millipede mites???

[jim]

this actually happened to me at a petco...
yes i admit it i went to a petco. (cheap feeder fish and crickets) my wife and i always go into petco and head straight or the reptile section to see how things are and if there is anythig interesting. (ball pythons having a bad shed, dead anoles, firebelly toads escaping into the snake cages) this week we came upon a woman buying a giant black millipede. (~7-8 inches) the young girl who was working didn't want to take it out and box it up. ("they are yicky"-direct quote from worker) i offered to box it for her. i pulled out the correct one and it was COVERED with mites. i put it in the box nd handed it to her. the customer walked away to find a cage and i told the girl that the millipede had a bad infestation of mites and she should probably inform people. (customers... the boss) there were some tarantulas, scorpions, hermit crabs, various snakes and lizards also in this display. she says to me...(not an exact quote but real close) "oh i know. those are millipede mites. they are supposed to be there. they eat the harmful bacteria off the millipedes." i was shocked!!!! i must have stood there for about 10 seconds before i finally said, "oh really. i never heard of those before." ... "yep" and she headed off to work smiling like some wind-up wal-mart worker. (no offense if someone here works at wal-mart) i washed my hands and arms real well and made sure to warn the woman with the millipede about the mites in case she kept more inverts at home. i think they lost a sale that day.
millipede mites???? at least they aren't selling millipedes with harmful bacteria....
---jim

[Probe7899]

Dont worry I wont hold it against you that you went to PETCO for a pet. This is actually where i got my first baby corn from who surprisingly in good health (Im not trying to put down all petcos) but for the most part around here the animals are underkept. I was shocked when i went into one the other day to buy reptile bark they had an african scorpian in a cage just a little bigger than he was. In the snake cages there was sheddings and SH*T all over the cage it was gross. I would never buy another pet from PETCO. Plus the sales help has no idea about there pets. They had albino corns in a cage labeled snow corns. Its amazing how little these places now.

[bmm]

In this instance I believe they were correct. I have heard quite a few times that the "mites" on a millipede are exactly as they should be, there. I think they do help them and you are supposed to leave them there.

But either way, wrong or right, mites are usually species specific and the mites on the millipede aren't snake mites. Snake mites are just that, snake mites.

:)

bmm

[Turtlez]

As most of you know, I happily work at the Petco in my town. I still can't believe how bad people say they are in other states. It makes me mad. Heck, we clean our cages multiple times a week if they need it, and if anything has mites, its just not sold until its treated. Our store, however is one of the good ones :) Anyway, as for the millipeede thing, I havent heard about any "good" mites. We hardly get mite problems, but when it happens its tough. I could look it up for you if you wish :)

-Meg

[Alicia]

I'll say right off I don't keep Millipedes and don't know a great deal about them. I did help my son pull up some care sheets on them a while back for a report he did on them. The care sheets we read said that the mites were not good and should be eliminated. One care sheet even went so far to say that pet shop employees will try to convince a new owner that the mites were good for the Millipede:mad: I just can't imagine mites being good for anything:confused:

[bmm]

caresheets and information online that I found over the last few nights has been almost exactly 50/50 half saying get rid of them and half saying they are benifical to the millipedes. I have no clue which is correct.

But I am almost CERTAIN that millipede mites are millipede mites and they won't live on your snake. I believe the only things snake mites eat off of are snakes.

But nasty just the same! I would have scrubbed too.

bmm

[Rachel]

Ok, this has nothing to do with the millipede but just as to BMM saying most mites are spp specific. I'd just like to point out that my ghekos got a mite infestation from windowsill mites. They usually live in old wooden frame windows and can go on to infest plants or animals (cats, dogs, you name it!) My Leos were the unlucky ones and so was my boyfriends bed which was COVERED (uugh still makes my skin crawl!)

[jim]

OK, FROM WHAT I'VE BEEN ABLE TO FIND OUT SO FAR MITES IN MOST CASES AREN'T SPECIES SPECIFIC BUT ARE SPECIFIC TO ONE TYPE OF ANIMALS. A SNAKE MITE WILL NOT LIVE ON AN INVERT BUT WILL LIVE ON ANOTHER TYPE OF REPTILE. CONVERSELY, A "MILLIPEDE" MITE WILL NOT LIVE ON A SNAKE BUT WILL INFEST OTHER INVERTS. (TARANTULAS, SCORPIONS, ETC.) SO THE CORNS AND KINGS WERE IN NO DANGER FROM THEM BUT I'LL BET THE OTHER INVERTS THAT WERE IN THE RACK AREN'T FEELING TOO WELL. I ALSO HAVE SEEN A FEW THINGS NOW THAT SAY THE MITES AREN'T HARMFUL TO THE MILLIPEDES WHILE OTHER SITES SAY THAT THEY SHOULD BE ERADICATED. OH WELL WHO KNOWS.... NOT ME....
I STILL WOULDN'T BUY THEM THOUGH. :) ---JIM

[sicsgun serpent]

WalMart is the worst globalist corporation in the world... Bush should attack walmart if he cares about his people! loljk

I know EXACTLY what you mean! every time I've been there, the people who work there are really like robots, I think most of them do crack or something to distract themselves from working for slavery.

god it's sad. I wish they'd organize some kind of MASS no work day, and just everyone not work for a whole day. walmart would be screwed.

[Plissken]

WalMart is the worst globalist corporation in the world... Bush should attack walmart if he cares about his people! loljk

I know EXACTLY what you mean! every time I've been there, the people who work there are really like robots, I think most of them do crack or something to distract themselves from working for slavery.

god it's sad. I wish they'd organize some kind of MASS no work day, and just everyone not work for a whole day. walmart would be screwed.

Hey there, I don't mean to be rude here, but is there any reason why you are repeatedly dragging up old threads...?
This one is 4 years old!!!

[xXMetalsAngelXx]

Sadly millipedes do needs mites to servive. it's not really much for the bacteria but to clean between the scales. I wouldn't but anything that was in the same area as that thing just because those enclosures arent very....good for keeping things in thier own cage, let alone mites.