On Tuesday we only found one live mite from Brian during their baths. On Wednesday we found none. On Thursday, Thanksgiving, we found one live one from Meg.

Both mites were pretty small compared to how big the other mites were when we first found them so I'm assuming that these are newly hatched ones.

Since I don't know much about the actual (white) mites themselves I am hoping that freshly hatched mites can't lay their own eggs within a 24 hour period. If they can't then we'll eventually win this battle. If they can then it would appear to be a losing battle. Does anyone know whether or not they can?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Nov 25, 2005 8:56 am

There are a couple things that I don't think have been stressed enough here.

One, you should not use StressCoat on hermit crabs - it damages their gills. StressCoat is designed for animals that need a protective slime coat - hermit crabs do not.

Two, you should not be bathing your Strawberry crabs, generally speaking (yes, you have to for the mites, I'm talking about when the mites are gone). Strawberries are probably the most delicate of all species of LHC. You should provide a dish of saltwater deep enough for the largest crab to fully submerge in and allow them to do it themselves.

Jjel wrote:So far we've just been bathing them in water we take directly out of one of our fresh water fish tanks with a few drops of stress coat added directly to their bath water.

Third, why are you using water out of a fish tank to bathe your crabs? You should be using dechlorinated fresh water. The water from your fish tanks contains numerous things that may not be good for the crabs: nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, just to name a few. Please use fresh or marine salt dechlorinated tap water or bottled water.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 4:43 am

This is a direct quote from the Crab Street Journal:

http://www.crabstreetjournal.com/caresh ... thing.html

When bathing actively it is recommended (but not essential) that you add a drop of Stress Coat with Aloe in the bathing water. It is a water conditioner which will remove Chlorine, Chloramines and heavy metals as well as creating a 'slime coating'. to protect the delicate gill area. The Aloe Vera will help them re-hydrate and condition their exoskeleton, "Aloe Vera, Nature's First Aid Plant". To learn more about Stress Coat with Aloe, click here.

Hermit-Crabs.com also recommends using Stress Coat:

http://www.hermit-crabs.com/care.html

Where are you getting your information from that it is bad for them? Can you point me to some research that says that's a no-no? I've did quite a bit of online research regarding hermit crabs and everything I've read recommends using Stress Coat w/ Aloe. However, I'm willing to keep an open mind if you can point me in the direction of reputable websites that oppose using it.

Providing a salt water dish deep enough for the largest one to submerge itself in is not feasible in our tank since the surface area is limited and the largest one is a LOT bigger than our smallest one. It would have to be a really deep dish. I think running the risk of one of them drowning would be far worse than actively bathing them once a week. If I had more room for them then that would be the ideal thing but I have to work with what I have I'm afraid. I'll keep that in mind though should I ever get a bigger tank. Thanks for the suggestion.

As far as using the water from our fish tanks goes I've been bathing my hermit crabs in fish tank water since 1979. It never seemed to have any harmful effects on them that I ever noticed. Shouldn't the added Stress Coat take out anything that would be harmful in the fish tank water too? It removes chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals. However, I always had PP crabs before and these are the first strawberries I have ever owned so I will follow your advice and bathe them only in marine salt dechlorinated tap water.

Thanks.

Update: No mites on Friday's bath.