HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi everyone - i seem to have mites in my crabitat and have lost 2 crabs in the last couple of months. was ust at the local pet store and advised to spray a product called Jurassi Mite - All Natural Mite, Flea and Tick Control for Reptiles. it's supposed to be non-toxic

Here are the ingredients:
sodium lauryl sulfate 2.1%
cottonseed oil 0.7%
clove oil 0.4% and water

if anyone has tried this of knows if any of these ingredients are not ok please let me know. the guy said that it shouldn't hurt the crabs at all

thanks
zi

it says it should not be used on amphibians. i don't think i'd risk it. you can also contact their support staff online or call 866-Jurpetz and ask them directly.

thanks . you're right - lolagranola also mailed me back to say - not ok!!

gosh they'll say anything to make a buck won't they. so apart from a deep clean, what are my other choices - anyone have an idea?

thanks again
zia

I have a mite problem and people on here told me to go crazy with salt. I have been mixing salt into my EE and sand and misting with salt water every day. It seem that it has cut down on their numbers, but they are still there. They have mass deaths in the fresh water bowl so I have to change it constantly. It's the only non-salty place in the tank, so they go there and drown. But I am worried that there are places in the tank that are harder to salt where they are living, too.

I've only been salting about once a week for a few weeks. I think people said that it takes a long time to get rid of them. But I would try salting the tank.

Salt the tank, and do a double strength salt water bath 2-3 times weekly depending on the severity of the mites. The salt water bath helps get them off of the crabs themselves and the salt in the soil will kill them there. [also helps prevent mold].

What kind of salt? I hope it is not "Table" salt.
But Marine salt. Like Oceanic or other Marine salt that is used for aquariums.

malc's crabs wrote: it's supposed to be non-toxic

Everything is toxic - at a certain level or delivered in a certain way.

Here are the ingredients:
sodium lauryl sulfate 2.1%

This is a surfactant. It is found in many soaps and shampoo. It can be damaging to things like gills as it disrupts the phospholipid membranes of cells. It is also prolly being used here as a wetting agent to reduce the surface tension of the water, and to allow the Oils below to spread. Soap is actually a wonderful insecticide, see "safer soap" for garden plants. Not for use on inverts you want to keep alive. Never substitute dish detergent for soap on your plants - soap and detergents are not equal.

cottonseed oil 0.7%

Suffocates the mites and their eggs. Blocks the breathing holes.

clove oil 0.4% and water

Is an irritant and also an anesthetic agent for fish. The oil is also likely to clog breathing tubes in mites and possibly be directly toxic. I believe people have messed about with this in trying to combat mites on honeybees, with little overall success. It is not something I would apply to anything with a gill, unless I were trying to anesthetize a fish on the cheap.

if anyone has tried this of knows if any of these ingredients are not ok please let me know. the guy said that it shouldn't hurt the crabs at all

They are not likely to be OK unless used in such a manner that they were largely ineffective.

Try desiccating them with salt - just be aware that this created and osmotic burden for the crabs as well.

Keith

SebbyCrab wrote:Salt the tank, and do a double strength salt water bath 2-3 times weekly depending on the severity of the mites. The salt water bath helps get them off of the crabs themselves and the salt in the soil will kill them there. [also helps prevent mold].

Be careful with the baths. Some species like brevimanus keep a fairly dilute shell water and the concentration of salt in their hemolymph goes up if they are forced to use water that is too salty.

Make sure there is a nice fresh water pool nearby for them to use to regulate their shell water concentration.

Keith

thanks for all the replies, everyone. i really appreciate it!!

what do you mean by salt the tank? i use ocean salt, and when i prepared the coco fiber substrate, i used double strength salt water to soak the fiber.

should i be adding more alt and in what form?

the other problem is that i think 2 or 3 of my crabs are under, molting and i don't want to pick them up and give them a bath. the ones that are up i have looked at a couple of them really closely and don't see anything crawling on them. the only time i've seen them is when they are crawling on the hygrometer, which is black, and when the second crab died and she had a few on her. when i pick up a spoonful of substrate and look at it very closely, i can't find any.
thanks again
zi

by the way - any of you used the beneficial mite Hypoapsis miles to deal with this problem?

malc's crabs wrote:what do you mean by salt the tank? i use ocean salt, and when i prepared the coco fiber substrate, i used double strength salt water to soak the fiber.

should i be adding more alt and in what form?

I too expanded the substrate with double salt water, but I suppose it wasn't enough. You put the ocean salt directly on the substrate an mix it with a thin top layer of your substrate. And I put extra salt underneath the food dish and around it since the type of mites I have are ones that are interested in the food.

thanks . i'll try that out tomorrow

thanks . i'll try that out tomorrow

Also, purchasing some H. Miles helps, they eat the mites and don't hurt the crabs. Just leave them in the tank and bathe your hermits every few days, and over a few weeks to months the mites will be gone.

Can you elaborate on these H. Miles you speak of? You have my attention.